======= Signals ======= .. module:: django.dispatch :synopsis: Signal dispatch Django includes a "signal dispatcher" which helps allow decoupled applications get notified when actions occur elsewhere in the framework. In a nutshell, signals allow certain *senders* to notify a set of *receivers* that some action has taken place. They're especially useful when many pieces of code may be interested in the same events. Django provides a :doc:`set of built-in signals ` that let user code get notified by Django itself of certain actions. These include some useful notifications: * :data:`django.db.models.signals.pre_save` & :data:`django.db.models.signals.post_save` Sent before or after a model's :meth:`~django.db.models.Model.save` method is called. * :data:`django.db.models.signals.pre_delete` & :data:`django.db.models.signals.post_delete` Sent before or after a model's :meth:`~django.db.models.Model.delete` method is called. * :data:`django.db.models.signals.m2m_changed` Sent when a :class:`ManyToManyField` on a model is changed. * :data:`django.core.signals.request_started` & :data:`django.core.signals.request_finished` Sent when Django starts or finishes an HTTP request. See the :doc:`built-in signal documentation ` for a complete list, and a complete explanation of each signal. You can also `define and send your own custom signals`_; see below. .. _define and send your own custom signals: `defining and sending signals`_ Listening to signals ==================== To receive a signal, you need to register a *receiver* function that gets called when the signal is sent by using the :meth:`.Signal.connect` method: .. method:: Signal.connect(receiver, [sender=None, weak=True, dispatch_uid=None]) :param receiver: The callback function which will be connected to this signal. See :ref:`receiver-functions` for more information. :param sender: Specifies a particular sender to receive signals from. See :ref:`connecting-to-specific-signals` for more information. :param weak: Django stores signal handlers as weak references by default. Thus, if your receiver is a local function, it may be garbage collected. To prevent this, pass ``weak=False`` when you call the signal's ``connect()`` method. :param dispatch_uid: A unique identifier for a signal receiver in cases where duplicate signals may be sent. See :ref:`preventing-duplicate-signals` for more information. Let's see how this works by registering a signal that gets called after each HTTP request is finished. We'll be connecting to the :data:`~django.core.signals.request_finished` signal. .. _receiver-functions: Receiver functions ------------------ First, we need to define a receiver function. A receiver can be any Python function or method: .. code-block:: python def my_callback(sender, **kwargs): print "Request finished!" Notice that the function takes a ``sender`` argument, along with wildcard keyword arguments (``**kwargs``); all signal handlers must take these arguments. We'll look at senders `a bit later`_, but right now look at the ``**kwargs`` argument. All signals send keyword arguments, and may change those keyword arguments at any time. In the case of :data:`~django.core.signals.request_finished`, it's documented as sending no arguments, which means we might be tempted to write our signal handling as ``my_callback(sender)``. .. _a bit later: `connecting to signals sent by specific senders`_ This would be wrong -- in fact, Django will throw an error if you do so. That's because at any point arguments could get added to the signal and your receiver must be able to handle those new arguments. .. _connecting-receiver-functions: Connecting receiver functions ----------------------------- There are two ways you can connect a receiver to a signal. You can take the manual connect route: .. code-block:: python from django.core.signals import request_finished request_finished.connect(my_callback) Alternatively, you can use a ``receiver`` decorator when you define your receiver: .. code-block:: python from django.core.signals import request_finished from django.dispatch import receiver @receiver(request_finished) def my_callback(sender, **kwargs): print "Request finished!" Now, our ``my_callback`` function will be called each time a request finishes. .. versionadded:: 1.3 The ``receiver`` decorator was added in Django 1.3. .. admonition:: Where should this code live? You can put signal handling and registration code anywhere you like. However, you'll need to make sure that the module it's in gets imported early on so that the signal handling gets registered before any signals need to be sent. This makes your app's ``models.py`` a good place to put registration of signal handlers. .. _connecting-to-specific-signals: Connecting to signals sent by specific senders ---------------------------------------------- Some signals get sent many times, but you'll only be interested in receiving a certain subset of those signals. For example, consider the :data:`django.db.models.signals.pre_save` signal sent before a model gets saved. Most of the time, you don't need to know when *any* model gets saved -- just when one *specific* model is saved. In these cases, you can register to receive signals sent only by particular senders. In the case of :data:`django.db.models.signals.pre_save`, the sender will be the model class being saved, so you can indicate that you only want signals sent by some model: .. code-block:: python from django.db.models.signals import pre_save from django.dispatch import receiver from myapp.models import MyModel @receiver(pre_save, sender=MyModel) def my_handler(sender, **kwargs): ... The ``my_handler`` function will only be called when an instance of ``MyModel`` is saved. Different signals use different objects as their senders; you'll need to consult the :doc:`built-in signal documentation ` for details of each particular signal. .. _preventing-duplicate-signals: Preventing duplicate signals ---------------------------- In some circumstances, the module in which you are connecting signals may be imported multiple times. This can cause your receiver function to be registered more than once, and thus called multiples times for a single signal event. If this behavior is problematic (such as when using signals to send an e-mail whenever a model is saved), pass a unique identifier as the ``dispatch_uid`` argument to identify your receiver function. This identifier will usually be a string, although any hashable object will suffice. The end result is that your receiver function will only be bound to the signal once for each unique ``dispatch_uid`` value. .. code-block:: python from django.core.signals import request_finished request_finished.connect(my_callback, dispatch_uid="my_unique_identifier") Defining and sending signals ============================ Your applications can take advantage of the signal infrastructure and provide its own signals. Defining signals ---------------- .. class:: Signal([providing_args=list]) All signals are :class:`django.dispatch.Signal` instances. The ``providing_args`` is a list of the names of arguments the signal will provide to listeners. For example: .. code-block:: python import django.dispatch pizza_done = django.dispatch.Signal(providing_args=["toppings", "size"]) This declares a ``pizza_done`` signal that will provide receivers with ``toppings`` and ``size`` arguments. Remember that you're allowed to change this list of arguments at any time, so getting the API right on the first try isn't necessary. Sending signals --------------- There are two ways to send send signals in Django. .. method:: Signal.send(sender, **kwargs) .. method:: Signal.send_robust(sender, **kwargs) To send a signal, call either :meth:`Signal.send` or :meth:`Signal.send_robust`. You must provide the ``sender`` argument, and may provide as many other keyword arguments as you like. For example, here's how sending our ``pizza_done`` signal might look: .. code-block:: python class PizzaStore(object): ... def send_pizza(self, toppings, size): pizza_done.send(sender=self, toppings=toppings, size=size) ... Both ``send()`` and ``send_robust()`` return a list of tuple pairs ``[(receiver, response), ... ]``, representing the list of called receiver functions and their response values. ``send()`` differs from ``send_robust()`` in how exceptions raised by receiver functions are handled. ``send()`` does *not* catch any exceptions raised by receivers; it simply allows errors to propagate. Thus not all receivers may be notified of a signal in the face of an error. ``send_robust()`` catches all errors derived from Python's ``Exception`` class, and ensures all receivers are notified of the signal. If an error occurs, the error instance is returned in the tuple pair for the receiver that raised the error. Disconnecting signals ===================== .. method:: Signal.disconnect([receiver=None, sender=None, weak=True, dispatch_uid=None]) To disconnect a receiver from a signal, call :meth:`Signal.disconnect`. The arguments are as described in :meth:`.Signal.connect`. The *receiver* argument indicates the registered receiver to disconnect. It may be ``None`` if ``dispatch_uid`` is used to identify the receiver.