DecimalField no longer takes float values

[Karen Tracey <kmtracey@…>]

As of r8143, given a model like this:

class Dec(models.Model):
    avg = models.DecimalField(decimal_places=2, max_digits=5)

I'm seeing failures like this:

>>> d1 = Dec(avg=2.3)
>>> d1.save()
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<console>", line 1, in <module>
  File "d:\u\kmt\django\trunk\django\db\models\base.py", line 274, in save
    self.save_base()
  File "d:\u\kmt\django\trunk\django\db\models\base.py", line 330, in save_base
    values = [(f, f.get_db_prep_save(raw and getattr(self, f.attname) or f.pre_save(self, True))) for f in meta.local_fields if not isinstance(f, AutoField)]
  File "d:\u\kmt\django\trunk\django\db\models\fields\__init__.py", line 232, in get_db_prep_save
    return self.get_db_prep_value(value)
  File "d:\u\kmt\django\trunk\django\db\models\fields\__init__.py", line 735, in get_db_prep_value
    return connection.ops.value_to_db_decimal(self.to_python(value),
  File "d:\u\kmt\django\trunk\django\db\models\fields\__init__.py", line 709, in to_python
    return decimal.Decimal(value)
  File "d:\bin\Python2.5.1\lib\decimal.py", line 578, in __new__
    "First convert the float to a string")
TypeError: Cannot convert float to Decimal.  First convert the float to a string
>>>

Prior to r8143 code like this worked fine. Now I realize it's called DecimalField, so perhaps I should be passing in a Decimal not a float, but when originally written this code (not the above but the code where I actually hit the problem) used a FloatField, and at some point I migrated it to DecimalField via these instructions:

​http://code.djangoproject.com/wiki/BackwardsIncompatibleChanges#RenamedFloatFieldtoDecimalField

which don't mention anywhere the need to migrate to passing in Decimals for the values. Is the intent to no longer allow passing floats here? If so it probably needs a mention in Backwards Incompatible Changes.

[Malcolm Tredinnick]

I think you're right on all counts (except where you try to pass a float off as a decimal). The current code is better and actually catches this as a bug. And, yes, we need to add it to BackwardsIncompatibleChanges. I'll do that momentarily.

We shouldn't really try to fake the float -> decimal conversion because it really does lose precision (and would be inconsistent with how Python works). You can pass in strings or decimals there.

[Malcolm Tredinnick]

Done. Thanks, Karen.