=====================
The Django admin site
=====================
.. module:: django.contrib.admin
:synopsis: Django's admin site.
One of the most powerful parts of Django is the automatic admin interface. It
reads metadata in your model to provide a powerful and production-ready
interface that content producers can immediately use to start adding content to
the site. In this document, we discuss how to activate, use and customize
Django's admin interface.
.. admonition:: Note
The admin site has been refactored significantly since Django 0.96. This
document describes the newest version of the admin site, which allows for
much richer customization. If you follow the development of Django itself,
you may have heard this described as "newforms-admin."
Overview
========
There are six steps in activating the Django admin site:
1. Add ``'django.contrib.admin'`` to your :setting:`INSTALLED_APPS`
setting.
2. Admin has two dependencies - ``django.contrib.auth`` and
``django.contrib.contenttypes``. If these applications are not
in your :setting:`INSTALLED_APPS` list, add them.
3. Determine which of your application's models should be editable in the
admin interface.
4. For each of those models, optionally create a ``ModelAdmin`` class that
encapsulates the customized admin functionality and options for that
particular model.
5. Instantiate an ``AdminSite`` and tell it about each of your models and
``ModelAdmin`` classes.
6. Hook the ``AdminSite`` instance into your URLconf.
Other topics
------------
.. toctree::
:maxdepth: 1
actions
admindocs
.. seealso::
For information about serving the media files (images, JavaScript, and CSS)
associated with the admin in production, see :ref:`serving-media-files`.
``ModelAdmin`` objects
======================
.. class:: ModelAdmin
The ``ModelAdmin`` class is the representation of a model in the admin
interface. These are stored in a file named ``admin.py`` in your
application. Let's take a look at a very simple example of
the ``ModelAdmin``::
from django.contrib import admin
from myproject.myapp.models import Author
class AuthorAdmin(admin.ModelAdmin):
pass
admin.site.register(Author, AuthorAdmin)
.. admonition:: Do you need a ``ModelAdmin`` object at all?
In the preceding example, the ``ModelAdmin`` class doesn't define any
custom values (yet). As a result, the default admin interface will be
provided. If you are happy with the default admin interface, you don't
need to define a ``ModelAdmin`` object at all -- you can register the
model class without providing a ``ModelAdmin`` description. The
preceding example could be simplified to::
from django.contrib import admin
from myproject.myapp.models import Author
admin.site.register(Author)
``ModelAdmin`` Options
----------------------
The ``ModelAdmin`` is very flexible. It has several options for dealing with
customizing the interface. All options are defined on the ``ModelAdmin``
subclass::
class AuthorAdmin(admin.ModelAdmin):
date_hierarchy = 'pub_date'
.. attribute:: ModelAdmin.date_hierarchy
Set ``date_hierarchy`` to the name of a ``DateField`` or ``DateTimeField``
in your model, and the change list page will include a date-based drilldown
navigation by that field.
Example::
date_hierarchy = 'pub_date'
.. versionadded:: 1.3
This will intelligently populate itself based on available data,
e.g. if all the dates are in one month, it'll show the day-level
drill-down only.
.. attribute:: ModelAdmin.form
By default a ``ModelForm`` is dynamically created for your model. It is
used to create the form presented on both the add/change pages. You can
easily provide your own ``ModelForm`` to override any default form behavior
on the add/change pages.
For an example see the section `Adding custom validation to the admin`_.
.. attribute:: ModelAdmin.fieldsets
Set ``fieldsets`` to control the layout of admin "add" and "change" pages.
``fieldsets`` is a list of two-tuples, in which each two-tuple represents a
``
`` on the admin form page. (A ```` is a "section" of
the form.)
The two-tuples are in the format ``(name, field_options)``, where ``name``
is a string representing the title of the fieldset and ``field_options`` is
a dictionary of information about the fieldset, including a list of fields
to be displayed in it.
A full example, taken from the :class:`django.contrib.flatpages.FlatPage`
model::
class FlatPageAdmin(admin.ModelAdmin):
fieldsets = (
(None, {
'fields': ('url', 'title', 'content', 'sites')
}),
('Advanced options', {
'classes': ('collapse',),
'fields': ('enable_comments', 'registration_required', 'template_name')
}),
)
This results in an admin page that looks like:
.. image:: _images/flatfiles_admin.png
If ``fieldsets`` isn't given, Django will default to displaying each field
that isn't an ``AutoField`` and has ``editable=True``, in a single
fieldset, in the same order as the fields are defined in the model.
The ``field_options`` dictionary can have the following keys:
* ``fields``
A tuple of field names to display in this fieldset. This key is
required.
Example::
{
'fields': ('first_name', 'last_name', 'address', 'city', 'state'),
}
To display multiple fields on the same line, wrap those fields in
their own tuple. In this example, the ``first_name`` and
``last_name`` fields will display on the same line::
{
'fields': (('first_name', 'last_name'), 'address', 'city', 'state'),
}
.. versionadded:: 1.2
``fields`` can contain values defined in
:attr:`~ModelAdmin.readonly_fields` to be displayed as read-only.
* ``classes``
A list containing extra CSS classes to apply to the fieldset.
Example::
{
'classes': ['wide', 'extrapretty'],
}
Two useful classes defined by the default admin site stylesheet are
``collapse`` and ``wide``. Fieldsets with the ``collapse`` style
will be initially collapsed in the admin and replaced with a small
"click to expand" link. Fieldsets with the ``wide`` style will be
given extra horizontal space.
* ``description``
A string of optional extra text to be displayed at the top of each
fieldset, under the heading of the fieldset.
Note that this value is *not* HTML-escaped when it's displayed in
the admin interface. This lets you include HTML if you so desire.
Alternatively you can use plain text and
``django.utils.html.escape()`` to escape any HTML special
characters.
.. attribute:: ModelAdmin.fields
Use this option as an alternative to ``fieldsets`` if the layout does not
matter and if you want to only show a subset of the available fields in the
form. For example, you could define a simpler version of the admin form for
the ``django.contrib.flatpages.FlatPage`` model as follows::
class FlatPageAdmin(admin.ModelAdmin):
fields = ('url', 'title', 'content')
In the above example, only the fields 'url', 'title' and 'content' will be
displayed, sequentially, in the form.
.. versionadded:: 1.2
``fields`` can contain values defined in :attr:`ModelAdmin.readonly_fields`
to be displayed as read-only.
.. admonition:: Note
This ``fields`` option should not be confused with the ``fields``
dictionary key that is within the ``fieldsets`` option, as described in
the previous section.
.. attribute:: ModelAdmin.exclude
This attribute, if given, should be a list of field names to exclude from
the form.
For example, let's consider the following model::
class Author(models.Model):
name = models.CharField(max_length=100)
title = models.CharField(max_length=3)
birth_date = models.DateField(blank=True, null=True)
If you want a form for the ``Author`` model that includes only the ``name``
and ``title`` fields, you would specify ``fields`` or ``exclude`` like
this::
class AuthorAdmin(admin.ModelAdmin):
fields = ('name', 'title')
class AuthorAdmin(admin.ModelAdmin):
exclude = ('birth_date',)
Since the Author model only has three fields, ``name``, ``title``, and
``birth_date``, the forms resulting from the above declarations will
contain exactly the same fields.
.. attribute:: ModelAdmin.filter_horizontal
Use a nifty unobtrusive JavaScript "filter" interface instead of the
usability-challenged ```` in the admin form. The value is
a list of fields that should be displayed as a horizontal filter interface.
See ``filter_vertical`` to use a vertical interface.
.. attribute:: ModelAdmin.filter_vertical
Same as ``filter_horizontal``, but is a vertical display of the filter
interface.
.. attribute:: ModelAdmin.list_display
Set ``list_display`` to control which fields are displayed on the change
list page of the admin.
Example::
list_display = ('first_name', 'last_name')
If you don't set ``list_display``, the admin site will display a single
column that displays the ``__unicode__()`` representation of each object.
You have four possible values that can be used in ``list_display``:
* A field of the model. For example::
class PersonAdmin(admin.ModelAdmin):
list_display = ('first_name', 'last_name')
* A callable that accepts one parameter for the model instance. For
example::
def upper_case_name(obj):
return ("%s %s" % (obj.first_name, obj.last_name)).upper()
upper_case_name.short_description = 'Name'
class PersonAdmin(admin.ModelAdmin):
list_display = (upper_case_name,)
* A string representing an attribute on the ``ModelAdmin``. This
behaves same as the callable. For example::
class PersonAdmin(admin.ModelAdmin):
list_display = ('upper_case_name',)
def upper_case_name(self, obj):
return ("%s %s" % (obj.first_name, obj.last_name)).upper()
upper_case_name.short_description = 'Name'
* A string representing an attribute on the model. This behaves almost
the same as the callable, but ``self`` in this context is the model
instance. Here's a full model example::
class Person(models.Model):
name = models.CharField(max_length=50)
birthday = models.DateField()
def decade_born_in(self):
return self.birthday.strftime('%Y')[:3] + "0's"
decade_born_in.short_description = 'Birth decade'
class PersonAdmin(admin.ModelAdmin):
list_display = ('name', 'decade_born_in')
A few special cases to note about ``list_display``:
* If the field is a ``ForeignKey``, Django will display the
``__unicode__()`` of the related object.
* ``ManyToManyField`` fields aren't supported, because that would
entail executing a separate SQL statement for each row in the table.
If you want to do this nonetheless, give your model a custom method,
and add that method's name to ``list_display``. (See below for more
on custom methods in ``list_display``.)
* If the field is a ``BooleanField`` or ``NullBooleanField``, Django
will display a pretty "on" or "off" icon instead of ``True`` or
``False``.
* If the string given is a method of the model, ``ModelAdmin`` or a
callable, Django will HTML-escape the output by default. If you'd
rather not escape the output of the method, give the method an
``allow_tags`` attribute whose value is ``True``.
Here's a full example model::
class Person(models.Model):
first_name = models.CharField(max_length=50)
last_name = models.CharField(max_length=50)
color_code = models.CharField(max_length=6)
def colored_name(self):
return '%s %s ' % (self.color_code, self.first_name, self.last_name)
colored_name.allow_tags = True
class PersonAdmin(admin.ModelAdmin):
list_display = ('first_name', 'last_name', 'colored_name')
* If the string given is a method of the model, ``ModelAdmin`` or a
callable that returns True or False Django will display a pretty
"on" or "off" icon if you give the method a ``boolean`` attribute
whose value is ``True``.
Here's a full example model::
class Person(models.Model):
first_name = models.CharField(max_length=50)
birthday = models.DateField()
def born_in_fifties(self):
return self.birthday.strftime('%Y')[:3] == '195'
born_in_fifties.boolean = True
class PersonAdmin(admin.ModelAdmin):
list_display = ('name', 'born_in_fifties')
* The ``__str__()`` and ``__unicode__()`` methods are just as valid in
``list_display`` as any other model method, so it's perfectly OK to
do this::
list_display = ('__unicode__', 'some_other_field')
* Usually, elements of ``list_display`` that aren't actual database
fields can't be used in sorting (because Django does all the sorting
at the database level).
However, if an element of ``list_display`` represents a certain
database field, you can indicate this fact by setting the
``admin_order_field`` attribute of the item.
For example::
class Person(models.Model):
first_name = models.CharField(max_length=50)
color_code = models.CharField(max_length=6)
def colored_first_name(self):
return '%s ' % (self.color_code, self.first_name)
colored_first_name.allow_tags = True
colored_first_name.admin_order_field = 'first_name'
class PersonAdmin(admin.ModelAdmin):
list_display = ('first_name', 'colored_first_name')
The above will tell Django to order by the ``first_name`` field when
trying to sort by ``colored_first_name`` in the admin.
.. attribute:: ModelAdmin.list_display_links
Set ``list_display_links`` to control which fields in ``list_display``
should be linked to the "change" page for an object.
By default, the change list page will link the first column -- the first
field specified in ``list_display`` -- to the change page for each item.
But ``list_display_links`` lets you change which columns are linked. Set
``list_display_links`` to a list or tuple of field names (in the same
format as ``list_display``) to link.
``list_display_links`` can specify one or many field names. As long as the
field names appear in ``list_display``, Django doesn't care how many (or
how few) fields are linked. The only requirement is: If you want to use
``list_display_links``, you must define ``list_display``.
In this example, the ``first_name`` and ``last_name`` fields will be
linked on the change list page::
class PersonAdmin(admin.ModelAdmin):
list_display = ('first_name', 'last_name', 'birthday')
list_display_links = ('first_name', 'last_name')
.. _admin-list-editable:
.. attribute:: ModelAdmin.list_editable
.. versionadded:: 1.1
Set ``list_editable`` to a list of field names on the model which will
allow editing on the change list page. That is, fields listed in
``list_editable`` will be displayed as form widgets on the change list
page, allowing users to edit and save multiple rows at once.
.. note::
``list_editable`` interacts with a couple of other options in
particular ways; you should note the following rules:
* Any field in ``list_editable`` must also be in ``list_display``.
You can't edit a field that's not displayed!
* The same field can't be listed in both ``list_editable`` and
``list_display_links`` -- a field can't be both a form and
a link.
You'll get a validation error if either of these rules are broken.
.. attribute:: ModelAdmin.list_filter
Set ``list_filter`` to activate filters in the right sidebar of the change
list page of the admin. This should be a list of field names, and each
specified field should be either a ``BooleanField``, ``CharField``,
``DateField``, ``DateTimeField``, ``IntegerField`` or ``ForeignKey``.
This example, taken from the ``django.contrib.auth.models.User`` model,
shows how both ``list_display`` and ``list_filter`` work::
class UserAdmin(admin.ModelAdmin):
list_display = ('username', 'email', 'first_name', 'last_name', 'is_staff')
list_filter = ('is_staff', 'is_superuser')
Fields in ``list_filter`` can also span relations using the ``__`` lookup::
class UserAdminWithLookup(UserAdmin):
list_filter = ('groups__name')
The above code results in an admin change list page that looks like this:
.. image:: _images/users_changelist.png
(This example also has ``search_fields`` defined. See below.)
.. attribute:: ModelAdmin.list_per_page
Set ``list_per_page`` to control how many items appear on each paginated
admin change list page. By default, this is set to ``100``.
.. attribute:: ModelAdmin.list_select_related
Set ``list_select_related`` to tell Django to use
:meth:`~django.db.models.QuerySet.select_related` in retrieving the list of
objects on the admin change list page. This can save you a bunch of
database queries.
The value should be either ``True`` or ``False``. Default is ``False``.
Note that Django will use :meth:`~django.db.models.QuerySet.select_related`,
regardless of this setting if one of the ``list_display`` fields is a
``ForeignKey``.
.. attribute:: ModelAdmin.inlines
See :class:`InlineModelAdmin` objects below.
.. attribute:: ModelAdmin.ordering
Set ``ordering`` to specify how lists of objects should be ordered in the
Django admin views. This should be a list or tuple in the same format as a
model's ``ordering`` parameter.
If this isn't provided, the Django admin will use the model's default
ordering.
.. admonition:: Note
Django will only honor the first element in the list/tuple; any others
will be ignored.
.. attribute:: ModelAdmin.paginator
.. versionadded:: 1.3
The paginator class to be used for pagination. By default,
:class:`django.core.paginator.Paginator` is used. If the custom paginator
class doesn't have the same constructor interface as
:class:`django.core.paginator.Paginator`, you will also need to
provide an implementation for :meth:`ModelAdmin.get_paginator`.
.. attribute:: ModelAdmin.prepopulated_fields
Set ``prepopulated_fields`` to a dictionary mapping field names to the
fields it should prepopulate from::
class ArticleAdmin(admin.ModelAdmin):
prepopulated_fields = {"slug": ("title",)}
When set, the given fields will use a bit of JavaScript to populate from
the fields assigned. The main use for this functionality is to
automatically generate the value for ``SlugField`` fields from one or more
other fields. The generated value is produced by concatenating the values
of the source fields, and then by transforming that result into a valid
slug (e.g. substituting dashes for spaces).
``prepopulated_fields`` doesn't accept ``DateTimeField``, ``ForeignKey``,
nor ``ManyToManyField`` fields.
.. attribute:: ModelAdmin.radio_fields
By default, Django's admin uses a select-box interface () for
fields that are ``ForeignKey`` or have ``choices`` set. If a field is
present in ``radio_fields``, Django will use a radio-button interface
instead. Assuming ``group`` is a ``ForeignKey`` on the ``Person`` model::
class PersonAdmin(admin.ModelAdmin):
radio_fields = {"group": admin.VERTICAL}
You have the choice of using ``HORIZONTAL`` or ``VERTICAL`` from the
``django.contrib.admin`` module.
Don't include a field in ``radio_fields`` unless it's a ``ForeignKey`` or has
``choices`` set.
.. attribute:: ModelAdmin.raw_id_fields
By default, Django's admin uses a select-box interface () for
fields that are ``ForeignKey``. Sometimes you don't want to incur the
overhead of having to select all the related instances to display in the
drop-down.
``raw_id_fields`` is a list of fields you would like to change
into an ``Input`` widget for either a ``ForeignKey`` or
``ManyToManyField``::
class ArticleAdmin(admin.ModelAdmin):
raw_id_fields = ("newspaper",)
.. attribute:: ModelAdmin.readonly_fields
.. versionadded:: 1.2
By default the admin shows all fields as editable. Any fields in this
option (which should be a ``list`` or ``tuple``) will display its data
as-is and non-editable. This option behaves nearly identical to
:attr:`ModelAdmin.list_display`. Usage is the same, however, when you
specify :attr:`ModelAdmin.fields` or :attr:`ModelAdmin.fieldsets` the
read-only fields must be present to be shown (they are ignored otherwise).
If ``readonly_fields`` is used without defining explicit ordering through
:attr:`ModelAdmin.fields` or :attr:`ModelAdmin.fieldsets` they will be
added last after all editable fields.
.. attribute:: ModelAdmin.save_as
Set ``save_as`` to enable a "save as" feature on admin change forms.
Normally, objects have three save options: "Save", "Save and continue
editing" and "Save and add another". If ``save_as`` is ``True``, "Save
and add another" will be replaced by a "Save as" button.
"Save as" means the object will be saved as a new object (with a new ID),
rather than the old object.
By default, ``save_as`` is set to ``False``.
.. attribute:: ModelAdmin.save_on_top
Set ``save_on_top`` to add save buttons across the top of your admin change
forms.
Normally, the save buttons appear only at the bottom of the forms. If you
set ``save_on_top``, the buttons will appear both on the top and the
bottom.
By default, ``save_on_top`` is set to ``False``.
.. attribute:: ModelAdmin.search_fields
Set ``search_fields`` to enable a search box on the admin change list page.
This should be set to a list of field names that will be searched whenever
somebody submits a search query in that text box.
These fields should be some kind of text field, such as ``CharField`` or
``TextField``. You can also perform a related lookup on a ``ForeignKey`` or
``ManyToManyField`` with the lookup API "follow" notation::
search_fields = ['foreign_key__related_fieldname']
For example, if you have a blog entry with an author, the following
definition would enable search blog entries by the email address of the
author::
search_fields = ['user__email']
When somebody does a search in the admin search box, Django splits the
search query into words and returns all objects that contain each of the
words, case insensitive, where each word must be in at least one of
``search_fields``. For example, if ``search_fields`` is set to
``['first_name', 'last_name']`` and a user searches for ``john lennon``,
Django will do the equivalent of this SQL ``WHERE`` clause::
WHERE (first_name ILIKE '%john%' OR last_name ILIKE '%john%')
AND (first_name ILIKE '%lennon%' OR last_name ILIKE '%lennon%')
For faster and/or more restrictive searches, prefix the field name
with an operator:
``^``
Matches the beginning of the field. For example, if ``search_fields``
is set to ``['^first_name', '^last_name']`` and a user searches for
``john lennon``, Django will do the equivalent of this SQL ``WHERE``
clause::
WHERE (first_name ILIKE 'john%' OR last_name ILIKE 'john%')
AND (first_name ILIKE 'lennon%' OR last_name ILIKE 'lennon%')
This query is more efficient than the normal ``'%john%'`` query,
because the database only needs to check the beginning of a column's
data, rather than seeking through the entire column's data. Plus, if
the column has an index on it, some databases may be able to use the
index for this query, even though it's a ``LIKE`` query.
``=``
Matches exactly, case-insensitive. For example, if
``search_fields`` is set to ``['=first_name', '=last_name']`` and
a user searches for ``john lennon``, Django will do the equivalent
of this SQL ``WHERE`` clause::
WHERE (first_name ILIKE 'john' OR last_name ILIKE 'john')
AND (first_name ILIKE 'lennon' OR last_name ILIKE 'lennon')
Note that the query input is split by spaces, so, following this
example, it's currently not possible to search for all records in which
``first_name`` is exactly ``'john winston'`` (containing a space).
``@``
Performs a full-text match. This is like the default search method but
uses an index. Currently this is only available for MySQL.
.. attribute:: ModelAdmin.formfield_overrides
.. versionadded:: 1.1
This provides a quick-and-dirty way to override some of the
:class:`~django.forms.Field` options for use in the admin.
``formfield_overrides`` is a dictionary mapping a field class to a dict of
arguments to pass to the field at construction time.
Since that's a bit abstract, let's look at a concrete example. The most
common use of ``formfield_overrides`` is to add a custom widget for a
certain type of field. So, imagine we've written a ``RichTextEditorWidget``
that we'd like to use for large text fields instead of the default
``