diff --git a/apps/common/forms.py b/apps/common/forms.py
index 00f1c386aa..cf405dbcfd 100644
--- a/apps/common/forms.py
+++ b/apps/common/forms.py
@@ -1,5 +1,3 @@
-import types
-
 from django import forms 
 from django.utils.safestring import mark_safe
 from django.utils.translation import ugettext as _
@@ -7,22 +5,8 @@ from django.db import models
 from django.conf import settings
 
 
-def return_attrib(obj, attrib, arguments=None):
-    try:
-        result = reduce(getattr, attrib.split("."), obj)
-        if isinstance(result, types.MethodType):
-            if arguments:
-                return result(**arguments)
-            else:
-                return result()
-        else:
-            return result
-    except Exception, err:
-        if settings.DEBUG:
-            return "Attribute error: %s; %s" % (attrib, err)
-        else:
-            pass
-
+from common.utils import return_attrib
+           
 
 class DetailSelectMultiple(forms.widgets.SelectMultiple):
     def __init__(self, queryset=None, *args, **kwargs):
@@ -76,7 +60,8 @@ class DetailForm(forms.ModelForm):
                 else:
                     self.fields[extra_field['field']]=forms.CharField(
                         label=extra_field['label'],
-                        initial=getattr(self.instance, extra_field['field'], None),
+                        #initial=getattr(self.instance, extra_field['field'], None),
+                        initial=return_attrib(self.instance, extra_field['field'], None),
                         widget=PlainWidget)
 
         for field_name, field in self.fields.items():
diff --git a/apps/common/templatetags/attribute_tags.py b/apps/common/templatetags/attribute_tags.py
index 949ae2eaf4..51807faf60 100644
--- a/apps/common/templatetags/attribute_tags.py
+++ b/apps/common/templatetags/attribute_tags.py
@@ -1,34 +1,11 @@
-import types
-
 from django.core.urlresolvers import reverse
-from django.conf import settings
 from django.template.defaultfilters import stringfilter
 from django.template import Library, Node, Variable, VariableDoesNotExist
 
+from common.utils import return_attrib
 
 register = Library()
 
-def return_attrib(obj, attrib, arguments={}):
-    try:
-        if isinstance(obj, types.DictType) or isinstance(obj, types.DictionaryType):
-            return obj[attrib]
-        elif isinstance(attrib, types.FunctionType):
-            return attrib(obj)
-        else:
-            result = reduce(getattr, attrib.split("."), obj)
-            if isinstance(result, types.MethodType):
-                if arguments:
-                    return result(**arguments)
-                else:
-                    return result()
-            else:
-                return result
-    except Exception, err:
-        if settings.DEBUG:
-            return "Error: %s; %s" % (attrib, err)
-        else:
-            pass
-
 @register.filter
 def object_property(value, arg):
     return return_attrib(value, arg)
diff --git a/apps/common/utils.py b/apps/common/utils.py
index 2ba7e0b7ca..7e41ae160d 100644
--- a/apps/common/utils.py
+++ b/apps/common/utils.py
@@ -1,6 +1,10 @@
+import types
+
 from django.utils.http import urlquote  as django_urlquote
 from django.utils.http import urlencode as django_urlencode
 from django.utils.datastructures import MultiValueDict
+from django.conf import settings
+
 
 def urlquote(link=None, get={}):
     u'''
@@ -38,3 +42,25 @@ def urlquote(link=None, get={}):
         return u'%s%s' % (link, django_urlencode(get, doseq=True))
     else:
         return django_urlquote(link)
+
+
+def return_attrib(obj, attrib, arguments={}):
+    try:
+        if isinstance(obj, types.DictType) or isinstance(obj, types.DictionaryType):
+            return obj[attrib]
+        elif isinstance(attrib, types.FunctionType):
+            return attrib(obj)
+        else:
+            result = reduce(getattr, attrib.split("."), obj)
+            if isinstance(result, types.MethodType):
+                if arguments:
+                    return result(**arguments)
+                else:
+                    return result()
+            else:
+                return result
+    except Exception, err:
+        if settings.DEBUG:
+            return "Attribute error: %s; %s" % (attrib, err)
+        else:
+            pass