Fixed #8326: added signals documentation.

Thanks to MercuryTide's signal whitepaper from 2006 (http://www.mercurytide.co.uk/whitepapers/django-signals/) for inspiration and ideas for organization, and to the folks who got the Signals wiki page together for some of the content.


git-svn-id: http://code.djangoproject.com/svn/django/trunk@8590 bcc190cf-cafb-0310-a4f2-bffc1f526a37
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Jacob Kaplan-Moss 2008-08-26 19:04:52 +00:00
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:maxdepth: 1 :maxdepth: 1
settings settings
signals
upgrade upgrade

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.. _ref-contrib-comments-signals:
================================
Signals sent by the comments app
================================
.. module:: django.contrib.comments.signals
:synopsis: Signals sent by the comment module.
The comment app sends a series of :ref:`signals <topics-signals>` to allow for
comment moderation and similar activities. See :ref:`the introduction to signals
<topics-signals>` for information about how to register for and receive these
signals.
comment_will_be_posted
======================
.. data:: django.contrib.comments.signals.comment_will_be_posted
Sent just before a comment will be saved, after it's been sanity checked and
submitted. This can be used to modify the comment (in place) with posting
details or other such actions.
If any receiver returns ``False`` the comment will be discarded and a 403 (not
allowed) response will be returned.
This signal is sent at more or less the same time (just before, actually) as the
``Comment`` object's :data:`~django.db.models.signals.pre_save` signal.
Arguments sent with this signal:
``sender``
The comment model.
``comment``
The comment instance about to be posted. Note that it won't have been
saved into the database yet, so it won't have a primary key, and any
relations might not work correctly yet.
``request``
The :class:`~django.http.HttpRequest` that posted the comment.
comment_was_posted
==================
.. data:: django.contrib.comments.signals.comment_was_posted
Sent just after the comment is saved.
Arguments sent with this signal:
``sender``
The comment model.
``comment``
The comment instance that was posted. Note that it will have already
been saved, so if you modify it you'll need to call
:meth:`~django.db.models.Model.save` again.
``request``
The :class:`~django.http.HttpRequest` that posted the comment.
comment_was_flagged
===================
Sent after a comment was "flagged" in some way. Check the flag to see if this
was a user requesting removal of a comment, a moderator approving/removing a
comment, or some other custom user flag.
Arguments sent with this signal:
``sender``
The comment model.
``comment``
The comment instance that was posted. Note that it will have already
been saved, so if you modify it you'll need to call
:meth:`~django.db.models.Model.save` again.
``flag``
The :class:`~django.contrib.comments.models.CommentFlag` that's been
attached to the comment.
``created``
``True`` if this is a new flag; ``False`` if it's a duplicate flag.
``request``
The :class:`~django.http.HttpRequest` that posted the comment.

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@ -9,13 +9,14 @@ API Reference
contrib/index contrib/index
databases databases
django-admin django-admin
files/index
forms/index forms/index
generic-views generic-views
middleware middleware
models/index models/index
request-response request-response
settings settings
signals
templates/index templates/index
unicode unicode
files/index

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.. _ref-signals:
=========================
Built-in signal reference
=========================
A list of all the signals that Django sends.
.. seealso::
The :ref:`comment framework <ref-contrib-comments-index>` sends a :ref:`set
of comment-related signals <ref-contrib-comments-signals>`.
Model signals
=============
.. module:: django.db.models.signals
:synopsis: Signals sent by the model system.
The :mod:`django.db.models.signals` module defines a set of signals sent by the
module system.
.. warning::
Many of these signals are sent by various model methods like
:meth:`~django.db.models.Model.__init__` or
:meth:`~django.db.models.Model.save` that you can overwrite in your own
code.
If you override these methods on your model, you must call the parent class'
methods for this signals to be sent.
pre_init
--------
.. data:: django.db.models.signals.pre_init
Whenever you instantiate a Django model,, this signal is sent at the beginning
of the model's :meth:`~django.db.models.Model.__init__` method.
Arguments sent with this signal:
``sender``
The model class that just had an instance created.
``args``
A list of positional arguments passed to
:meth:`~django.db.models.Model.__init__`:
``kwargs``
A dictionary of keyword arguments passed to
:meth:`~django.db.models.Model.__init__`:.
For example, the :ref:`tutorial <intro-tutorial01>` has this line:
.. code-block:: python
p = Poll(question="What's up?", pub_date=datetime.now())
The arguments sent to a :data:`pre_init` handler would be:
========== ===============================================================
Argument Value
========== ===============================================================
``sender`` ``Poll`` (the class itself)
``args`` ``[]`` (an empty list because there were no positional
arguments passed to ``__init__``.)
``kwargs`` ``{'question': "What's up?", 'pub_date': datetime.now()}``
========== ===============================================================
post_init
---------
.. data:: django.db.models.signals.post_init
Like pre_init, but this one is sent when the :meth:`~django.db.models.Model.__init__`: method finishes.
Arguments sent with this signal:
``sender``
As above: rhe model class that just had an instance created.
``instance``
The actual instance of the model that's just been created.
pre_save
--------
.. data:: django.db.models.signals.pre_save
This is sent at the beginning of a model's :meth:`~django.db.models.Model.save`
method.
Arguments sent with this signal:
``sender``
The model class.
``instance``
The actual instance being saved.
post_save
---------
.. data:: django.db.models.signals.post_save
Like :data:`pre_save`, but sent at the end of the
:meth:`~django.db.models.Model.save` method.
Arguments sent with this signal:
``sender``
The model class.
``instance``
The actual instance being saved.
``created``
A boolean; ``True`` if a new record was create.
pre_delete
----------
.. data:: django.db.models.signals.pre_delete
Sent at the beginning of a model's :meth:`~django.db.models.Model.delete`
method.
Arguments sent with this signal:
``sender``
The model class.
``instance``
The actual instance being saved.
post_delete
-----------
.. data:: django.db.models.signals.post_delete
Like :data:`pre_delete`, but sent at the end of the
:meth:`~django.db.models.Model.delete` method.
Arguments sent with this signal:
``sender``
The model class.
``instance``
The actual instance being saved.
Note that the object will no longer be in the database, so be very
careful what you do with this instance
class_prepared
--------------
.. data:: django.db.models.signals.class_prepared
Sent whenever a model class has been "prepared" -- that is, once model has
been defined and registered with Django's model system. Django uses this
signal internally; it's not generally used in third-party applications.
Arguments that are sent with this signal:
``sender``
The model class which was just prepared.
Management signals
==================
Signals sent by :ref:`django-admin <ref-django-admin>`.
post_syncdb
-----------
.. data:: django.db.models.signals.post_syncdb
Sent by :djadmin:`syncdb` after it installs an application.
Any handlers that listen to this signal need to be written in a particular
place: a ``management`` module in one of your :setting:`INSTALLED_APPS`. If
handlers are registered anywhere else they may not be loaded by
:djadmin:`syncdb`.
Arguments sent with this signal:
``sender``
The ``models`` module that was just installed. That is, if
:djadmin:`syncdb` just installed an app called ``"foo.bar.myapp"``,
``sender`` will be the ``foo.bar.myapp.models`` module.
``app``
Same as ``sender``.
``created_models``
A list of the model classes from any app which :djadmin:`syncdb` has
created so far.
``verbosity``
Indicates how much information manage.py is printing on screen. See
the :djadminopt:`--verbosity`` flag for details.
Functions which listen for :data:`post_syncdb` should adjust what they
output to the screen based on the value of this argument.
``interactive``
If ``interactive`` is ``True``, it's safe to prompt the user to input
things on the command line. If ``interactive`` is ``False``, functions
which listen for this signal should not try to prompt for anything.
For example, the :mod:`django.contrib.auth` app only prompts to create a
superuser when ``interactive`` is ``True``.
Request/response signals
========================
.. module:: django.core.signals
:synopsis: Core signals sent by the request/response system.
Signals sent by the core framework when processing a request.
request_started
---------------
.. data:: django.core.signals.request_started
Sent when Django begins processing an HTTP request.
Arguments sent with this signal:
``sender``
The handler class -- i.e.
:class:`django.core.handlers.modpython.ModPythonHandler` or
:class:`django.core.handlers.wsgi.WsgiHandler` -- that handled
the request.
request_finished
----------------
.. data:: django.core.signals.request_finished
Sent when Django finishes processing an HTTP request.
Arguments sent with this signal:
``sender``
The handler class, as above.
got_request_exception
---------------------
.. data:: django.core.signals.got_request_exception
This signal is sent whenever Django encounters an exception while processing an incoming HTTP request.
Arguments sent with this signal:
``sender``
The handler class, as above.
``request``
The :class:`~django.http.HttpRequest` object.
Test signals
============
.. module:: django.test.signals
:synopsis: Signals sent during testing.
Signals only sent when :ref:`running tests <topics-testing>`.
template_rendered
-----------------
.. data:: django.test.signals.template_rendered
Sent when the test system renders a template. This signal is not emitted during
normal operation of a Django server -- it is only available during testing.
Arguments sent with this signal:
sender
The :class:`~django.template.Template` object which was rendered.
template
Same as sender
context
The :class:`~django.template.Context` with which the template was
rendered.

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pagination pagination
serialization serialization
settings settings
signals

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.. _topics-signals:
=======
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 :ref:`set of built-in signals <ref-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.core.signals.request_started` &
:data:`django.core.signals.request_finished`
Sent when Django starts or finishes an HTTP request.
See the :ref:`built-in signal documentation <ref-signals>` 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. 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
------------------
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
-----------------------------
Next, we'll need to connect our receiver to the signal:
.. code-block:: python
from django.core.signals import request_finished
request_finished.connect(my_callback)
Now, our ``my_callback`` function will be called each time a request finishes.
.. 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 signals sent by specific senders
----------------------------------------------
Some signals get sent many times, but you'll only be interested in recieving 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 myapp.models import MyModel
def my_handler(sender, **kwargs):
...
pre_save.connect(my_handler, sender=MyModel)
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 :ref:`built-in signal documentation <ref-signals>` for details of each
particular signal.
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
---------------
.. method:: Signal.send(sender, **kwargs)
To send a signal, call :meth:`Signal.send`. 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)
...