["python","html","django","django-forms"]
Change a Django form field to a hidden field

I have a Django form with a RegexField, which is very similar to a normal text input field. In my view, under certain conditions I want to hide it from the user, and trying to keep the form as similar as possible. What's the best way to turn this field into a HiddenInput field? I know I can set attributes on the field with: form['fieldname'].field.widget.attr['readonly'] = 'readonly' And I can set the desired initial value with: form.initial['fieldname'] = 'mydesiredvalue' However, that won't change the form of the widget. What's the best / most "django-y" / least "hacky" way to make this field a <input type="hidden"> field?
If you have a custom template and view you may exclude the field and use {{ modelform.instance.field }} to get the value. also you may prefer to use in the view: field = form.fields['field_name'] field.widget = field.hidden_widget() but I'm not sure it will protect save method on post. edit: field with multiple values don't supports HiddenInput as input type, so use default hidden input widget for this field instead.