Easy to use mixin to get a paginated detail page using django's generic views.

views.py

from django.db.models import Q
from django.db.models.sql.query import get_order_dir


# Taken from: https://gist.github.com/dokterbob/1004216
def get_next_or_previous(qs, item, next=True):
    """
    Get the next or previous object in the queryset, with regards to the
    item specified.
    """
    # If we want the previous object, reverse the default ordering
    if next:
        default_ordering = 'ASC'
    else:
        default_ordering = 'DESC'

    # First, determine the ordering. This code is from get_ordering() in
    # django.db.sql.compiler
    if qs.query.extra_order_by:
        ordering = qs.query.extra_order_by
    elif not qs.query.default_ordering:
        ordering = qs.query.order_by
    else:
        ordering = qs.query.order_by or qs.query.model._meta.ordering

    assert not ordering == '?', 'This makes no sense for random ordering.'

    query_filter = None
    for field in ordering:
        # Account for possible reverse ordering
        field, direction = get_order_dir(field, default_ordering)

        item_value = getattr(item, field)

        # Either make sure we filter increased values or lesser values
        # depending on the sort order
        if direction == 'ASC':
            filter_dict = {'%s__gt' % field: item_value}
        else:
            filter_dict = {'%s__lt' % field: item_value}

        # Make sure we nicely or the conditions for the queryset
        if query_filter:
            query_filter = query_filter | Q(**filter_dict)
        else:
            query_filter = Q(**filter_dict)

    # Reverse the order if we're looking for previous items
    if default_ordering == 'DESC':
        qs = qs.reverse()

    # Filter the queryset
    qs = qs.filter(query_filter)

    # Return either the next/previous item or None if not existent
    try:
        return qs[0]
    except IndexError:
        return None


class GetNextAndPreviousMixin(object):
    '''
    Mix this into a ``django.views.generic.DetailView`` and get a
    ``{{ previous_object }}`` and ``{{ next_object }}`` based on the currently
    used queryset. So you want probably want to use the same queryset ordering
    as in the list view.
    '''
    def get_context_data(self, **kwargs):
        queryset = self.get_queryset()

        kwargs['previous_object'] = get_next_or_previous(
            queryset,
            self.object,
            next=False)
        kwargs['next_object'] = get_next_or_previous(
            queryset,
            self.object,
            next=True)

        context_object_name = self.get_context_object_name(self.object)
        previous_name = 'previous_{}'.format(context_object_name)
        next_name = 'next_{}'.format(context_object_name)
        kwargs[previous_name] = kwargs['previous_object']
        kwargs[next_name] = kwargs['next_object']

        return super(GetNextAndPreviousMixin, self).get_context_data(**kwargs)