============ Coding style ============ Please follow these coding standards when writing code for inclusion in Django. .. _coding-style-python: Python style ============ * Please conform to the indentation style dictated in the ``.editorconfig`` file. We recommend using a text editor with `EditorConfig`_ support to avoid indentation and whitespace issues. The Python files use 4 spaces for indentation and the HTML files use 2 spaces. * Unless otherwise specified, follow :pep:`8`. Use `flake8`_ to check for problems in this area. Note that our ``setup.cfg`` file contains some excluded files (deprecated modules we don't care about cleaning up and some third-party code that Django vendors) as well as some excluded errors that we don't consider as gross violations. Remember that :pep:`8` is only a guide, so respect the style of the surrounding code as a primary goal. An exception to :pep:`8` is our rules on line lengths. Don't limit lines of code to 79 characters if it means the code looks significantly uglier or is harder to read. We allow up to 119 characters as this is the width of GitHub code review; anything longer requires horizontal scrolling which makes review more difficult. This check is included when you run ``flake8``. Documentation, comments, and docstrings should be wrapped at 79 characters, even though :pep:`8` suggests 72. * Use four spaces for indentation. * Use four space hanging indentation rather than vertical alignment:: raise AttributeError( 'Here is a multine error message ' 'shortened for clarity.' ) Instead of:: raise AttributeError('Here is a multine error message ' 'shortened for clarity.') This makes better use of space and avoids having to realign strings if the length of the first line changes. * Use single quotes for strings, or a double quote if the the string contains a single quote. Don't waste time doing unrelated refactoring of existing code to conform to this style. * Avoid use of "we" in comments, e.g. "Loop over" rather than "We loop over". * Use underscores, not camelCase, for variable, function and method names (i.e. ``poll.get_unique_voters()``, not ``poll.getUniqueVoters()``). * Use ``InitialCaps`` for class names (or for factory functions that return classes). * In docstrings, follow the style of existing docstrings and :pep:`257`. * In tests, use :meth:`~django.test.SimpleTestCase.assertRaisesMessage` instead of :meth:`~unittest.TestCase.assertRaises` so you can check the exception message. Use :meth:`~unittest.TestCase.assertRaisesRegex` only if you need regular expression matching. * In test docstrings, state the expected behavior that each test demonstrates. Don't include preambles such as "Tests that" or "Ensures that". Reserve ticket references for obscure issues where the ticket has additional details that can't be easily described in docstrings or comments. Include the ticket number at the end of a sentence like this:: def test_foo(): """ A test docstring looks like this (#123456). """ ... .. _coding-style-imports: Imports ======= * Use `isort `_ to automate import sorting using the guidelines below. Quick start: .. console:: $ pip install isort $ isort -rc . This runs ``isort`` recursively from your current directory, modifying any files that don't conform to the guidelines. If you need to have imports out of order (to avoid a circular import, for example) use a comment like this:: import module # isort:skip * Put imports in these groups: future, standard library, third-party libraries, other Django components, local Django component, try/excepts. Sort lines in each group alphabetically by the full module name. Place all ``import module`` statements before ``from module import objects`` in each section. Use absolute imports for other Django components and relative imports for local components. * On each line, alphabetize the items with the upper case items grouped before the lower case items. * Break long lines using parentheses and indent continuation lines by 4 spaces. Include a trailing comma after the last import and put the closing parenthesis on its own line. Use a single blank line between the last import and any module level code, and use two blank lines above the first function or class. For example (comments are for explanatory purposes only): .. snippet:: :filename: django/contrib/admin/example.py # future from __future__ import unicode_literals # standard library import json from itertools import chain # third-party import bcrypt # Django from django.http import Http404 from django.http.response import ( Http404, HttpResponse, HttpResponseNotAllowed, StreamingHttpResponse, cookie, ) # local Django from .models import LogEntry # try/except try: import yaml except ImportError: yaml = None CONSTANT = 'foo' class Example: # ... * Use convenience imports whenever available. For example, do this:: from django.views import View instead of:: from django.views.generic.base import View Template style ============== * In Django template code, put one (and only one) space between the curly brackets and the tag contents. Do this: .. code-block:: html+django {{ foo }} Don't do this: .. code-block:: html+django {{foo}} View style ========== * In Django views, the first parameter in a view function should be called ``request``. Do this:: def my_view(request, foo): # ... Don't do this:: def my_view(req, foo): # ... Model style =========== * Field names should be all lowercase, using underscores instead of camelCase. Do this:: class Person(models.Model): first_name = models.CharField(max_length=20) last_name = models.CharField(max_length=40) Don't do this:: class Person(models.Model): FirstName = models.CharField(max_length=20) Last_Name = models.CharField(max_length=40) * The ``class Meta`` should appear *after* the fields are defined, with a single blank line separating the fields and the class definition. Do this:: class Person(models.Model): first_name = models.CharField(max_length=20) last_name = models.CharField(max_length=40) class Meta: verbose_name_plural = 'people' Don't do this:: class Person(models.Model): first_name = models.CharField(max_length=20) last_name = models.CharField(max_length=40) class Meta: verbose_name_plural = 'people' Don't do this, either:: class Person(models.Model): class Meta: verbose_name_plural = 'people' first_name = models.CharField(max_length=20) last_name = models.CharField(max_length=40) * The order of model inner classes and standard methods should be as follows (noting that these are not all required): * All database fields * Custom manager attributes * ``class Meta`` * ``def __str__()`` * ``def save()`` * ``def get_absolute_url()`` * Any custom methods * If ``choices`` is defined for a given model field, define each choice as a tuple of tuples, with an all-uppercase name as a class attribute on the model. Example:: class MyModel(models.Model): DIRECTION_UP = 'U' DIRECTION_DOWN = 'D' DIRECTION_CHOICES = ( (DIRECTION_UP, 'Up'), (DIRECTION_DOWN, 'Down'), ) Use of ``django.conf.settings`` =============================== Modules should not in general use settings stored in ``django.conf.settings`` at the top level (i.e. evaluated when the module is imported). The explanation for this is as follows: Manual configuration of settings (i.e. not relying on the ``DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE`` environment variable) is allowed and possible as follows:: from django.conf import settings settings.configure({}, SOME_SETTING='foo') However, if any setting is accessed before the ``settings.configure`` line, this will not work. (Internally, ``settings`` is a ``LazyObject`` which configures itself automatically when the settings are accessed if it has not already been configured). So, if there is a module containing some code as follows:: from django.conf import settings from django.urls import get_callable default_foo_view = get_callable(settings.FOO_VIEW) ...then importing this module will cause the settings object to be configured. That means that the ability for third parties to import the module at the top level is incompatible with the ability to configure the settings object manually, or makes it very difficult in some circumstances. Instead of the above code, a level of laziness or indirection must be used, such as ``django.utils.functional.LazyObject``, ``django.utils.functional.lazy()`` or ``lambda``. Miscellaneous ============= * Mark all strings for internationalization; see the :doc:`i18n documentation ` for details. * Remove ``import`` statements that are no longer used when you change code. `flake8`_ will identify these imports for you. If an unused import needs to remain for backwards-compatibility, mark the end of with ``# NOQA`` to silence the flake8 warning. * Systematically remove all trailing whitespaces from your code as those add unnecessary bytes, add visual clutter to the patches and can also occasionally cause unnecessary merge conflicts. Some IDE's can be configured to automatically remove them and most VCS tools can be set to highlight them in diff outputs. * Please don't put your name in the code you contribute. Our policy is to keep contributors' names in the ``AUTHORS`` file distributed with Django -- not scattered throughout the codebase itself. Feel free to include a change to the ``AUTHORS`` file in your patch if you make more than a single trivial change. JavaScript style ================ For details about the JavaScript code style used by Django, see :doc:`javascript`. .. _editorconfig: http://editorconfig.org/ .. _flake8: https://pypi.python.org/pypi/flake8