How to format DurationField input as min:sec:millisec Django

I want to force users to input lap times into a Form using the format min:sec:millisec (e.g. 00:00:000). I also want to display these times in this format in a DetailView but I want to store them as milliseconds to calculate personal bests and lap differences.

I have tried to set the default DurationField value as 01:01:001 but it displays in the format HH:MM:SS.MS Here is my model:

class SwimTime(models.Model):
    swimmer =models.ForeignKey(Swimmer, on_delete=models.CASCADE)
    time = models.DurationField(_('Time'), default= timedelta(minutes=1, seconds=1, milliseconds=1))
    distance = models.PositiveIntegerField(_('Distance'),null = False, default=50)
    strokeType = models.CharField(_('Stroke Type'),max_length=20, choices=strokeTypes, default='FC')
    date = models.DateField(_('Date Recorded'),default = timezone.now)
    def save(self, *args, **kwargs):
        self.full_clean()
        return super().save(*args, **kwargs)

If you want to have an "example" you can use help option for the field showing the expected input format.

Anyway, this has nothing to do with how it will be rendered in any template or even in database or browser validation.

For templates you can use the Datetime formatting.

Also, reading your data I guess that null=False is not necessary in some fields you're using it. And keep in mind that null=True and blank=True have different uses.

Hope to improve this answer soon ;)

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