605 lines
22 KiB
Plaintext
605 lines
22 KiB
Plaintext
=====================================
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Writing your first Django app, part 2
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=====================================
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This tutorial begins where :doc:`Tutorial 1 </intro/tutorial01>` left off. We're
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continuing the Web-poll application and will focus on Django's
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automatically-generated admin site.
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.. admonition:: Philosophy
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Generating admin sites for your staff or clients to add, change and delete
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content is tedious work that doesn't require much creativity. For that
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reason, Django entirely automates creation of admin interfaces for models.
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Django was written in a newsroom environment, with a very clear separation
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between "content publishers" and the "public" site. Site managers use the
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system to add news stories, events, sports scores, etc., and that content is
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displayed on the public site. Django solves the problem of creating a
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unified interface for site administrators to edit content.
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The admin isn't intended to be used by site visitors. It's for site
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managers.
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Creating an admin user
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======================
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First we'll need to create a user who can login to the admin site. Run the
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following command:
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.. code-block:: console
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$ python manage.py createsuperuser
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Enter your desired username and press enter.
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.. code-block:: text
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Username: admin
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You will then be prompted for your desired email address:
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.. code-block:: text
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Email address: admin@example.com
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The final step is to enter your password. You will be asked to enter your
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password twice, the second time as a confirmation of the first.
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.. code-block:: text
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Password: **********
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Password (again): *********
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Superuser created successfully.
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Start the development server
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============================
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The Django admin site is activated by default. Let's start the development
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server and explore it.
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Recall from Tutorial 1 that you start the development server like so:
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.. code-block:: console
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$ python manage.py runserver
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Now, open a Web browser and go to "/admin/" on your local domain -- e.g.,
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http://127.0.0.1:8000/admin/. You should see the admin's login screen:
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.. image:: _images/admin01.png
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:alt: Django admin login screen
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Since :doc:`translation </topics/i18n/translation>` is turned on by default,
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the login screen may be displayed in your own language, depending on your
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browser's settings and on whether Django has a translation for this language.
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.. admonition:: Doesn't match what you see?
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If at this point, instead of the above login page, you get an error
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page reporting something like::
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ImportError at /admin/
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cannot import name patterns
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...
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then you're probably using a version of Django that doesn't match this
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tutorial version. You'll want to either switch to the older tutorial or the
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newer Django version.
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Enter the admin site
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====================
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Now, try logging in with the superuser account you created in the previous step.
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You should see the Django admin index page:
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.. image:: _images/admin02.png
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:alt: Django admin index page
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You should see a few types of editable content: groups and users. They are
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provided by :mod:`django.contrib.auth`, the authentication framework shipped
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by Django.
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Make the poll app modifiable in the admin
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=========================================
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But where's our poll app? It's not displayed on the admin index page.
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Just one thing to do: we need to tell the admin that ``Question``
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objects have an admin interface. To do this, open the :file:`polls/admin.py`
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file, and edit it to look like this:
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.. snippet::
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:filename: polls/admin.py
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from django.contrib import admin
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from .models import Question
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admin.site.register(Question)
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Explore the free admin functionality
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====================================
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Now that we've registered ``Question``, Django knows that it should be displayed on
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the admin index page:
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.. image:: _images/admin03t.png
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:alt: Django admin index page, now with polls displayed
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Click "Questions". Now you're at the "change list" page for questions. This page
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displays all the questions in the database and lets you choose one to change it.
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There's the "What's up?" question we created in the first tutorial:
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.. image:: _images/admin04t.png
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:alt: Polls change list page
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Click the "What's up?" question to edit it:
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.. image:: _images/admin05t.png
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:alt: Editing form for question object
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Things to note here:
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* The form is automatically generated from the ``Question`` model.
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* The different model field types (:class:`~django.db.models.DateTimeField`,
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:class:`~django.db.models.CharField`) correspond to the appropriate HTML
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input widget. Each type of field knows how to display itself in the Django
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admin.
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* Each :class:`~django.db.models.DateTimeField` gets free JavaScript
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shortcuts. Dates get a "Today" shortcut and calendar popup, and times get
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a "Now" shortcut and a convenient popup that lists commonly entered times.
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The bottom part of the page gives you a couple of options:
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* Save -- Saves changes and returns to the change-list page for this type of
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object.
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* Save and continue editing -- Saves changes and reloads the admin page for
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this object.
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* Save and add another -- Saves changes and loads a new, blank form for this
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type of object.
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* Delete -- Displays a delete confirmation page.
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If the value of "Date published" doesn't match the time when you created the
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question in Tutorial 1, it probably means you forgot to set the correct value for
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the :setting:`TIME_ZONE` setting. Change it, reload the page and check that
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the correct value appears.
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Change the "Date published" by clicking the "Today" and "Now" shortcuts. Then
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click "Save and continue editing." Then click "History" in the upper right.
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You'll see a page listing all changes made to this object via the Django admin,
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with the timestamp and username of the person who made the change:
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.. image:: _images/admin06t.png
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:alt: History page for question object
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Customize the admin form
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========================
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Take a few minutes to marvel at all the code you didn't have to write. By
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registering the ``Question`` model with ``admin.site.register(Question)``,
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Django was able to construct a default form representation. Often, you'll want
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to customize how the admin form looks and works. You'll do this by telling
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Django the options you want when you register the object.
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Let's see how this works by re-ordering the fields on the edit form. Replace
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the ``admin.site.register(Question)`` line with:
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.. snippet::
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:filename: polls/admin.py
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from django.contrib import admin
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from .models import Question
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class QuestionAdmin(admin.ModelAdmin):
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fields = ['pub_date', 'question_text']
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admin.site.register(Question, QuestionAdmin)
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You'll follow this pattern -- create a model admin object, then pass it as the
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second argument to ``admin.site.register()`` -- any time you need to change the
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admin options for an object.
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This particular change above makes the "Publication date" come before the
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"Question" field:
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.. image:: _images/admin07.png
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:alt: Fields have been reordered
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This isn't impressive with only two fields, but for admin forms with dozens
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of fields, choosing an intuitive order is an important usability detail.
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And speaking of forms with dozens of fields, you might want to split the form
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up into fieldsets:
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.. snippet::
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:filename: polls/admin.py
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from django.contrib import admin
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from .models import Question
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class QuestionAdmin(admin.ModelAdmin):
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fieldsets = [
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(None, {'fields': ['question_text']}),
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('Date information', {'fields': ['pub_date']}),
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]
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admin.site.register(Question, QuestionAdmin)
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The first element of each tuple in
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:attr:`~django.contrib.admin.ModelAdmin.fieldsets` is the title of the fieldset.
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Here's what our form looks like now:
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.. image:: _images/admin08t.png
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:alt: Form has fieldsets now
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You can assign arbitrary HTML classes to each fieldset. Django provides a
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``"collapse"`` class that displays a particular fieldset initially collapsed.
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This is useful when you have a long form that contains a number of fields that
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aren't commonly used:
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.. snippet::
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:filename: polls/admin.py
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from django.contrib import admin
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from .models import Question
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class QuestionAdmin(admin.ModelAdmin):
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fieldsets = [
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(None, {'fields': ['question_text']}),
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('Date information', {'fields': ['pub_date'], 'classes': ['collapse']}),
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]
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admin.site.register(Question, QuestionAdmin)
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.. image:: _images/admin09.png
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:alt: Fieldset is initially collapsed
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Adding related objects
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======================
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OK, we have our Question admin page. But a ``Question`` has multiple ``Choices``, and
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the admin page doesn't display choices.
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Yet.
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There are two ways to solve this problem. The first is to register ``Choice``
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with the admin just as we did with ``Question``. That's easy:
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.. snippet::
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:filename: polls/admin.py
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from django.contrib import admin
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from .models import Choice, Question
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# ...
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admin.site.register(Choice)
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Now "Choices" is an available option in the Django admin. The "Add choice" form
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looks like this:
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.. image:: _images/admin10.png
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:alt: Choice admin page
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In that form, the "Question" field is a select box containing every question in the
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database. Django knows that a :class:`~django.db.models.ForeignKey` should be
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represented in the admin as a ``<select>`` box. In our case, only one question
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exists at this point.
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Also note the "Add Another" link next to "Question." Every object with a
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``ForeignKey`` relationship to another gets this for free. When you click "Add
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Another," you'll get a popup window with the "Add question" form. If you add a question
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in that window and click "Save," Django will save the question to the database and
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dynamically add it as the selected choice on the "Add choice" form you're
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looking at.
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But, really, this is an inefficient way of adding ``Choice`` objects to the system.
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It'd be better if you could add a bunch of Choices directly when you create the
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``Question`` object. Let's make that happen.
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Remove the ``register()`` call for the ``Choice`` model. Then, edit the ``Question``
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registration code to read:
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.. snippet::
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:filename: polls/admin.py
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from django.contrib import admin
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from .models import Choice, Question
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class ChoiceInline(admin.StackedInline):
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model = Choice
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extra = 3
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class QuestionAdmin(admin.ModelAdmin):
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fieldsets = [
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(None, {'fields': ['question_text']}),
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('Date information', {'fields': ['pub_date'], 'classes': ['collapse']}),
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]
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inlines = [ChoiceInline]
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admin.site.register(Question, QuestionAdmin)
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This tells Django: "``Choice`` objects are edited on the ``Question`` admin page. By
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default, provide enough fields for 3 choices."
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Load the "Add question" page to see how that looks:
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.. image:: _images/admin11t.png
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:alt: Add question page now has choices on it
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It works like this: There are three slots for related Choices -- as specified
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by ``extra`` -- and each time you come back to the "Change" page for an
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already-created object, you get another three extra slots.
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At the end of the three current slots you will find an "Add another Choice"
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link. If you click on it, a new slot will be added. If you want to remove the
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added slot, you can click on the X to the top right of the added slot. Note
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that you can't remove the original three slots. This image shows an added slot:
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.. image:: _images/admin15t.png
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:alt: Additional slot added dynamically
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One small problem, though. It takes a lot of screen space to display all the
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fields for entering related ``Choice`` objects. For that reason, Django offers a
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tabular way of displaying inline related objects; you just need to change
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the ``ChoiceInline`` declaration to read:
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.. snippet::
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:filename: polls/admin.py
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class ChoiceInline(admin.TabularInline):
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#...
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With that ``TabularInline`` (instead of ``StackedInline``), the
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related objects are displayed in a more compact, table-based format:
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.. image:: _images/admin12t.png
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:alt: Add question page now has more compact choices
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Note that there is an extra "Delete?" column that allows removing rows added
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using the "Add Another Choice" button and rows that have already been saved.
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Customize the admin change list
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===============================
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Now that the Question admin page is looking good, let's make some tweaks to the
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"change list" page -- the one that displays all the questions in the system.
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Here's what it looks like at this point:
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.. image:: _images/admin04t.png
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:alt: Polls change list page
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By default, Django displays the ``str()`` of each object. But sometimes it'd be
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more helpful if we could display individual fields. To do that, use the
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:attr:`~django.contrib.admin.ModelAdmin.list_display` admin option, which is a
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tuple of field names to display, as columns, on the change list page for the
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object:
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.. snippet::
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:filename: polls/admin.py
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class QuestionAdmin(admin.ModelAdmin):
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# ...
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list_display = ('question_text', 'pub_date')
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Just for good measure, let's also include the ``was_published_recently`` custom
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method from Tutorial 1:
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.. snippet::
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:filename: polls/admin.py
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class QuestionAdmin(admin.ModelAdmin):
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# ...
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list_display = ('question_text', 'pub_date', 'was_published_recently')
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Now the question change list page looks like this:
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.. image:: _images/admin13t.png
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:alt: Polls change list page, updated
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You can click on the column headers to sort by those values -- except in the
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case of the ``was_published_recently`` header, because sorting by the output
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of an arbitrary method is not supported. Also note that the column header for
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``was_published_recently`` is, by default, the name of the method (with
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underscores replaced with spaces), and that each line contains the string
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representation of the output.
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You can improve that by giving that method (in :file:`polls/models.py`) a few
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attributes, as follows:
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.. snippet::
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:filename: polls/models.py
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class Question(models.Model):
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# ...
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def was_published_recently(self):
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return self.pub_date >= timezone.now() - datetime.timedelta(days=1)
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was_published_recently.admin_order_field = 'pub_date'
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was_published_recently.boolean = True
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was_published_recently.short_description = 'Published recently?'
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For more information on these method properties, see
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:attr:`~django.contrib.admin.ModelAdmin.list_display`.
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Edit your :file:`polls/admin.py` file again and add an improvement to the
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``Question`` change list page: filters using the
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:attr:`~django.contrib.admin.ModelAdmin.list_filter`. Add the following line to
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``QuestionAdmin``::
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list_filter = ['pub_date']
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That adds a "Filter" sidebar that lets people filter the change list by the
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``pub_date`` field:
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.. image:: _images/admin14t.png
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:alt: Polls change list page, updated
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The type of filter displayed depends on the type of field you're filtering on.
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Because ``pub_date`` is a :class:`~django.db.models.DateTimeField`, Django
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knows to give appropriate filter options: "Any date," "Today," "Past 7 days,"
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"This month," "This year."
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This is shaping up well. Let's add some search capability::
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search_fields = ['question_text']
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That adds a search box at the top of the change list. When somebody enters
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search terms, Django will search the ``question_text`` field. You can use as many
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fields as you'd like -- although because it uses a ``LIKE`` query behind the
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scenes, limiting the number of search fields to a reasonable number will make
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it easier for your database to do the search.
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Now's also a good time to note that change lists give you free pagination. The
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default is to display 100 items per page. :attr:`Change list pagination
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<django.contrib.admin.ModelAdmin.list_per_page>`, :attr:`search boxes
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<django.contrib.admin.ModelAdmin.search_fields>`, :attr:`filters
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<django.contrib.admin.ModelAdmin.list_filter>`, :attr:`date-hierarchies
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<django.contrib.admin.ModelAdmin.date_hierarchy>`, and
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:attr:`column-header-ordering <django.contrib.admin.ModelAdmin.list_display>`
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all work together like you think they should.
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Customize the admin look and feel
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=================================
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Clearly, having "Django administration" at the top of each admin page is
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ridiculous. It's just placeholder text.
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That's easy to change, though, using Django's template system. The Django admin
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is powered by Django itself, and its interfaces use Django's own template
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system.
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.. _ref-customizing-your-projects-templates:
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Customizing your *project's* templates
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--------------------------------------
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Create a ``templates`` directory in your project directory (the one that
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contains ``manage.py``). Templates can live anywhere on your filesystem that
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Django can access. (Django runs as whatever user your server runs.) However,
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keeping your templates within the project is a good convention to follow.
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Open your settings file (:file:`mysite/settings.py`, remember) and add a
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:setting:`DIRS <TEMPLATES-DIRS>` option in the :setting:`TEMPLATES` setting:
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.. snippet::
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:filename: mysite/settings.py
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TEMPLATES = [
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{
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'BACKEND': 'django.template.backends.django.DjangoTemplates',
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'DIRS': [os.path.join(BASE_DIR, 'templates')],
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'APP_DIRS': True,
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'OPTIONS': {
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'context_processors': [
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'django.template.context_processors.debug',
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'django.template.context_processors.request',
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'django.contrib.auth.context_processors.auth',
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'django.contrib.messages.context_processors.messages',
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],
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},
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},
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]
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:setting:`DIRS <TEMPLATES-DIRS>` is a list of filesystem directories to check
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when loading Django templates; it's a search path.
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Now create a directory called ``admin`` inside ``templates``, and copy the
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template ``admin/base_site.html`` from within the default Django admin
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template directory in the source code of Django itself
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(``django/contrib/admin/templates``) into that directory.
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.. admonition:: Where are the Django source files?
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If you have difficulty finding where the Django source files are located
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on your system, run the following command:
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.. code-block:: console
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$ python -c "import django; print(django.__path__)"
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Then, just edit the file and replace
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``{{ site_header|default:_('Django administration') }}`` (including the curly
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braces) with your own site's name as you see fit. You should end up with
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a section of code like:
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.. code-block:: html+django
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{% block branding %}
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<h1 id="site-name"><a href="{% url 'admin:index' %}">Polls Administration</a></h1>
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{% endblock %}
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We use this approach to teach you how to override templates. In an actual
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project, you would probably use
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the :attr:`django.contrib.admin.AdminSite.site_header` attribute to more easily
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make this particular customization.
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This template file contains lots of text like ``{% block branding %}``
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and ``{{ title }}``. The ``{%`` and ``{{`` tags are part of Django's
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template language. When Django renders ``admin/base_site.html``, this
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template language will be evaluated to produce the final HTML page.
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Don't worry if you can't make any sense of the template right now --
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we'll delve into Django's templating language in Tutorial 3.
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Note that any of Django's default admin templates can be overridden. To
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override a template, just do the same thing you did with ``base_site.html`` --
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copy it from the default directory into your custom directory, and make
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changes.
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Customizing your *application's* templates
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------------------------------------------
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Astute readers will ask: But if :setting:`DIRS <TEMPLATES-DIRS>` was empty by
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default, how was Django finding the default admin templates? The answer is
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that, since :setting:`APP_DIRS <TEMPLATES-APP_DIRS>` is set to ``True``,
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Django automatically looks for a ``templates/`` subdirectory within each
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application package, for use as a fallback (don't forget that
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``django.contrib.admin`` is an application).
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Our poll application is not very complex and doesn't need custom admin
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|
templates. But if it grew more sophisticated and required modification of
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Django's standard admin templates for some of its functionality, it would be
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|
more sensible to modify the *application's* templates, rather than those in the
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*project*. That way, you could include the polls application in any new project
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and be assured that it would find the custom templates it needed.
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See the :ref:`template loading documentation <template-loading>` for more
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|
information about how Django finds its templates.
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Customize the admin index page
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==============================
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On a similar note, you might want to customize the look and feel of the Django
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admin index page.
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By default, it displays all the apps in :setting:`INSTALLED_APPS` that have been
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registered with the admin application, in alphabetical order. You may want to
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|
make significant changes to the layout. After all, the index is probably the
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most important page of the admin, and it should be easy to use.
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The template to customize is ``admin/index.html``. (Do the same as with
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``admin/base_site.html`` in the previous section -- copy it from the default
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directory to your custom template directory.) Edit the file, and you'll see it
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uses a template variable called ``app_list``. That variable contains every
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installed Django app. Instead of using that, you can hard-code links to
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object-specific admin pages in whatever way you think is best. Again,
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don't worry if you can't understand the template language -- we'll cover that
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in more detail in Tutorial 3.
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When you're comfortable with the admin site, read :doc:`part 3 of this tutorial
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</intro/tutorial03>` to start working on public poll views.
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