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Django admin does not call object's save method early enough

I have two apps in Django where one app's model (ScopeItem) on its instance creation must create an instance of the other app's model as well (Workflow); i.e. the ScopeItem contains it's workflow.
This works nicely when tried from the shell. Creating a new ScopeItem creates a Workflow and stores it in the ScopeItem. In admin I get an error, that the workflow attribute is required. The attribute is not filled in and the model definition requires it to be set. The overwritten save method though does this. Hence my question is, how to call save before the check in admin happens?
If I pick an existing Workflow instance in admin and save (successfully then), then I can see that my save method is called later and a new Workflow is created and attached to the ScopeItem instance. It is just called too late.
I am aware that I could allow empty workflow attributes in a ScopeItem or merge the ScopeItem and the Workflow class to avoid the issue with admin. Both would cause trouble later though and I like to avoid such hacks.
Also I do not want to duplicate code in save_item. Just calling save from there apparently does not cut it.
Here is the code from scopeitems/models.py:
class ScopeItem(models.Model):
title = models.CharField(max_length=64)
description = models.CharField(max_length=4000, null=True)
workflow = models.ForeignKey(Workflow)
def save(self, *args, **kwargs):
if not self.id:
workflow = Workflow(
description='ScopeItem %s workflow' % self.title,
status=Workflow.PENDING)
workflow.save()
self.workflow = workflow
super(ScopeItem, self).save(*args, **kwargs)
And workflow/models.py:
from django.utils.timezone import now
class Workflow(models.Model):
PENDING = 0
APPROVED = 1
CANCELLED = 2
STATUS_CHOICES = (
(PENDING, 'Pending'),
(APPROVED, 'Done'),
(CANCELLED, 'Cancelled'),
)
description = models.CharField(max_length=4000)
status = models.IntegerField(choices=STATUS_CHOICES)
approval_date = models.DateTimeField('date approved', null=True)
creation_date = models.DateTimeField('date created')
update_date = models.DateTimeField('date updated')
def save(self, *args, **kwargs):
if not self.id:
self.creation_date = now()
self.update_date = now()
super(Workflow, self).save(*args, **kwargs)
In scopeitems/admin.py I have:
from django.contrib import admin
from .models import ScopeItem
from workflow.models import Workflow
class ScopeItemAdmin(admin.ModelAdmin):
list_display = ('title', 'description', 'status')
list_filter = ('workflow__status', )
search_fields = ['title', 'description']
def save_model(self, request, obj, form, change):
obj.save()
def status(self, obj):
return Workflow.STATUS_CHOICES[obj.workflow.status][1]
admin.site.register(ScopeItem, ScopeItemAdmin)

You could set the field blank=True on workflow.
You said you don't want to allow "empty workflow attributes in a ScopeItem." Setting blank=True is purely validation-related. Thus, on the backend workflow will still be NOT NULL. From the Django docs:
If a field has blank=True, form validation will allow entry of an empty value.
Referring to your example you should be able to use:
workflow = models.ForeignKey(Workflow, blank=True)

You need to exclude the field from the form used in the admin, so that it won't be validated.
class ScopeItemForm(forms.ModelForm):
class Meta:
exclude = ('workflow',)
model = ScopeItem
class ScopeItemAdmin(admin.ModelAdmin):
form = ScopeItemForm
...
admin.site.register(ScopeItem, ScopeItemAdmin)

#Daniel Roseman's answer is correct as long as you don't need to edit the workflow field in admin at any time. If you do need to edit it then you'll need to write a custom clean() method on the admin form.
forms.py
class ScopeItemAdminForm(forms.ModelForm):
class Meta:
model = ScopeItem
def clean(self):
cleaned_data = super(ScopeItemAdminForm, self).clean()
if 'pk' not in self.instance:
workflow = Workflow(
description='ScopeItem %s workflow' % self.title,
status=Workflow.PENDING)
workflow.save()
self.workflow = workflow
return cleaned_data
admin.py
class ScopeItemAdmin(admin.ModelAdmin):
form = ScopeItemAdminForm
...
admin.site.register(ScopeItem, ScopeItemAdmin)

Answering my own question:
As #pcoronel suggested, the workflow attribute in ScopeItem must have blank=True set to get out of the form in the first place.
Overwriting the form's clean method as suggested by #hellsgate was also needed to create and store the new Workflow.
To prevent code duplication I added a function to workflow/models.py:
def create_workflow(title="N/A"):
workflow = Workflow(
description='ScopeItem %s workflow' % title,
status=Workflow.PENDING)
workflow.save()
return workflow
This makes the ScopeItemAdminForm look like this:
class ScopeItemAdminForm(forms.ModelForm):
class Meta:
model = ScopeItem
def clean(self):
cleaned_data = super(ScopeItemAdminForm, self).clean()
cleaned_data['workflow'] = create_workflow(cleaned_data['title'])
return cleaned_data
Additionally I changed the save method in scopeitems/models.py to:
def save(self, *args, **kwargs):
if not self.id:
if not self.workflow:
self.workflow = create_workflow(self.title)
super(ScopeItem, self).save(*args, **kwargs)

Django ModelChoiceField has no plus button

I'm making a Django app with custom users. I've outlined the key components of my problem below, missing code is denoted by '...'. My custom user model has a foreign key relationship as follows:
class MyCustomUser(models.AbstractBaseUser, models.PermissionsMixin)
...
location = models.ForeignKey(Location)
class Location(models.Model)
name = models.CharField(max_length=50, blank=True, null=True)
I've written a custom user form that includes this field as follows:
class MyCustomUserCreationForm(models.ModelForm)
...
location = forms.ModelChoiceField(Location.objects.all())
This all appears to be working correctly, however, there is no plus button to the right of the select field for location. I want to be able to add a location when I create a user, in the same way that you can add polls when creating choices in the Django tutorial. According to this question, I might not see the green plus if I don't have permission to change the model, but I am logged in as a superuser with all permissions. Any idea what I'm doing wrong?

You need to set a RelatedFieldWidgetWrapper wrapper in your model form:
The RelatedFieldWidgetWrapper (found in django.contrib.admin.widgets)
is used in the Admin pages to include the capability on a Foreign Key
control to add a new related record. (In English: puts the little green plus sign to the right of the control.)
class MyCustomUserCreationForm(models.ModelForm)
...
location = forms.ModelChoiceField(queryset=Location.objects.all())
def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
super(MyCustomUserCreationForm, self).__init__(*args, **kwargs)
rel = ManyToOneRel(self.instance.location.model, 'id')
self.fields['location'].widget = RelatedFieldWidgetWrapper(self.fields['location'].widget, rel, self.admin_site)
I could make a mistake in the example code, so see these posts and examples:
RelatedFieldWidgetWrapper
More RelatedFieldWidgetWrapper – My Very Own Popup
Django admin - How can I add the green plus sign for Many-to-many Field in custom admin form
How can I manually use RelatedFieldWidgetWrapper around a custom widget?
Django: override RelatedFieldWidgetWrapper

I have created method based on the answers above:
def add_related_field_wrapper(form, col_name):
rel_model = form.Meta.model
rel = rel_model._meta.get_field(col_name).rel
form.fields[col_name].widget =
RelatedFieldWidgetWrapper(form.fields[col_name].widget, rel,
admin.site, can_add_related=True, can_change_related=True)
And then calling this method from my form:
class FeatureForm(forms.ModelForm):
offer = forms.ModelChoiceField(queryset=Offer.objects.all(), required=False)
package = forms.ModelChoiceField(queryset=Package.objects.all(), required=False)
def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
super(FeatureForm, self).__init__(*args, **kwargs)
add_related_field_wrapper(self, 'offer')
add_related_field_wrapper(self, 'package')
That works fine on Django 1.8.2.

Google pointed me to this page when searching how to get a "+" icon next to fields in a custom form with ForeignKey relationship, so I thought I'd add.
For me, using django-autocomplete-light did the trick very well, using the "add another" functionality.

You don't even need to go that far, and besides, these answers are probably outdated as NONE of them worked for me in any capacity.
What I did to solve this is, as long as you have the ForeignKey field already in your model, then you can just create your custom ModelChoiceField:
class LocationModelChoiceField(forms.ModelChoiceField):
def label_from_instance(self, obj):
return "%" % (obj.name)
The key next is NOT to create a custom field for the ModelChoiceField in your ModelForm (ie location = forms.ModelChoiceField(Location.objects.all()))
In other words, leave that out and in your ModelForm have something like this:
class UserAdminForm(forms.ModelForm):
class Meta:
model = User
fields = '__all__'
Lastly, in your ModelAdmin:
class UserAdmin(admin.ModelAdmin):
model = User
form = UserAdminForm
def formfield_for_foreignkey(self, db_field, request, **kwargs):
if db_field.name == 'location':
return LocationModelChoiceField(queryset=Location.objects.order_by('name')) # if you want to alphabetize your query
return super().formfield_for_foreignkey(db_field, request, **kwargs)

Alternative Method : Using .remote_field instead of rel
def add_related_field_wrapper(self,form, col_name):
rel_model = form.Meta.model
rel = rel_model._meta.get_field(col_name).remote_field
form.fields[col_name].widget = RelatedFieldWidgetWrapper(form.fields[col_name].widget, rel, admin.site, can_add_related=True, can_change_related=True)
def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
super(CustomerAdminForm, self).__init__(*args, **kwargs)
self.add_related_field_wrapper(self, 'offer')
self.add_related_field_wrapper(self, 'package')
Thankyou,

How to set True as default value for BooleanField on Django?

I am using BooleanField in Django.
By default, the checkbox generated by it is unchecked state. I want the state to be checked by default. How do I do that?

If you're just using a vanilla form (not a ModelForm), you can set a Field initial value ( https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/2.2/ref/forms/fields/#django.forms.Field.initial ) like
class MyForm(forms.Form):
my_field = forms.BooleanField(initial=True)
If you're using a ModelForm, you can set a default value on the model field ( https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/2.2/ref/models/fields/#default ), which will apply to the resulting ModelForm, like
class MyModel(models.Model):
my_field = models.BooleanField(default=True)
Finally, if you want to dynamically choose at runtime whether or not your field will be selected by default, you can use the initial parameter to the form when you initialize it:
form = MyForm(initial={'my_field':True})

from django.db import models
class Foo(models.Model):
any_field = models.BooleanField(default=True)

I am using django==1.11. The answer get the most vote is actually wrong. Checking the document from django, it says:
initial -- A value to use in this Field's initial display. This value
is not used as a fallback if data isn't given.
And if you dig into the code of form validation process, you will find that, for each fields, form will call it's widget's value_from_datadict to get actual value, so this is the place where we can inject default value.
To do this for BooleanField, we can inherit from CheckboxInput, override default value_from_datadict and init function.
class CheckboxInput(forms.CheckboxInput):
def __init__(self, default=False, *args, **kwargs):
super(CheckboxInput, self).__init__(*args, **kwargs)
self.default = default
def value_from_datadict(self, data, files, name):
if name not in data:
return self.default
return super(CheckboxInput, self).value_from_datadict(data, files, name)
Then use this widget when creating BooleanField.
class ExampleForm(forms.Form):
bool_field = forms.BooleanField(widget=CheckboxInput(default=True), required=False)

In Django 3.0 the default value of a BooleanField in model.py is set like this:
class model_name(models.Model):
example_name = models.BooleanField(default=False)

I found the cleanest way of doing it is this.
Tested on Django 3.1.5
class MyForm(forms.Form):
my_boolean = forms.BooleanField(required=False, initial=True)
I found the answer here

Another way to check the default state in BooleanField is:
active = forms.BooleanField(
widget=forms.CheckboxInput(
attrs={
'checked': True
}
)
)

Both initial and default properties were not working for me, if that's your case try this:
class MyForm(forms.ModelForm):
validated = forms.BooleanField()
class Meta:
model = MyModel
fields = '__all__'
def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
super(MyForm, self).__init__(*args, **kwargs)
self.fields['validated'].widget.attrs['checked'] = True

I tried to change inital of BooleanField:
def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
super(UserConfirmForm,self).__init__(*args, **kwargs)
self.fields['bool_field'].initial = True
but it didn't work.
My solve:
def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
kwargs['initial'] = {'bool_field': True}
super(UserConfirmForm,self).__init__(*args, **kwargs)
It works like:
UserConfirmForm(initial={'bool_field':True})
but we can't call form in Generic editing views.
I think this is a great alternative to a regular call form object.

How to pass initial parameter to django's ModelForm instance?

The particular case I have is like this:
I have a Transaction model, with fields: from, to (both are ForeignKeys to auth.User model) and amount. In my form, I'd like to present the user 2 fields to fill in: amount and from (to will be automaticly set to current user in a view function).
Default widget to present a ForeignKey is a select-box. But what I want to get there, is limit the choices to the user.peers queryset members only (so people can only register transactions with their peers and don't get flooded with all system users).
I tried to change the ModelForm to something like this:
class AddTransaction(forms.ModelForm):
from = ModelChoiceField(user.peers)
amount = forms.CharField(label = 'How much?')
class Meta:
model = models.Transaction
But it seems I have to pass the queryset of choices for ModelChoiceField right here - where I don't have an access to the web request.user object.
How can I limit the choices in a form to the user-dependent ones?

Use the following method (hopefully it's clear enough):
class BackupForm(ModelForm):
"""Form for adding and editing backups."""
def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
systemid = kwargs.pop('systemid')
super(BackupForm, self).__init__(*args, **kwargs)
self.fields['units'] = forms.ModelMultipleChoiceField(
required=False,
queryset=Unit.objects.filter(system__id=systemid),
widget=forms.SelectMultiple(attrs={'title': _("Add unit")}))
class Meta:
model = Backup
exclude = ('system',)
Create forms like this:
form_backup = BackupForm(request.POST,
instance=Backup,
systemid=system.id)
form_backup = BackupForm(initial=form_backup_defaults,
systemid=system.id)
Hope that helps! Let me know if you need me to explain more in depth.

I ran into this problem as well, and this was my solution:
class ChangeEmailForm(forms.ModelForm):
def __init__(self, user, *args, **kwargs):
self.user = user
super(ChangeEmailForm, self).__init__(*args, **kwargs)
self.fields['email'].initial = user.email
class Meta:
model = User
fields = ('email',)
def save(self, commit=True):
self.user.email = self.cleaned_data['email']
if commit:
self.user.save()
return self.user

Pass the user into the __init__ of the form, and then call super(…). Then set self.fields['from'].queryset to user.peers

Changing case (upper/lower) on adding data through Django admin site

I'm configuring the admin site of my new project, and I have a little doubt on how should I do for, on hitting 'Save' when adding data through the admin site, everything is converted to upper case...
Edit: Ok I know the .upper property, and I I did a view, I would know how to do it, but I'm wondering if there is any property available for the field configuration on the admin site :P

If your goal is to only have things converted to upper case when saving in the admin section, you'll want to create a form with custom validation to make the case change:
class MyArticleAdminForm(forms.ModelForm):
class Meta:
model = Article
def clean_name(self):
return self.cleaned_data["name"].upper()
If your goal is to always have the value in uppercase, then you should override save in the model field:
class Blog(models.Model):
name = models.CharField(max_length=100)
def save(self, force_insert=False, force_update=False):
self.name = self.name.upper()
super(Blog, self).save(force_insert, force_update)

Updated example from documentation suggests using args, kwargs to pass through as:
Django will, from time to time, extend the capabilities of built-in
model methods, adding new arguments. If you use *args, **kwargs in
your method definitions, you are guaranteed that your code will
automatically support those arguments when they are added.
class Blog(models.Model):
name = models.CharField(max_length=100)
tagline = models.TextField()
def save(self, *args, **kwargs):
do_something()
super(Blog, self).save( *args, **kwargs) # Call the "real" save() method.
do_something_else()

you have to override save(). An example from the documentation:
class Blog(models.Model):
name = models.CharField(max_length=100)
tagline = models.TextField()
def save(self, force_insert=False, force_update=False):
do_something()
super(Blog, self).save(force_insert, force_update) # Call the "real" save() method.
do_something_else()