id	summary	reporter	owner	description	type	status	component	version	severity	resolution	keywords	cc	stage	has_patch	needs_docs	needs_tests	needs_better_patch	easy	ui_ux
32726	Enforce database level constraints for fields with limited choices	Eerik Sven Puudist	nobody	"The following is based on PostgresSQL, but is applicable to other databases as well.

When I define a `CharField`, for example this one from the official docs:

`year_in_school = models.CharField(max_length=2, choices=YearInSchool.choices, default=YearInSchool.FRESHMAN)`

a regular `VARCHAR` field will be defined in the database with no constraints preventing me from inserting other strings to it when I interact directly with the database bypassing the Django layer.

This would compromise data integrity and lead to a state where an unforeseen string is stored in that field which the application would not be able to properly handle.

To prevent such a inconsistent state, I propose that one of the following restrictions would be implemented (the choice might be database specific):
  - add a `CHECK` constraint to the field which would ensure that the value falls into the range of acceptable choices
  - use the enum datatype to declare acceptable choices
  - create an auxiliary table to store the acceptable choices and add a foreign key constraint to the field"	New feature	new	Database layer (models, ORM)	dev	Normal		validation database constraints		Unreviewed	0	0	0	0	0	0