Opened 18 years ago

Closed 10 years ago

Last modified 9 years ago

#2445 closed New feature (fixed)

[patch] allow callable values for limit_choices_to

Reported by: michael@… Owned by: Tim Graham <timograham@…>
Component: Core (Other) Version: dev
Severity: Normal Keywords: sprint2013
Cc: zeraien@…, gary.wilson@…, django@…, davidgrant@…, mpjung@…, hr.bjarni+django@…, Odin Hørthe Omdal, remco@…, joseph.spiros@…, mmitar@…, leo@…, Chris Chambers, russamos, semenov@…, andreterra@…, stj, dschruth, danny.adair@…, Steven Bisseker, philipe.rp@…, kmike84@…, christopher.r.adams@…, someuniquename@… Triage Stage: Accepted
Has patch: yes Needs documentation: no
Needs tests: no Patch needs improvement: no
Easy pickings: no UI/UX: no

Description

Allow limit_choices_to to test for and invoke callable value arguments. This would allow filtering on dynamically determined values. It enhances the possibilities for customising the admin interface. This may be related to Ticket 2193 (sounds similar at any rate).

For example:

def assigned_tasks():
   return get_assigned_tasks_id_list(blah, blah)

class TimeRecord(models.Model):
   task = models.ForeignKey(Task, limit_choices_to = {'id__in': assigned_tasks})

Attachments (6)

query_value.diff (578 bytes ) - added by michael@… 18 years ago.
test callable(value) in db/models/query.py
evallimitchoices.diff (4.8 KB ) - added by michael@… 17 years ago.
Patch to allow evaluation of callables in limit_choices_to
choices_func.diff (2.1 KB ) - added by Dmitri Fedortchenko <zeraien@…> 16 years ago.
This patch is still a bit unpredictable with edit_inline objects, but works with normal relationships.
choices_func.2.diff (2.1 KB ) - added by Dmitri Fedortchenko <zeraien@…> 16 years ago.
Accidentally included some debug print statements in the previous patch...whoops
choices_func_newforms-admin.patch (2.5 KB ) - added by David Grant <davidgrant@…> 16 years ago.
patch for newforms-admin branch. Just one line is different. Still doesn't work with inlines
choices_for_foo.diff (5.8 KB ) - added by stj 13 years ago.
patch against r15803

Download all attachments as: .zip

Change History (71)

by michael@…, 18 years ago

Attachment: query_value.diff added

test callable(value) in db/models/query.py

comment:1 by anonymous, 18 years ago

Cc: gary.wilson@… added

comment:2 by Adrian Holovaty, 18 years ago

I agree with the concept, but the patch is incorrect -- the check for callable() should be made only on the limit_choices_to values, not in the code that parses *every* query. Could you have another look?

comment:3 by Adrian Holovaty, 18 years ago

Summary: [patch] allow callable values for limit_choices_toallow callable values for limit_choices_to

Removing [patch] from the subject, because the patch is invalid.

comment:4 by Stefano J. Attardi <django@…>, 18 years ago

Cc: django@… added

comment:5 by michael@…, 18 years ago

I took another look - I only have limited familiarity with the code.

The value of limit_choices_to is passed to complex_filter() in three places:

django/contrib/admin/views/main.py
django/db/models/manipulators.py
django/db/models/fields/__init__.py

I believe that calls to complex_filter() are the only places limit_choices_to is actually used.

The limit_choices_to is always obtained via referencing some fragment such as .rel.limit_choices_to
The "rel" class needs a method (hopefully in some base class) that evaluates its' limit_choices_to and returns a new hashmap:

    def get_limit_choices_to(self):
        limiters = {}
        if self.limit_choices_to:
            for id in self.limit_choices_to:
                value = self.limit_choices_to[id]
                if callable(value):
                    value = value()
                limiters[id] = value
        return limiters

The existing direct references to ref.limit_choices_to need to change to ref.get_limit_choices_to()

Does this sound like I'm on the right track? I'm proceeding on these lines for now.

by michael@…, 17 years ago

Attachment: evallimitchoices.diff added

Patch to allow evaluation of callables in limit_choices_to

comment:6 by michael@…, 17 years ago

Summary: allow callable values for limit_choices_to[patch] allow callable values for limit_choices_to

I attached a new patch that attempts to implement callables in limit_choices_to without involving query.py. I've put [patch] back in the header. The new patch is larger - I'm open to suggestions on how it might be more simply achieved.

comment:7 by Gary Wilson <gary.wilson@…>, 17 years ago

Needs documentation: set
Needs tests: set
Triage Stage: UnreviewedDesign decision needed

I like the idea (touched on in #1891) of getting rid of limit_choices_to in favor of a choices that accepts QuerySets or callables.

comment:8 by webograph <webograph@…>, 17 years ago

i think that callables should be passed a reference to self, at least if they accept it -- think of the following model:

class Mother(models.Model):
    firstborn = models.ForeignKey('Child', limit_choices_to={'mother':lambda me: me})
    
class Child(models.Model):
    mother = models.ForeignKey('Mother', related_name='children')

comment:9 by jkocherhans, 17 years ago

Has patch: unset
Needs documentation: unset
Needs tests: unset
Triage Stage: Design decision neededAccepted

We discussed this in Chicago and I think the plan is to allow some special methods to generate the choices.

class SomeOtherModel(models.Model):
    name = models.CharField(max_length=255)

class MyModel(models.Model):
    test = models.ForeignKey(SomeOtherModel):

    def choices_for_test(self):
        """Hook for providing custom choices. Returns a queryset or an iterable of choices tuples."""
        return SomeOtherModel.objects.all()

comment:10 by Dmitri Fedortchenko <zeraien@…>, 16 years ago

Cc: zeraien@… added

Is anyone still working on this?

I've been seeking this functionality so I wrote a patch that actually implements jkocherhanss way of dealing with this.

By defining a function in your model called choices_forFIELDNAME you can limit the choices using data from the current row...

The patch also allows for using QuerySets for the choices attribute for any field...

I am still working on getting it to work with edit_inline, but it works perfectly with normal models.

by Dmitri Fedortchenko <zeraien@…>, 16 years ago

Attachment: choices_func.diff added

This patch is still a bit unpredictable with edit_inline objects, but works with normal relationships.

by Dmitri Fedortchenko <zeraien@…>, 16 years ago

Attachment: choices_func.2.diff added

Accidentally included some debug print statements in the previous patch...whoops

comment:11 by Jannis Leidel, 16 years ago

Has patch: set

comment:12 by Dmitri Fedortchenko <zeraien@…>, 16 years ago

Patch needs improvement: set

Patch needs work since it does not work with edit inlines.

by David Grant <davidgrant@…>, 16 years ago

patch for newforms-admin branch. Just one line is different. Still doesn't work with inlines

comment:13 by David Grant <davidgrant@…>, 16 years ago

Cc: davidgrant@… added

What's the problem with inlines? I've been trying to figure this out all day and I can't seem to figure out what's going on. It seem to be calling the choices_for* on out-of-date instances. The only thing I can think of is that the code in models/base.py isn't being called again, so there is an old choices_for* method attached to the field.

comment:14 by David Grant <davidgrant@…>, 16 years ago

I think the problem that appears with inlines is in attaching this method to the model's field (see content of patch). The choices_for__somefield method should not be a Field method it should be a model method (which is what it looks like anyways). This business of attaching it to the field needs to go away and the choices_for__somefield method needs to be called to filter out the choices for somefield within the context of some instance of the model (the self that is passed in).

This problem goes away if you always create an instance of the class that has the limited-choice field in it before calling the choices method. Then the choices choices_for__somefield gets reattached to the field and when you ask the field what it's choices are (via get_choices method) you get what you expect...but this is not how inlines work right now, where an instance of the inlined object is not always instantiated before looking at the field's choices, hence you will get the choices of the last-instantiated child object! But re-laod the page again and it works.

Only an instance of the model you are editing is instantiated (the non-inlined model) right away, which is why this hack works when editing the inlined model in non-in-lined mode (editing the child directly rather than through the parent).

comment:15 by Alex Gaynor, 16 years ago

David's approach looks to be correct, however related fields don't actually have a limit_choices_to parameter, so I think we should combine this and #1891 and remove limit_choices_to entirely, and allow callables and querysets for choices, as this does.

comment:16 by Matias Surdi <matiassurdi@…>, 16 years ago

Do yo know if this patch is going to be applied to trunk in any momment?

comment:17 by Michael P. Jung, 16 years ago

Cc: mpjung@… added

comment:18 by Marc Fargas, 16 years ago

Needs documentation: set
Needs tests: set

The patch is missing tests and documentation.

comment:19 by hejsan, 14 years ago

Cc: hr.bjarni+django@… added

comment:20 by hejsan, 14 years ago

This is quite important, without this functionality one is not able to make choices context sensitive without some major hack.

The last proposed solution, to allow for a choices_for_BLA() function is definitely the way to go, that is the only way that allows you to check your self variables and make the choices accordingly in a dynamic way.

Please someone smarter than me fix the choices_func_newforms-admin.patch patch to work for inlines also :)

comment:21 by Odin Hørthe Omdal, 14 years ago

Cc: Odin Hørthe Omdal added

comment:22 by Remco Wendt, 14 years ago

Cc: remco@… added

comment:23 by Joseph Spiros, 14 years ago

Cc: joseph.spiros@… added

I'm not sure if this covers every use case, or if this is just a stupid hack that shouldn't be considered a proper solution to this problem, but what I've done is create classes that implement add_to_query (instances of which can be supplied to, I believe, any method that also accepts a Q object), and which dynamically create and add appropriate Q objects to the query upon invocation. My use case for the moment is limiting the choice of ContentTypes on the content type ForeignKey used by a GenericForeignKey. See ContentTypeLimiter and subclasses in my project.


comment:24 by Greg Turner, 14 years ago

By the way, limit_choices_to can indeed be a callable (the documentation example says limit_choices_to=datetime.date.now), but doesn't include self.

comment:25 by Mitar, 14 years ago

Cc: mmitar@… added

comment:26 by banyanleo, 14 years ago

Cc: leo@… added

comment:27 by Chris Chambers, 13 years ago

Cc: Chris Chambers added

in reply to:  23 comment:28 by Paul Garner, 13 years ago

Replying to jspiros:

I'm not sure if this covers every use case, or if this is just a stupid hack that shouldn't be considered a proper solution to this problem, but what I've done is create classes that implement add_to_query (instances of which can be supplied to, I believe, any method that also accepts a Q object), and which dynamically create and add appropriate Q objects to the query upon invocation. My use case for the moment is limiting the choice of ContentTypes on the content type ForeignKey used by a GenericForeignKey. See ContentTypeLimiter and subclasses in my project.

That's really clever! I'm not clear how, or if it's possible, to access the current instance from within a *Limiter class though?

comment:29 by russamos, 13 years ago

Cc: russamos added

comment:30 by Ilya Semenov, 13 years ago

Cc: semenov@… added

comment:31 by Andy Terra, 13 years ago

Cc: andreterra@… added

by stj, 13 years ago

Attachment: choices_for_foo.diff added

patch against r15803

comment:32 by stj, 13 years ago

Cc: stj added

Spent some time at the PyCon 2011 sprint session on this and came up with a new implementation.

The choices_for_FOO method needs to return a QuerySet though in this implementation is no check for that.
In a small test application I tested this with InlineModelAdmin and found no bugs.

comment:33 by dschruth, 13 years ago

Cc: dschruth added

comment:34 by Łukasz Rekucki, 13 years ago

Type: enhancementNew feature

comment:35 by Łukasz Rekucki, 13 years ago

Severity: normalNormal

comment:36 by danny.adair@…, 13 years ago

Cc: danny.adair@… added

comment:37 by anonymous, 13 years ago

Easy pickings: unset
Resolution: fixed
Status: newclosed

comment:38 by Karen Tracey, 13 years ago

Resolution: fixed
Status: closedreopened

I don't know if the previous update was a mistake or spam, but this is not fixed. Using r16279 specifying a callable for limit_choices_to raises a TypeError _filter_or_exclude() argument after ** must be a dictionary.

comment:39 by Steven Bisseker, 13 years ago

Cc: Steven Bisseker added
UI/UX: unset

comment:40 by Steven Bisseker, 13 years ago

UI/UX: set

comment:41 by Ben Davis, 12 years ago

Needs documentation: unset
Needs tests: unset
Patch needs improvement: unset

Unsetting "needs test" and "needs documentation", as the latest patch seems to have both.

comment:42 by myusuf3, 12 years ago

Patch needs improvement: set

The newest patch no longer applies cleanly.

Setting patch needs improvement.

comment:43 by Felipe 'chronos' Prenholato, 12 years ago

Cc: philipe.rp@… added

comment:44 by Mikhail Korobov, 12 years ago

Cc: kmike84@… added

comment:45 by Aymeric Augustin, 11 years ago

Status: reopenednew

comment:46 by Sébastien Fievet, 11 years ago

Keywords: sprint2013 added
Owner: changed from nobody to Sébastien Fievet
Status: newassigned

I'll update the patch from @stj so it apply to master.

comment:47 by Sébastien Fievet, 11 years ago

comment:48 by Jannis Leidel, 11 years ago

UI/UX: unset

Repeating what I said on IRC, I think adding a field specific option into the model definition is a bad idea and doesn't have precedence in the model API. Instead I would think making it possible to pass a callable into the choices parameter of the field as mentioned by Gary a couple of years ago, makes more sense.

comment:49 by Jannis Leidel, 11 years ago

This is related to #13181

comment:50 by Christopher Adams, 11 years ago

Cc: christopher.r.adams@… added
Owner: changed from Sébastien Fievet to Christopher Adams

comment:51 by Christopher Adams, 11 years ago

Owner: Christopher Adams removed
Status: assignednew

I just submitted a pull request for this ticket at https://github.com/django/django/pull/1600.

  • ForeignKey or ManyToManyField attribute limit_choices_to can now be a callable that returns either a Q object or a dict.
  • The callable will be invoked at ModelForm initialization time.
  • Admin form behavior modified to handle new functionality.
  • Admin widget behavior modified to handle new functionality.
  • Updated Django documentation field reference section.
  • Added unit tests for limit_choices_to on ModelForms.
  • Tweaked unit tests for Admin to use some callables for limit_choices_to.
  • I included some new tests. All old test cases run successfully.

comment:52 by Christopher Adams, 11 years ago

Patch needs improvement: unset
Version: master

comment:53 by Evstifeev Roman, 10 years ago

Cc: someuniquename@… added

comment:54 by Christopher Adams, 10 years ago

Owner: set to Christopher Adams
Status: newassigned

comment:55 by Christopher Adams, 10 years ago

Triage Stage: AcceptedReady for checkin

I submitted a new pull request that should implement this feature:
https://github.com/django/django/pull/2233

All unit tests run on my local dev box. Added new unit test (admin_views.tests.LimitChoicesToTest) for the new feature.

Summary:

Fixed #2445 -- limit_choices_to attribute can now be a callable.

  • ForeignKey or ManyToManyField attribute limit_choices_to can now be a callable that returns either a Q object or a dict.
  • The callable will be invoked at ModelForm initialization time.
  • Admin form behavior modified to handle new functionality.
  • Admin widget behavior modified to handle new functionality.
  • Updated Django documentation field reference section.
  • Added unit test class using limit_choices_to on ModelForm.

comment:56 by Christopher Adams, 10 years ago

Owner: Christopher Adams removed
Status: assignednew
Triage Stage: Ready for checkinAccepted

comment:57 by Tim Graham, 10 years ago

Patch needs improvement: set

I've left some comments for improvement on the pull request.

comment:58 by Christopher Adams, 10 years ago

Owner: set to Christopher Adams
Status: newassigned

Thanks Tim. I'll make the changes as requested.

comment:59 by Christopher Adams, 10 years ago

Owner: Christopher Adams removed
Patch needs improvement: unset
Status: assignednew

The changes requested by @timo have been made at 5d4b7a1. I updated the pull request. See https://github.com/django/django/pull/2233.

commit 5d4b7a1c466174bfe05f32545652519446354c25
Author: Christopher Adams <christopher.r.adams@…>
Date: Sun Feb 9 12:02:03 2014 -0500

Made changes for #2445 requested by @timgraham on Feb 6, 2014.

  • Moved ModelForm test of new limit_choices_to functionality to ./tests/model_forms/* instead of keeping them in ./tests/admin_views/*.
  • Added new test in admin_views for limit_choices_to callable functionality for Django Admin.
  • Updated the release notes for Django 1.7 to include a note about the new behavior for limit_choices_to.
  • Added 'versionchanged' notification for limit_choices_to in the documentation for Django 1.7.
  • Added explicit link to raw_id_fields in the changes to the ForeignKey.limit_choices_to documentation.
  • Defined ModelForm for tests using more canonical 'fields' instead of 'exclude'.
  • Refactored datetime import statement for model_forms test.
  • Phrased changes to documentation in a better way where requested.
  • Added missing indentation for 'note' section of proposed changes to documentation.
  • Simplified inline code comments where requested.
  • Removed unused imports.
  • Refs #2445.

comment:60 by Tim Graham <timograham@…>, 10 years ago

Owner: set to Tim Graham <timograham@…>
Resolution: fixed
Status: newclosed

In eefc88feefec0c3685bfb102714530b751b4ae90:

Fixed #2445 -- Allowed limit_choices_to attribute to be a callable.

ForeignKey or ManyToManyField attribute limit_choices_to can now
be a callable that returns either a Q object or a dict.

Thanks michael at actrix.gen.nz for the original suggestion.

comment:61 by Daniel Hahler, 10 years ago

Thanks! This looks very useful.

I wonder if it could be changed to pass along any request object to the callback, which would allow to look at request.user and then limit the choices to objects that the current user owns?

From what I understand the request object may not be available, e.g. when used via management commands, where None would be passed to the callback then.

comment:62 by Tim Graham, 10 years ago

Not really, the request is generally not available in a form.

comment:63 by Christopher Adams, 10 years ago

I know some people make the request available in thread local storage using middleware (see http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1057252/how-do-i-access-the-request-object-or-any-other-variable-in-a-forms-clean-met#answer-1057418). This effectively hacks Django to make its behavior similar to frameworks that make the request object globally available, such as Flask. Note however that many people believe this pattern is a bad practice.

comment:64 by Baptiste Mispelon <bmispelon@…>, 9 years ago

In bfb11b95626f39e2f5e18d97d7761c6f93dcc1a9:

Fixed #23795 -- Fixed a regression in custom form fields

Custom form fields having a queryset attribute but no
limit_choices_to could no longer be used in ModelForms.

Refs #2445.

Thanks to artscoop for the report.

comment:65 by Baptiste Mispelon <bmispelon@…>, 9 years ago

In 606c57a132a1e1e680853c014efc41110ee75a80:

[1.7.x] Fixed #23795 -- Fixed a regression in custom form fields

Custom form fields having a queryset attribute but no
limit_choices_to could no longer be used in ModelForms.

Refs #2445.

Thanks to artscoop for the report.

Backport of bfb11b95626f39e2f5e18d97d7761c6f93dcc1a9 from master.

Conflicts:

django/forms/fields.py

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