What to define model for forms.ChoiceField in Django? - django

Question

I have made a form that contains a field like:
sex = forms.ChoiceField(choices= SEX)
Where:
SEX = (
('F','Female'),
('M','Male'),
('U','Unsure'),
)
Now I'm wondering how best the sex field should be defined the model? I know that it can be done like:
class UserProfile(models.Model):
user = models.ForeignKey('User')
sex = models.CharField(max_length=10)
But isn't there a better option than CharField?

Answer 1

You've set your choices up as strings so it should be a CharField(max_length=1, choices=SEX) in the model. You could then use a ModelForm instead of repeating all the logic in a separate form. For example:
# models.py
class MyModel(models.Model):
SEX_CHOICES = (
('F', 'Female',),
('M', 'Male',),
('U', 'Unsure',),
)
sex = models.CharField(
max_length=1,
choices=SEX_CHOICES,
)
# forms.py
class MyForm(forms.MyForm):
class Meta:
model = MyModel
fields = ['sex',]

Answer 2

Since Django 4.04
Now there is a more proper way to do it. Check it out.
Basically, you'll need to create a enum class like
class SexOptions(models.TextChoices):
FEMALE = 'F', 'Female'
MALE = 'M', 'Male'
UNSURE = 'U', 'Unsure'
class UserProfile(models.Model):
user = models.ForeignKey('User')
sex = models.CharField(max_length=1, choices=SexOptions.choices)
Old Answer
class UserProfile(models.Model):
SEX_FEMALE = 'F'
SEX_MALE = 'M'
SEX_UNSURE = 'U'
SEX_OPTIONS = (
(SEX_FEMALE, 'Female'),
(SEX_MALE, 'Male'),
(SEX_UNSURE, 'Unsure')
)
user = models.ForeignKey('User')
sex = models.CharField(max_length=1, choices=SEX_OPTIONS)
I do prefer this way, it's easier to reference the options inside your code.
UserProfile.objects.filter(sex__exact=UserProfile.SEX_UNSURE)