Django form validation with clean methods

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I use clean_<fieldname>() to validate individual fields and clean() to validate field combinations. Raising ValidationError shows the message to the user near the appropriate field. For cross-field validation (like 'end date must be after start date'), I override clean() and attach errors with add_error(). I keep validation logic in forms rather than models because it's often context-dependent. Using cleaned_data ensures I'm working with validated, type-converted values. This pattern keeps forms self-contained and easy to test.