Added some documentation explaining "managed=False" vs. "proxy=True".

These features look similar, but they're not identical. They can't be merged
into one (without requiring at least two Meta parameters anyway), so we've made
them have APIs that match their natural use-cases most easily.

Anyway, the documentation explains both the details and gives some simple to
follow rules.

git-svn-id: http://code.djangoproject.com/svn/django/trunk@10089 bcc190cf-cafb-0310-a4f2-bffc1f526a37
This commit is contained in:
Malcolm Tredinnick 2009-03-19 09:04:19 +00:00
parent c485e236bd
commit 96d5d434fa
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@ -99,6 +99,10 @@ attribute.
For tests involving models with ``managed=False``, it's up to you to ensure For tests involving models with ``managed=False``, it's up to you to ensure
the correct tables are created as part of the test setup. the correct tables are created as part of the test setup.
If you're interested in changing the Python-level behaviour of a model class,
you *could* use ``managed=True`` and create a copy of an existing model.
However, there's a better approach for that situation: :ref:`proxy-models`.
``order_with_respect_to`` ``order_with_respect_to``
------------------------- -------------------------

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@ -1117,6 +1117,48 @@ containing the new managers and inherit that after the primary base class::
You probably won't need to do this very often, but, when you do, it's You probably won't need to do this very often, but, when you do, it's
possible. possible.
Differences between proxy inheritance and unmanaged models
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Proxy model inheritance might look fairly similar to creating an unmanaged
model, using the :attr:`~django.db.models.Options.managed` attribute on a
model's ``Meta`` class. The two alternatives are not quite the same and it's
worth considering which one you should use.
One difference is that you can (and, in fact, must unless you want an empty
model) specify model fields on models with ``Meta.managed=False``. You could,
with careful setting of :attr:`Meta.db_table
<django.db.models.Options.db_table>` create an unmanaged model that shadowed
an existing model and add Python methods to it. However, that would be very
repetitive and fragile as you need to keep both copies synchronized if you
make any changes.
The other difference that is more important for proxy models, is how model
managers are handled. Proxy models are intended to behave exactly like the
model they are proxying for. So they inherit the parent model's managers,
including the default manager. In the normal multi-table model inheritance
case, children do not inherit managers from their parents as the custom
managers aren't always appropriate when extra fields are involved. The
:ref:`manager documentation <custom-managers-and-inheritance>` has more
details about this latter case.
When these two features were implemented, attempts were made to squash them
into a single option. It turned out that interactions with inheritance, in
general, and managers, in particular, made the API very complicated and
potentially difficult to understand and use. It turned out that two options
were needed in any case, so the current separation arose.
So, the general rules are:
1. If you are mirroring an existing model or database table and don't want
all the original database table columns, use ``Meta.managed=False``.
That option is normally useful for modeling database views and tables
not under the control of Django.
2. If you are wanting to change the Python-only behavior of a model, but
keep all the same fields as in the original, use ``Meta.proxy=True``.
This sets things up so that the proxy model is an exact copy of the
storage structure of the original model when data is saved.
Multiple inheritance Multiple inheritance
-------------------- --------------------