import error ‘force_text’ from ‘django.utils.encoding’

Question

I’m implementing a graphql solution using python, graphene and django and I’m getting the following import error:

Result: Failure Exception: ImportError: cannot import name 'force_text' from 'django.utils.encoding'

"/home/site/wwwroot/.python_packages/lib/site-packages/graphene_django/utils/utils.py", line 6, in <module> from django.utils.encoding import force_text

I’m not sure about the versions and whether I need to import an additional module.
My requirements.txt is like:

graphene>=2.1,<3
graphene-django>=2.1,<3
graphql-core>=2.1,<3
graphql-relay==2.0.1
django-filter>=2

Has someone had a similar problem and can look at the versions that I use?
Thanks

This post will help you stackoverflow.com/a/25178353/14457833 — Dec 16, 2021 at 16:05
thanks I have seen this post as well. However its not fully clear to me. Mainly I need graphene_django. Do I need to downgrade the django core? — Dec 16, 2021 at 16:13
in graphene_django.utils.utils.py the line 6 is the problem: from django.utils.encoding import force_text as django is not in my requirements.txt it is not clear to me, which version can avoid this error. print(django.__version__) returns 4.0 — Dec 16, 2021 at 19:41
Exact same error when I ignored package version numbers doing the tutorial from howtographql.com . +1 thanks for asking before me 🙂 — Dec 22, 2021 at 22:52

score 80 · Accepted Answer · 2021-12-17 08:08:02Z

in django 4.0 we dont have force_text

https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/4.0/ref/utils/#module-django.utils.encoding

instead change force_text to force_str

linux:

YOUR_VENV/lib/PYTHON_VERSION/site-packages/graphene_django/utils/utils.py

windows:

YOUR_VENV/lib/site-packages/graphene_django/utils/utils.py

from django.utils.encoding import force_text

to

from django.utils.encoding import force_str

and

def _camelize_django_str(s):
    if isinstance(s, Promise):
        s = force_text(s)
    return to_camel_case(s) if isinstance(s, six.string_types) else s

to

def _camelize_django_str(s):
    if isinstance(s, Promise):
        s = force_str(s)
    return to_camel_case(s) if isinstance(s, six.string_types) else s

thanks for your answer. I can change it locally in the venv, however this is not a valid solution as I'm deploying to the cloud and the venv will be created on the target. — Dec 17, 2021 at 8:56

score 31 · Accepted Answer · 2022-01-24 11:38:57Z

31

Based on answer given by @Osman.

The problem seems to be occuring with Django-4. Till the PR gets merged, probably this monkeypatching might work (not tested in prod):

import django
from django.utils.encoding import force_str
django.utils.encoding.force_text = force_str

Put this in entryfile. I kept it in settings.py for time being.

edited Jan 24, 2022 at 11:38

answered Jan 24, 2022 at 11:30

Blaze

1,6622 gold badges22 silver badges20 bronze badges

5

what is this entryfile file?

– Ankit Kumar

Jan 26, 2022 at 17:01
2

entryfile (entrypoint) could be anything which invokes first in order to spun the entire application. In my case, I used settings.py. Idea is to change the imported object before it's called by anything else.

– Blaze

Jan 27, 2022 at 10:27
2

This is a hacky but cleaner workaround! Cleaner because upgrading graphene_django will not need any subsequent change. Hacky because changing class attributes at run-time is considered a hack.

– manisar

Feb 9, 2022 at 6:24
this works well, i used those lines in settings.py

– EDMOND GIHOZO

Aug 17, 2022 at 18:52
1

today this hack didn't work anymore. I had to replace all force_text by force_str

– Damien Romito

May 3 at 15:10

zephzeph 1411 silver badge2 bronze badges · Accepted Answer · 2022-03-27 13:31:41Z

In Django version 4> just paste this snippet to your settinsg.py. Preferably on the top

    import django
    from django.utils.encoding import force_str
    django.utils.encoding.force_text = force_str

score 12 · Accepted Answer · 2023-07-06 06:45:46Z

force_text is removed from Django 4.0 but the old version of graphene_django still uses force_text in utils.py. *You can see Features removed in 4.0.

So, upgrading graphene-django will solve the error easily:

pip install graphene-django --upgrade

Or, replace force_text with force_str as shown below:

# "utils.py"

# from django.utils.encoding import force_text # Line 6
from django.utils.encoding import force_str # Line 6

# s = force_text(s) # Line 29
s = force_str(s) # Line 29

These are the paths to utils.py for Linux and Windows:

Linux:

<your_venv>/lib/<python_version>/site-packages/graphene_django/utils/utils.py

Windows:

<your_venv>/lib/site-packages/graphene_django/utils/utils.py

GerdGerd 7951 gold badge7 silver badges12 bronze badges · Accepted Answer · 2021-12-17 08:59:46Z

2

adding the following to the requirements.txt solved it:

django<=3

answered Dec 17, 2021 at 8:59

Gerd

7951 gold badge7 silver badges12 bronze badges

1

2

Careful if you are using this method because you might not get the latest version of Django 3. You might get the 3.0 version which has many vulnerabilities. Instead, create a file requirements.in with Django<4 for example. Then do pip install pip-compile and then pip-compile. This will regenerated requirements.txt with dependencies, and finally pip-compile --upgrade to get the latest versions of packages.

– aks

May 26, 2022 at 16:49

yolesyoles 211 bronze badge · Accepted Answer · 2022-04-09 13:02:10Z

You can install graphene-django version 3.0.0b7
run the following command in your terminal:

pip install graphene-django==3.0.0b7

It’s beta version, but i don’t know why graphene-django 2.15 does’nt work, when patch note said they fixed issue since 2.8.1 version.

Thank’s to @Behoston from this Github issue for this solution

score 0 · Accepted Answer · 2023-04-12 10:55:23Z

I have been running into a similar issue whereby including "graphql_jwt.refresh_token.apps.RefreshTokenConfig" in INSTALLED_APPS leads to the following import error:

ImportError: cannot import name 'force_text' from 'django.utils.encoding'

I added this at the top of settings.py:

import django
from django.utils.encoding import force_str
django.utils.encoding.force_text = force_str

And was greeted with this error:

ImportError: cannot import name 'ugettext' from 'django.utils.translation'

Where I then added the following to the top of settings.py:

from django.utils.translation import gettext, gettext_lazy
django.utils.translation.ugettext = gettext
django.utils.translation.ugettext_lazy = gettext_lazy

And delightfully resolved this error:

TypeError: __init__() got an unexpected keyword argument 'providing_args'

Django version 4.2.

RickyARickyA 15.6k5 gold badges72 silver badges95 bronze badges · Accepted Answer · 2023-11-03 17:13:54Z

For people that want a release independent version:

try:
    from django.utils.encoding import force_text
except:
    from django.utils.encoding import force_str as force_text

import error ‘force_text’ from ‘django.utils.encoding’