Fixed #15309 -- reST/Sphinx cleanup on the ContentTypes Framework docs.

git-svn-id: http://code.djangoproject.com/svn/django/trunk@15544 bcc190cf-cafb-0310-a4f2-bffc1f526a37
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Gabriel Hurley 2011-02-16 00:12:52 +00:00
parent 0577edf610
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@ -5,8 +5,8 @@ The contenttypes framework
.. module:: django.contrib.contenttypes
:synopsis: Provides generic interface to installed models.
Django includes a :mod:`contenttypes` application that can track all of
the models installed in your Django-powered project, providing a
Django includes a :mod:`~django.contrib.contenttypes` application that can
track all of the models installed in your Django-powered project, providing a
high-level, generic interface for working with your models.
Overview
@ -54,34 +54,37 @@ installed; several of Django's other bundled applications require it:
* Django's comments system (:mod:`django.contrib.comments`) uses it to
"attach" comments to any installed model.
.. currentmodule:: django.contrib.contenttypes.models
The ``ContentType`` model
=========================
.. class:: models.ContentType
.. class:: ContentType
Each instance of :class:`~django.contrib.contenttypes.models.ContentType`
has three fields which, taken together, uniquely describe an installed model:
has three fields which, taken together, uniquely describe an installed
model:
.. attribute:: models.ContentType.app_label
.. attribute:: app_label
The name of the application the model is part of. This is taken from
the :attr:`app_label` attribute of the model, and includes only the *last*
part of the application's Python import path;
"django.contrib.contenttypes", for example, becomes an :attr:`app_label`
of "contenttypes".
the :attr:`app_label` attribute of the model, and includes only the
*last* part of the application's Python import path;
"django.contrib.contenttypes", for example, becomes an
:attr:`app_label` of "contenttypes".
.. attribute:: models.ContentType.model
.. attribute:: model
The name of the model class.
.. attribute:: models.ContentType.name
.. attribute:: name
The human-readable name of the model. This is taken from the
:attr:`verbose_name <django.db.models.fields.Field.verbose_name>`
:attr:`verbose_name <django.db.models.Field.verbose_name>`
attribute of the model.
Let's look at an example to see how this works. If you already have
the contenttypes application installed, and then add
the :mod:`~django.contrib.contenttypes` application installed, and then add
:mod:`the sites application <django.contrib.sites>` to your
:setting:`INSTALLED_APPS` setting and run ``manage.py syncdb`` to install it,
the model :class:`django.contrib.sites.models.Site` will be installed into
@ -89,33 +92,34 @@ your database. Along with it a new instance of
:class:`~django.contrib.contenttypes.models.ContentType` will be
created with the following values:
* :attr:`app_label` will be set to ``'sites'`` (the last part of the Python
* :attr:`~django.contrib.contenttypes.models.ContentType.app_label`
will be set to ``'sites'`` (the last part of the Python
path "django.contrib.sites").
* :attr:`model` will be set to ``'site'``.
* :attr:`~django.contrib.contenttypes.models.ContentType.model`
will be set to ``'site'``.
* :attr:`name` will be set to ``'site'``.
* :attr:`~django.contrib.contenttypes.models.ContentType.name`
will be set to ``'site'``.
.. _the verbose_name attribute: ../model-api/#verbose_name
Methods on ``ContentType`` instances
====================================
.. class:: models.ContentType
Each :class:`~django.contrib.contenttypes.models.ContentType` instance has
methods that allow you to get from a
:class:`~django.contrib.contenttypes.models.ContentType` instance to the
model it represents, or to retrieve objects from that model:
Each :class:`~django.contrib.contenttypes.models.ContentType` instance has
methods that allow you to get from a
:class:`~django.contrib.contenttypes.models.ContentType` instance to the model
it represents, or to retrieve objects from that model:
.. method:: models.ContentType.get_object_for_this_type(**kwargs)
.. method:: ContentType.get_object_for_this_type(**kwargs)
Takes a set of valid :ref:`lookup arguments <field-lookups-intro>` for the
model the :class:`~django.contrib.contenttypes.models.ContentType`
represents, and does :lookup:`a get() lookup <get>` on that model,
returning the corresponding object.
represents, and does :meth:`a get() lookup <django.db.models.QuerySet.get>`
on that model, returning the corresponding object.
.. method:: models.ContentType.model_class()
.. method:: ContentType.model_class()
Returns the model class represented by this
:class:`~django.contrib.contenttypes.models.ContentType` instance.
@ -129,7 +133,8 @@ For example, we could look up the
>>> user_type
<ContentType: user>
And then use it to query for a particular ``User``, or to get access
And then use it to query for a particular
:class:`~django.contrib.auth.models.User`, or to get access
to the ``User`` model class::
>>> user_type.model_class()
@ -139,15 +144,15 @@ to the ``User`` model class::
Together,
:meth:`~django.contrib.contenttypes.models.ContentType.get_object_for_this_type`
and :meth:`~django.contrib.contenttypes.models.ContentType.model_class`
enable two extremely important use cases:
and :meth:`~django.contrib.contenttypes.models.ContentType.model_class` enable
two extremely important use cases:
1. Using these methods, you can write high-level generic code that
performs queries on any installed model -- instead of importing and using
a single specific model class, you can pass an ``app_label`` and
``model`` into a :class:`~django.contrib.contenttypes.models.ContentType`
lookup at runtime, and then work with the model class or retrieve objects
from it.
performs queries on any installed model -- instead of importing and
using a single specific model class, you can pass an ``app_label`` and
``model`` into a
:class:`~django.contrib.contenttypes.models.ContentType` lookup at
runtime, and then work with the model class or retrieve objects from it.
2. You can relate another model to
:class:`~django.contrib.contenttypes.models.ContentType` as a way of
@ -156,7 +161,7 @@ enable two extremely important use cases:
Several of Django's bundled applications make use of the latter technique.
For example,
:class:`the permissions system <django.contrib.auth.models.Permission` in
:class:`the permissions system <django.contrib.auth.models.Permission>` in
Django's authentication framework uses a
:class:`~django.contrib.auth.models.Permission` model with a foreign
key to :class:`~django.contrib.contenttypes.models.ContentType`; this lets
@ -166,36 +171,40 @@ key to :class:`~django.contrib.contenttypes.models.ContentType`; this lets
The ``ContentTypeManager``
--------------------------
.. class:: models.ContentTypeManager
.. class:: ContentTypeManager
:class:`~django.contrib.contenttypes.models.ContentType` also has a custom
manager, :class:`~django.contrib.contenttypes.models.ContentTypeManager`,
which adds the following methods:
.. method:: models.ContentTypeManager.clear_cache()
.. method:: clear_cache()
Clears an internal cache used by
:class:`~django.contrib.contenttypes.models.ContentType` to keep track
of which models for which it has created
:class:`django.contrib.contenttypes.models.ContentType` instances. You
:class:`~django.contrib.contenttypes.models.ContentType` instances. You
probably won't ever need to call this method yourself; Django will call
it automatically when it's needed.
.. method:: models.ContentTypeManager.get_for_model(model)
.. method:: get_for_model(model)
Takes either a model class or an instance of a model, and returns the
:class:`~django.contrib.contenttypes.models.ContentType` instance
representing that model.
The :meth:`~models.ContentTypeManager.get_for_model()` method is especially useful when you know you
need to work with a :class:`ContentType <django.contrib.contenttypes.models.ContentType>` but don't want to go to the
trouble of obtaining the model's metadata to perform a manual lookup::
The :meth:`~ContentTypeManager.get_for_model()` method is especially
useful when you know you need to work with a
:class:`ContentType <django.contrib.contenttypes.models.ContentType>` but don't
want to go to the trouble of obtaining the model's metadata to perform a manual
lookup::
>>> from django.contrib.auth.models import User
>>> user_type = ContentType.objects.get_for_model(User)
>>> user_type
<ContentType: user>
.. module:: django.contrib.contenttypes.generic
.. _generic-relations:
Generic relations
@ -224,23 +233,25 @@ A simple example is a tagging system, which might look like this::
def __unicode__(self):
return self.tag
A normal :class:`~django.db.models.fields.related.ForeignKey` can only "point
A normal :class:`~django.db.models.ForeignKey` can only "point
to" one other model, which means that if the ``TaggedItem`` model used a
:class:`~django.db.models.fields.related.ForeignKey` it would have to
:class:`~django.db.models.ForeignKey` it would have to
choose one and only one model to store tags for. The contenttypes
application provides a special field type --
:class:`django.contrib.contenttypes.generic.GenericForeignKey` -- which
application provides a special field type which
works around this and allows the relationship to be with any
model. There are three parts to setting up a
:class:`~django.contrib.contenttypes.generic.GenericForeignKey`:
model:
1. Give your model a :class:`~django.db.models.fields.related.ForeignKey`
.. class:: GenericForeignKey
There are three parts to setting up a
:class:`~django.contrib.contenttypes.generic.GenericForeignKey`:
1. Give your model a :class:`~django.db.models.ForeignKey`
to :class:`~django.contrib.contenttypes.models.ContentType`.
2. Give your model a field that can store a primary-key value from the
models you'll be relating to. (For most models, this means an
:class:`~django.db.models.fields.IntegerField` or
:class:`~django.db.models.fields.PositiveIntegerField`.)
2. Give your model a field that can store primary key values from the
models you'll be relating to. For most models, this means a
:class:`~django.db.models.PositiveIntegerField`.
This field must be of the same type as the primary key of the models
that will be involved in the generic relation. For example, if you use
@ -257,7 +268,7 @@ model. There are three parts to setting up a
look for.
This will enable an API similar to the one used for a normal
:class:`~django.db.models.fields.related.ForeignKey`;
:class:`~django.db.models.ForeignKey`;
each ``TaggedItem`` will have a ``content_object`` field that returns the
object it's related to, and you can also assign to that field or use it when
creating a ``TaggedItem``::
@ -271,8 +282,9 @@ creating a ``TaggedItem``::
Due to the way :class:`~django.contrib.contenttypes.generic.GenericForeignKey`
is implemented, you cannot use such fields directly with filters (``filter()``
and ``exclude()``, for example) via the database API. They aren't normal field
objects. These examples will *not* work::
and ``exclude()``, for example) via the database API. Because a
:class:`~django.contrib.contenttypes.generic.GenericForeignKey` isn't a
normal field objects, these examples will *not* work::
# This will fail
>>> TaggedItem.objects.filter(content_object=guido)
@ -282,6 +294,8 @@ objects. These examples will *not* work::
Reverse generic relations
-------------------------
.. class:: GenericRelation
If you know which models you'll be using most often, you can also add
a "reverse" generic relationship to enable an additional API. For example::
@ -301,17 +315,20 @@ be used to retrieve their associated ``TaggedItems``::
>>> b.tags.all()
[<TaggedItem: django>, <TaggedItem: python>]
Just as :class:`django.contrib.contenttypes.generic.GenericForeignKey`
Just as :class:`~django.contrib.contenttypes.generic.GenericForeignKey`
accepts the names of the content-type and object-ID fields as
arguments, so too does ``GenericRelation``; if the model which has the
generic foreign key is using non-default names for those fields, you
must pass the names of the fields when setting up a
``GenericRelation`` to it. For example, if the ``TaggedItem`` model
arguments, so too does
:class:`~django.contrib.contenttypes.generic.GenericRelation`;
if the model which has the generic foreign key is using non-default names
for those fields, you must pass the names of the fields when setting up a
:class:`.GenericRelation` to it. For example, if the ``TaggedItem`` model
referred to above used fields named ``content_type_fk`` and
``object_primary_key`` to create its generic foreign key, then a
``GenericRelation`` back to it would need to be defined like so::
:class:`.GenericRelation` back to it would need to be defined like so::
tags = generic.GenericRelation(TaggedItem, content_type_field='content_type_fk', object_id_field='object_primary_key')
tags = generic.GenericRelation(TaggedItem,
content_type_field='content_type_fk',
object_id_field='object_primary_key')
Of course, if you don't add the reverse relationship, you can do the
same types of lookups manually::
@ -362,37 +379,39 @@ might be tempted to try something like::
Bookmark.objects.aggregate(Count('tags'))
This will not work correctly, however. The generic relation adds extra filters
to the queryset to ensure the correct content type, but the ``aggregate`` method
doesn't take them into account. For now, if you need aggregates on generic
relations, you'll need to calculate them without using the aggregation API.
to the queryset to ensure the correct content type, but the
:meth:`~django.db.models.QuerySet.aggregate` method doesn't take them into
account. For now, if you need aggregates on generic relations, you'll need
to calculate them without using the aggregation API.
Generic relations in forms and admin
------------------------------------
:mod:`django.contrib.contenttypes.generic` provides
The :mod:`django.contrib.contenttypes.generic` module provides
:class:`~django.contrib.contenttypes.generic.GenericInlineFormSet`,
:class:`~django.contrib.contenttypes.generic.GenericTabularInline`
and :class:`~django.contrib.contenttypes.generic.GenericStackedInline`
(the last two subclasses of :class:`~django.contrib.contenttypes.generic.GenericInlineModelAdmin`).
(the last two are subclasses of
:class:`~django.contrib.contenttypes.generic.GenericInlineModelAdmin`).
This enables the use of generic relations in forms and the admin. See the
:doc:`model formset </topics/forms/modelforms>` and
:ref:`admin <using-generic-relations-as-an-inline>` documentation for more
information.
.. class:: generic.GenericInlineModelAdmin
.. class:: GenericInlineModelAdmin
The :class:`~django.contrib.contenttypes.generic.GenericInlineModelAdmin`
class inherits all properties from an
:class:`~django.contrib.admin.InlineModelAdmin` class. However,
it adds a couple of its own for working with the generic relation:
.. attribute:: generic.GenericInlineModelAdmin.ct_field
.. attribute:: ct_field
The name of the
:class:`~django.contrib.contenttypes.models.ContentType` foreign key
field on the model. Defaults to ``content_type``.
.. attribute:: generic.GenericInlineModelAdmin.ct_fk_field
.. attribute:: ct_fk_field
The name of the integer field that represents the ID of the related
object. Defaults to ``object_id``.