def getFeaturedSpeaker(self, request):
        """Returns the sessions of the featured speaker"""
        data = memcache.get("featured_speaker")
        from pprint import pprint

        pprint(data)
        sessions = []
        sessionNames = []
        speaker = None

        if data and data.has_key("speaker") and data.has_key("sessionNames"):
            speaker = data["speaker"]
            sessionNames = data["sessionNames"]
        else:
            upcoming_session = (
                Session.query(Session.date >= datetime.now()).order(Session.date, Session.startTime).get()
            )
            if upcoming_session:
                speaker = upcoming_session.speaker
                sessions = Session.query(Session.speaker == speaker)
                sessionNames = [session.name for session in sessions]

        # create speaker form
        sf = SpeakerForm()
        for field in sf.all_fields():
            if field.name == "sessionNames":
                setattr(sf, field.name, sessionNames)
            elif field.name == "speaker":
                setattr(sf, field.name, speaker)
        sf.check_initialized()
        return sf

    def getFeaturedSpeaker(self,request):
        """ Returns a featured speaker and his/her sessions """
        sessions = []
        sessionNames = []
        speaker = None

        # look for data in memcache
        memcache_data = memcache.get(MEMCACHE_SPEAKER_KEY)

        if memcache_data:
            speaker = memcache_data['speaker']
            sessionNames = memcache_data['sessionNames']

        else:
            speaker = sessionNames = None

        sf = SpeakerForm()
        for field in sf.all_fields():
            if field.name == 'speaker':
                setattr(sf, field.name, speaker)
            elif field.name == 'sessionNames':
                setattr(sf, field.name, sessionNames)
        sf.check_initialized()

        return sf

def sample_form(request):
    if request.method == 'POST':
        sf = None
        instance_id = request.GET.get(u'speaker')
        if instance_id is not None:
            instance = get_object_or_404(Speaker, pk=instance_id)
            sf = SpeakerForm(request.POST, instance=instance)
        else:
            sf = SpeakerForm(request.POST)
        if sf.is_valid():
            speaker = sf.save()
            return http.HttpResponseRedirect(reverse("sampleformok", args=[speaker.pk]))
        else:
            return render_to_response('test/form.html', {'form': sf}, context_instance=RequestContext(request))
    elif request.method == 'GET':
        form = None
        instance_id = request.GET.get(u'speaker')
        if instance_id is not None:
            instance = get_object_or_404(Speaker, pk=instance_id)
            form = SpeakerForm(instance=instance)
        else:
            form = SpeakerForm(initial={u'languages': [1, 2], u'group': 1})
        return render_to_response('test/form.html', {'form': form}, context_instance=RequestContext(request))
    else:
        return http.HttpResponseNotAllowed(['GET', 'POST'])

    def getFeaturedSpeaker(self, request):
        """Returns the sessions of the featured speaker"""
        # try to get data from memcache
        data = memcache.get(MEMCACHE_FEATURED_SPEAKER_KEY)
        sessions = []
        sessionNames = []
        speaker = None

        if data and data.has_key('speaker') and data.has_key('sessionNames'):
            speaker = data['speaker']
            sessionNames = data['sessionNames']

        # if data is not on memcache, get speaker from upcoming session
        else:
            nextSession = Session.query(Session.date >= datetime.now()).order(Session.date, Session.startTime).get()
            if nextSession:
                speaker = nextSession.speaker
                sessions = Session.query(Session.speaker == speaker)
                sessionNames = [session.name for session in sessions]

        # fill speaker form
        speaker_form = SpeakerForm()
        for field in speaker_form.all_fields():
            if field.name ==  'sessionNames':
                setattr(speaker_form, field.name, sessionNames)
            elif field.name == 'speaker':
                setattr(speaker_form, field.name, speaker)
        speaker_form.check_initialized()
        return speaker_form

 def _copySpeakerToForm(self, speak):
     """Copy relevant fields from Speaker to SpeakerForm."""
     sp = SpeakerForm()
     for field in sp.all_fields():
         setattr(sp, field.name, getattr(speak, field.name))
     sp.check_initialized()
     return sp

 def _copySpeakerToForm(self, speaker):
     sf = SpeakerForm()
     for field in sf.all_fields():
         if hasattr(speaker, field.name):
             setattr(sf, field.name, str(getattr(speaker, field.name)))
     sf.check_initialized()
     return sf

    def getFeaturedSpeaker(self, request):
        """Returns the sessions of the featured speaker"""
        # attempt to get data from memcache
        data = memcache.get('featured_speaker')
        from pprint import pprint
        pprint(data)
        sessions = []
        sessionNames = []
        speaker = None

        if data and data.has_key('speaker') and data.has_key('sessionNames'):
            speaker = data['speaker']
            sessionNames = data['sessionNames']

        # if memcache fails or is empty, pull speaker from upcoming session
        else:
            upcoming_session = Session.query(Session.date >= datetime.now())\
                                    .order(Session.date, Session.startTime).get()
            if upcoming_session:
                speaker = upcoming_session.speaker
                sessions = Session.query(Session.speaker == speaker)
                sessionNames = [session.name for session in sessions]

        # populate speaker form
        sf = SpeakerForm()
        for field in sf.all_fields():
            if field.name == 'sessionNames':
                setattr(sf, field.name, sessionNames)
            elif field.name == 'speaker':
                setattr(sf, field.name, speaker)
        sf.check_initialized()
        return sf

    def getFeaturedSpeaker(self, request):
        """Returns the sessions of the featured speaker"""
        # try to get the speaker related data from memcache that was storied earlier
        data = memcache.get('featured_speaker')
        from pprint import pprint
        pprint(data)
        sessionNames = []
        speaker = None

        if data and data.has_key('speaker') and data.has_key('sessionNames'):
            speaker = data['speaker']
            sessionNames = data['sessionNames']
            
          # if the memcache fails or is found to be empty, then display a message accordingly
        else: 
             raise endpoints.NotFoundException(
                'Failed to retrieve data related to the speaker.')    

         # populate the speaker form appropriately in case the speaker data is sucessfully retrieved 
        sf = SpeakerForm()
        for field in sf.all_fields():
            if field.name == 'sessionNames':
                setattr(sf, field.name, sessionNames)
            elif field.name == 'speaker':
                setattr(sf, field.name, speaker)
        sf.check_initialized()
        return sf     

 def _copySpeakerToForm(self, speaker):
     """Copy relevant fields from Speaker to SpeakerForm."""
     sf = SpeakerForm()
     for field in sf.all_fields():
         if hasattr(speaker, field.name):
             setattr(sf, field.name, getattr(speaker, field.name))
     sf.check_initialized()
     return sf

 def _copySpeakerToForm(self, speaker):
     '''Copy relevant fields from Speaker to SpeakerForm'''
     speaker_form = SpeakerForm()
     for field in speaker_form.all_fields():
         if hasattr(speaker, field.name):
             setattr(speaker_form, field.name, getattr(speaker, field.name))
     speaker_form.check_initialized()
     return speaker_form

    def _copySpeakerToForm(self, spkr):
        """Copy relevant fields from Speaker to SpeakerForm."""
        sf = SpeakerForm()
        setattr(sf, "name", getattr(spkr, "name"))
        setattr(sf, "websafeKey", spkr.key.urlsafe())

        sf.check_initialized()
        return sf

 def _copySpeakerToForm(self, speak):
     """Copy relevant fields from Speaker to SpeakerForm."""
     sp = SpeakerForm()
     for field in sp.all_fields():
         if hasattr(speak, field.name):
             setattr(sp, field.name, getattr(speak, field.name))
         elif field.name == "speakerWebSafeKey":
             setattr(sp, field.name, speak.key.urlsafe())
     sp.check_initialized()
     return sp

 def _copySpeakerToForm(self, speaker):
     """Copy relevant fields from Speaker to SpeakerForm"""
     sf = SpeakerForm()
     for field in sf.all_fields():
         if hasattr(speaker, field.name):
             setattr(sf, field.name, getattr(speaker, field.name))
         elif field.name == "websafeKey":
             setattr(sf, field.name, speaker.key.urlsafe())
     sf.check_initialized()
     return sf

    def _copySpeakerToForm(self, speaker):
        # Get empty SessionForm
        sf = SpeakerForm()

        # Copy fields from Session to SessionForm
        for field in sf.all_fields():
            if hasattr(speaker, field.name):
                setattr(sf, field.name, getattr(speaker, field.name))
        sf.check_initialized()
        return sf

 def _copySpeakerToForm(self, speaker):
     """Copy speaker to form"""
     sp = SpeakerForm()
     for field in sp.all_fields():
         if hasattr(speaker, field.name):
             setattr(sp, field.name, getattr(speaker, field.name))
         elif field.name == "websafeKey":
             setattr(sp, field.name, speaker.key.urlsafe())
     sp.check_initialized()
     return sp

 def _copySpeakerToForm(self, speaker):
     sf = SpeakerForm()
     for field in sf.all_fields():
         print "Field %s" % field.name
         if hasattr(speaker, field.name):
             setattr(sf, field.name, str(getattr(speaker, field.name)))
         elif field.name == 'websafeKey':
             setattr(sf, field.name, speaker.key.urlsafe())
     sf.check_initialized()
     return sf

 def _copySpeakerToForm(self, speaker):
     """Copy relevant fields from Speaker to SpeakerForm."""
     form = SpeakerForm()
     if speaker is not None:
         setattr(form, 'websafeKey', speaker.key.urlsafe())
         for field in form.all_fields():
             if hasattr(speaker, field.name):
                 setattr(form, field.name, getattr(speaker, field.name))
         form.check_initialized()
     return form

    def _copySpeakerToForm(self, speaker):
        sf = SpeakerForm()
        for field in sf.all_fields():
            if hasattr(speaker, field.name):
                # convert Date to date string; just copy others
                setattr(sf, field.name, getattr(speaker, field.name))
            elif field.name == "websafeKey":
                setattr(sf, field.name, speaker.key.urlsafe())

        sf.check_initialized()
        return sf

 def getFeaturedSpeaker(self, request):
     """Returns the sessions of the featured speaker"""
     # attempt to get data from memcache
     data = memcache.get(MEMCACHE_FEATURED_SPEAKER_KEY)
     # copy relevant fields to SpeakerForm
     sf = SpeakerForm()
     for field in sf.all_fields():
         if data and data[field.name]:
             setattr(sf, field.name, str(data[field.name]))
     sf.check_initialized()
     return sf

 def _copySpeakerToForm(self, speaker):
     """Copy relevant fields from Speaker to SpeakerForm."""
     sf = SpeakerForm()
     for field in sf.all_fields():
         # retrieve speaker ID and display on SpeakerForm
         if field.name == 'speakerId':
             sf.speakerId = speaker.key.integer_id()
         # copy other fields
         elif hasattr(speaker, field.name):
             setattr(sf, field.name, getattr(speaker, field.name))
     sf.check_initialized()
     return sf