I'm new to Django (and it's been a few years since I played with databases), and might be dancing around something simple that I don't know what to google.
Essentially, I want to have a table of "Events" which can contain data of various Types. Say one event is an "alarm" and another is a "message." The "alarm" type needs different fields than the "message" so it seems to make sense to not store the data in one big table containing any sort of data that might be needed for any event. However, I want to be able to get a list of all events for a given "event_block" foreign key.
I have done some reading about abstract models and proxies, etc, but I haven't been able to figure out how one Model can refer to an abstract model (if that is in fact the path to take).
models.py:
class Event(models.Model):
#id auto-generated primary_key
event_block = models.ForeignKey(Block, on_delete=models.CASCADE)
event_data = BaseEvent # This is wrong, but what is right?
class BaseEvent(Models.model):
class Meta:
abstract=True
... common event info ...
class AlarmEvent(BaseEvent):
... event info for alarms ...
class MessageEvent(BaseEvent):
... event info for messages ...
Ideally I would be able to, in my template, create a drop down box with all available event_types and then click a "submit" button the form to create that event (with its necessary event data fields) within my Event model and let Django handle the details of how that is handled in the database tables.
What am I missing?
Firstly, This is appropriate with the Event model
class Event(models.Model):
event_block = models.ForeignKey(Block, on_delete=models.CASCADE)
event_data = models.ForeignKey(BaseEvent)
However... BaseEvent with abstract=True does not physically exist but its children AlarmEvent and MessageEvent does. So I am not sure you can point BaseEvent as a ForeignKey. This post about generic foreign key may help.
Secondly about the structure of models. IMO, things can be simpler without abstract mother class. How about a model with category field?
CATEGORY = ( ('field1', 'field name 1'), ('field2', 'field name 2'), )
class Event(models.Model):
category = models.CharField(max_length=10, choices=CATEGORY)
# SOME OTHER FIELDS...
you can see a form of the model via django admin in default.
What is the reason for those separate tables? Are you going to query them directly? Are these events supposed to share data?
If answers to these questions are "I'm not sure" (or even better "no") then how about (instead of creating separate tables) you keep all the data on Event model directly? Something like
class Event(models.Model):
#id auto-generated primary_key
event_block = models.ForeignKey(Block, on_delete=models.CASCADE)
event_data = models.TextField()
and keep the data in event_data field in serialized format (e.g. JSON). Or you can use some plugin, e.g. https://github.com/bradjasper/django-jsonfield for JSONField.
Some common fields can be separated, for example:
class Event(models.Model):
#id auto-generated primary_key
event_block = models.ForeignKey(Block, on_delete=models.CASCADE)
event_type = models.CharField(max_length=2)
event_data = models.TextField()
Related
I am running into a little bit of unique problem and wanted to see which solution fit best practice or if I was missing anything in my design.
I have a model - it has a field on it that represents a metric. That metric is a foreign key to an object which can come from several database tables.
Idea one:
Multiple ForeignKey fields. I'll have the benefits of the cascade options, direct access to the foreign key model instance from MyModel, (although that's an easy property to add), and the related lookups. Pitfalls include needing to check an arbitrary number of fields on the model for a FK. Another is logic to make sure that only one FK field has a value at a given time (easy to check presave) although .update poses a problem. Then theres added space in the database from all of the columns, although that is less concerning.
class MyModel(models.Model):
source_one = models.ForeignKey(
SourceOne,
null=True,
blank=True,
on_delete=models.SET_NULL,
db_index=True
)
source_two = models.ForeignKey(
SourceTwo,
null=True,
blank=True,
on_delete=models.SET_NULL,
db_index=True
)
source_three = models.ForeignKey(
SourceThree,
null=True,
blank=True,
on_delete=models.SET_NULL,
db_index=True
)
Idea two:
Store a source_id and source on the model. Biggest concern I have with this is needing to maintain logic to set these fields to null if the source is deleted. It otherwise seems like a cleaner solution, but not sure if the overhead to make sure the data is accurate is worth it. I can probably write some logic in a delete hook on the fk models to clean MyModel up if necessary.
class MyModel(models.Model):
ONE = 1
TWO = 2
THREE = 3
SOURCES = (
(ONE, "SourceOne"),
(TWO, "SourceTwo"),
(THREE, "SourceThree")
)
source_id = models.PositiveIntegerField(null=True, blank=True)
source = models.PositiveIntegerField(null=True, blank=True, choices=SOURCES)
I would love the communities opinion.
Your second idea seems fragile as the integrity is not ensured by the database as you have pointed out yourself.
Without knowing more about the use case, it's difficult to provide an enlightened advice however if your "metric" object is refered by many other tables, I wonder if you should consider approaching this the other way round, i.e. defining the relationships from the models consuming this metric.
To exemplify, let's say that your project is a photo gallery and that your model represents a tag. Tags could be associated to photos, photo albums or users (e.g.. the tags they want to follow).
The approach would be as follow:
class Tag(models.Model):
pass
class Photo(models.Model):
tags = models.ManyToManyField(Tag)
class Album(models.Model):
tags = models.ManyToManyField(Tag)
class User(AbstractUser):
followed_tags = models.ManyToManyField(Tag)
You may even consider to factor in this relationship in an abstract model as outlined below:
class Tag(models.Model):
pass
class TaggedModel(models.Model):
tags = models.ManyToManyField(Tag)
class Meta:
abstract = True
class Photo(TaggedModel):
pass
As mentioned in the comments, you are looking for a Generic Relation:
from django.contrib.contenttypes.fields import GenericForeignKey
from django.contrib.contenttypes.models import ContentType
class SourceA(models.Model):
name = models.CharField(max_length=45)
class SourceB(models.Model):
name = models.CharField(max_length=45)
class MyModel(models.Model):
content_type = models.ForeignKey(ContentType, on_delete=models.CASCADE)
object_id = models.PositiveIntegerField()
source = GenericForeignKey('content_type', 'object_id')
There are three parts to setting up a Generic Relation:
Give your model a ForeignKey to ContentType. The usual name for this field is “content_type”.
Give your model a field that can store primary key values from the models you’ll be relating to. For most models, this means a PositiveIntegerField. The usual name for this field is “object_id”.
Give your model a GenericForeignKey, and pass it the names of the two fields described above. If these fields are named “content_type” and “object_id”, you can omit this – those are the default field names GenericForeignKey will look for.
Now you can pass any Source instance to the source field of MyModel, regardless of which model it belongs to:
source_a = SourceA.objects.first()
source_b = SourceB.objects.first()
MyModel.objects.create(source=source_a)
MyModel.objects.create(source=source_b)
Here's a version of my models.py file. I've removed irrelevant fields and the model names are made up, for security reasons:
class FilmStudio(models.Model):
name = models.CharField(max_length=200, unique=True)
class ProductionCompany(models.Model):
name = models.CharField(max_length=200)
film_studio = models.ForeignKey(FilmStudio)
class Meta:
# Ensure that a given combination of ProductionCompany name and FilmStudio object is unique
unique_together = ('name', 'film_studio')
class Film(models.Model):
title = models.CharField(max_length=200)
production_company = models.ForeignKey(ProductionCompany)
class Actor(models.Model):
name = models.CharField(max_length=200)
films = models.ManyToManyField(Film, blank=True)
Although it is not explicitly defined, there is a many-to-many relationship between an Actor and a FilmStudio. This is evidenced by the following call to the Python API:
FilmStudio.objects.filter(productioncompany__film__actor__name='Samuel L. Jackson').distinct()
This returns all of the FilmStudio objects which Samuel L. Jackson is related to, and each one only once. What I'd like is to define extra fields on the relationship between an Actor and a FilmStudio (it doesn't work too well in this example, I know, but it makes sense for my scenario).
Following what is described in Extra fields on many-to-many relationships, I could use an intermediate model to define extra fields on the relationship between a Film and an Actor, for instance.
But this doesn't seem to help me with my problem. I don't want to define the Actor to FilmStudio relationship explicitly, since it's an existing relationship based on other relationships.
Is it possible to define fields on the relationship that I'm describing?
As far as I know, you are not able to do that.
The reason for that is that it is nowhere to store the extra fields of that relationship. If I understand you correctly, these "extra fields" are not implicit in the actor-film or productionstudio-film relationships, so even though you say they are implicit, the extra fields themselves are explicit.
You could try to emulate it by creating an explicit direct relationship whenever it is needed. Then you could simulate the extra fields using the model as an abstraction, but I am not sure if this is what you want. If you opt for this kind of solution you can use default values (in your abstraction) for filling in relationships that don't have a instance yet.
Does that explanation make sense to you?
EDIT:
(I have not double checked that the code works, so be vary)
OK, so you have the original models:
class FilmStudio(models.Model):
name = models.CharField(max_length=200, unique=True)
class ProductionCompany(models.Model):
name = models.CharField(max_length=200)
film_studio = models.ForeignKey(FilmStudio)
class Meta:
# Ensure that a given combination of ProductionCompany name and FilmStudio object is unique
unique_together = ('name', 'film_studio')
class Film(models.Model):
title = models.CharField(max_length=200)
production_company = models.ForeignKey(ProductionCompany)
class Actor(models.Model):
name = models.CharField(max_length=200)
films = models.ManyToManyField(Film, blank=True)
# The "solution" would be:
class ActorProductionComapny(models.Model):
production_company = models.ForeignKey(ProductionCompany, related_name='actors')
actor = models.ForeignKey(Actor, related_name='companies')
# your extra fields here
someproperty = models.CharField(max_length=200)
class Meta:
# let's say one per actor
unique_together = ('production_company', 'actor')
This is going to get messy really quickly
We use a F object like this:
FilmStudio.objects.filter(productioncompany__film__actor__name='Samuel L. Jackson',
productioncompany__film__actor=F('actors__actor'),
actors__someproperty="Plays poker with CEO").distinct()
The tricky part is going to be handling default values (i.e. when there is no value) This would have to be implemented using a custom Manager, but then I am out of my depth.
I will try to explain as well as I can, but it's going to be tricky.
If you want to make a filter on the relationship you may have to do something like this:
def filter_prod(pq_query, someproperty, actor_name):
if someproperty == "Default":
# Great, this means we can ignore the parallel relationship:
return pq_query.filter(productioncompany__film__actor__name=actor_name)
else:
# Here comes the hard part
FilmStudio.objects.filter(productioncompany__film__actor__name=actor_name,
productioncompany__film__actor=F('actors__actor'),
actors__someproperty=someproperty).distinct()
The thing I am trying to illustrate here is that there are two kinds of actor-productioncompany relationships, those with custom field values (non-default), and those without.
Now, you can make a custom getter that looks something like this:
class ProductionCompany(models.Model):
name = models.CharField(max_length=200)
film_studio = models.ForeignKey(FilmStudio)
def get_actors(self):
# This one is not lazy, so be aware
actors = list(self.actors)
# Get a list of actor IDs
actor_ids = [a.actor_id for a in actors]
for actor in Actor.objects.filter(films__production_company_id=self.id):
if actor.id not in actor_ids:
actors.append(ActorProductionComapny(actor=actor, production_company=self)
actor_ids.append(actor.id)
return actors
class Meta:
# Ensure that a given combination of ProductionCompany name and FilmStudio object is unique
unique_together = ('name', 'film_studio')
This should not save the relationship to the database until you call .save() on an instance. You can also add a custom save method that ignores/aports .save() calls where all the values are default. Just remember to check if it is a new instance or not, because you don't want it to cancel a "set back to default" call. You could also make it delete on a "set back to default", but check if you are allowed to do that within .save().
For even more complex queries (mix of default and non-default) you have Q-objects (further down on the page from F objects)
In short, you need to create an extra model to store this extra relational data between Actor and FilmStudio.
class Actor(models.Model):
name = models.CharField(max_length=200)
films = models.ManyToManyField(Film, blank=True)
film_studios = models.ManyToMany(FilmStudio, through='ActorFilmStudio')
class ActorFilmStudio(models.Model):
actor = models.ForeignKey(Actor)
film_studio = models.ForeignKey(FilmStudio)
# define extra data fields here
data1 = models.TextField()
data2 = models.IntegerField()
One way to think about this: the data you're trying to store belongs to an Actor-FilmStudio relation, and is not related in anyway to Film or ProductionCompany.
Your existing ability to retrieve the a set of Actors for a given FilmStudio (or vice-versa) does not necessarily imply you can store relational data belonging to these two models using the models defined in your example.
Keep in mind that each of the models you defined in your example are backed by a table in your database. In the case of Actor.films field, Django creates an extra table to store the many-to-many relationship data.
Since you're looking to store relational data between Actor and FilmStudio, you need to consider where the data will be stored in your database. Can you store the data in the Film model? or the ProductionCompany model?
I have some models that represents some companies and their structure. Also all models can generate some Notifications (Notes). User can see own Notes, and, of course, can't see others.
class Note(models.Model):
text = models.CharField(...)
class Company(models.Model):
user = models.ForeignKey(User)
note = models.ManyToManyField(Note, blank='True', null='True')
class Department(models.Model):
company = models.ForeignKey(Company)
note = models.ManyToManyField(Note, blank='True', null='True')
class Worker(models.Model):
department = models.ForeignKey(Department)
note = models.ManyToManyField(Note, blank='True', null='True')
class Document(models.Model)
company = models.ForeignKey(Company)
note = models.ManyToManyField(Note, blank='True', null='True')
The question is how I can collect all Notes for particular user to show them?
I can do:
Note.objects.filter(worker__company__user=2)
But its only for Notes that was generated by Workers. What about another? I can try hardcoded all existing models, but if do so dozen of kittens will die!
I also tried to use backward lookups but got "do not support nested lookups". May be I did something wrong.
EDIT:
As I mentioned above I know how to do this by enumerating all models (Company, Worker, etc. ). But if I will create a new model (in another App for example) that also can generate Notes, I have to change code in the View in another App, and that's not good.
You can get the Notes of a user by using the following query:
For example let us think that a user's id is 1 and we want to keep it in variable x so that we can use it in query. So the code will be like this:
>>x = 1
>>Note.objects.filter(Q(**{'%s_id' % 'worker__department__company__user' : x})|Q(**{'%s_id' % 'document__company__user' : x})|Q(**{'%s_id' % 'company__user' : x})|Q(**{'%s_id' % 'department__company__user' : x})).distinct()
Here I am running OR operation using Q and distinct() at the end of the query to remove duplicates.
EDIT:
As I mentioned above I know how to do this by enumerating all models
(Company, Worker, etc. ). But if I will create a new model (in another
App for example) that also can generate Notes, I have to change code
in the View in another App, and that's not good.
In my opinion, if you write another model, how are you suppose to get the notes from that model without adding new query? Here each class (ie. Department, Worker) are separately connected to Company and each of the classes has its own m2m relation with Note and there is no straight connection to User with Note's of other classes(except Company). Another way could be using through but for that you have change the existing model definitions.
Another Solution:
As you have mentioned in comments, you are willing to change the model structure if it makes your query easier, then you can try the following solution:
class BaseModel(models.Model):
user = models.Foreignkey(User)
note = models.ManyToManyField(Note)
reports_to = models.ForeignKey('self', null=True, default=None)
class Company(BaseModel):
class Meta:
proxy = True
class Document(BaseModel):
class Meta:
proxy = True
#And so on.....
Advantages: No need to create separate table for document/company etc.
object creation:
>>c= Company.objects.create(user_id=1)
>>c.note.add(Note.objects.create(text='Hello'))
>>d = Document.objects.create(user_id=1, related_to=c)
>>d.note.add(Note.objects.create(text='Hello World'))
I am working with an existing database that I can not modify and having some trouble trying to deal with presenting forms for modifying the database in Django. The structure in question is as follows and all models are unmanaged.
class Persons(models.Model):
personid = models.BigIntegerField(primary_key=True, db_column='PersonID')
....
class Phones(models.Model):
phoneid = models.BigIntegerField(primary_key=True, db_column='PhoneID')
number = models.CharField(max_length=60, db_column='Number', blank=True)
type = models.CharField(max_length=15, db_column='Type', blank=True)
...
class Personsphones(models.Model):
personphoneid = models.BigIntegerField(primary_key=True, db_column='PersonPhoneID')
personid = models.ForeignKey(Persons, db_column='PersonID')
phoneid = models.ForeignKey(Phones, db_column='PhoneID')
...
I want to create a form to display all of the 'Phones' associated with a particular 'Persons' and in addition be able to modify/add/remove 'Phones' belonging to a 'Persons'. Right now the only thing I can think of is to display the 'Phones' in a modelformset and then if one is added or removed manually set the 'Personsphones' relation. Any ideas on how to best deal with this model setup?
For making changes to your models you may want to use django-south http://south.aeracode.org/docs/
As far as displaying your 'Phone' under your forms.py you may want to set up class meta like so. With this any changes made to models will reflect on change
class Meta:
model = Persons
exclude = ('user')
In models you may want to use Foreignkey fore relationships between phones and Persons. Better seen in action here https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/dev/ref/models/fields/#foreignkey
I have two models:
class Actor(models.Model):
name = models.CharField(max_length=30, unique = True)
event = models.ManyToManyField(Event, blank=True, null=True)
class Event(models.Model):
name = models.CharField(max_length=30, unique = True)
long_description = models.TextField(blank=True, null=True)
I want to create a form that allows me to identify the link between the two models when I add a new entry. This works:
class ActorForm(forms.ModelForm):
class Meta:
model = Actor
The form includes both name and event, allowing me to create a new Actor and simultaneous link it to an existing Event.
On the flipside,
class EventForm(forms.ModelForm):
class Meta:
model = Event
This form does not include an actor association. So I am only able to create a new Event. I can't simultaneously link it to an existing Actor.
I tried to create an inline formset:
EventFormSet = forms.models.inlineformset_factory(Event,
Actor,
can_delete = False,
extra = 2,
form = ActorForm)
but I get an error
<'class ctg.dtb.models.Actor'> has no ForeignKey to <'class ctg.dtb.models.Event'>
This isn't too surprising. The inlineformset worked for another set of models I had, but this is a different example. I think I'm going about it entirely wrong.
Overall question: How can I create a form that allows me to create a new Event and link it to an existing Actor?
Personally, I would put the ManyToMany on Event to begin with, but to each their own...
As for how to do it, you'd want to write a custom ModelForm (not an inline formset), let's call it EventForm. It would handle all of your event's fields and would also have a ModelChoiceField or ModelMultipleChoiceField to allow selection of the Actor(s) involved. Then in your view you would split out the processing of the Event fields and the ForeignKey/M2M field.
Make sense? alt text http://sonicloft.net/im/52