Effectively use Multi-table inheritance (one-to-one relationships) - django

Question

I need several models that inherit from a base class in a one-to-one relationship. In keeping with the Django example:
from django.db import models
class Place(models.Model):
name = models.CharField(max_length=50)
class Restaurant(Place):
serves_hot_dogs = models.BooleanField(default=False)
serves_pizza = models.BooleanField(default=False)
class Garage(Place):
car_brands_serviced = Models.ManyToManyField(Brands)
class Boutique(Place):
for = Models.ChoiceField(choices=( ("m", "men"), ("w", "women"), ("k","kids"))
# etc
Now how do I effectively distinguish between the various types of Places when I iterated them in a template (or view function)? Right now, I only see this solution (if I want to iterate over Places, rather than child models individually):
for place in Place.objects.all():
try:
r = place.restaurant
# Do restaurant stuff here
except ObjectDoesNotExist:
try:
g = place.garage
# Do garage stuff here
except ObjectDoesNotExist:
try:
b = place.boutique
# Do boutique stuff here
except ObjectDoesNotExist:
# Place is not specified
Not even sure how that would translate to a template, but this code seems very wrong and inefficient.
As an escape, I guess you could make a choicefield in Place to track which child model is related, but that equates to dangerous denormalisation.
Am I somehow overthinking this? How do you do this?

Answer 1

Could it be something simple like:
models.py:
from django.db import models
class Place(models.Model):
name = models.CharField(max_length=50)
class Restaurant(Place):
serves_hot_dogs = models.BooleanField(default=False)
serves_pizza = models.BooleanField(default=False)
is_restaurant = True
class Garage(Place):
car_brands_serviced = Models.ManyToManyField(Brands)
is_garage = True
A template could work like this – template.html:
{% for place in places %}
{% if place.is_restaurant %}
<!-- Restaurant Stuff -->
{% elif place.is_garage %}
<!-- Garage Stuff -->
{% endif %}
{% endfor %}