= The newforms-admin branch =

This branch aims to integrate Django's admin site with the [http://www.djangoproject.com/documentation/newforms/ newforms library]. Along the way, we'll take the opportunity to add extra customization hooks to the admin site, in preparation for a complete admin-site refactoring in the future.

We're aiming to get it merged into trunk by Jan. 31, 2007.

== How to get the branch ==

{{{
svn co http://code.djangoproject.com/svn/django/branches/newforms-admin/
}}}

See our [http://www.djangoproject.com/documentation/contributing/#branch-policy branch policy] for full information on how to use a branch.

== Goals ==

In no particular order, here are the goals of this branch. This list may expand as we get more ideas.

  * Core goals
    * Change the admin site to use newforms instead of automatic manipulators.
    * Enable developers to declare custom widgets for particular fields in a model.
    * Enable developers to declare custom admin-only validation for a model.
  * "Would be nice, and we're going to try our hardest to get this in" goals
    * Give developers extra hooks into the admin-site functionality. (Yes, this is a broad goal. More examples are forthcoming.)
    * Integrate some ideas from #2248: Remove {{{core=True}}}, specify inline models in the model itself rather than in the related model, specify which fields should be displayed inline.

The [http://code.djangoproject.com/browser/django/trunk/django/contrib/formtools/preview.py django.contrib.formtools.preview.FormPreview application] (not yet documented, but fully implemented) elegantly allows for fine-grained customization of the application by subclassing. A similar approach would be a great fit for the Django admin site: Write a class that subclasses a base class called, say, {{{ModelAdminView}}}, and specify whichever customizations you need to make -- from the current basic admin options such as {{{list_display}}} and {{{search_fields}}} to full-on Python hooks, such as defining arbitrary Python code to run before or after a model object is saved via the admin.

We should keep in mind this future goal as we implement the newforms-admin branch. Although we don't have to implement all of this hooks for the time being, we should ensure this branch's changes are future-compatible with these plans.

== Roadmap ==

|| Changed admin URLconf so that the five model-specific views ({{{change_list}}}, {{{add_stage}}}, {{{history}}}, {{{delete_stage}}}, {{{change_stage}}}) point to the {{{class Admin}}} in the appropriate model, rather than pointing at the {{{django.contrib.admin}}} view functions. || Not done ||
|| Create a class {{{django.contrib.admin.views.main.ModelAdminView}}}, which will implement the admin hooks for a particular model. || Not done ||
|| Change model infastructure/metaclass so that the inner {{{class Admin}}} automatically subclasses {{{ModelAdminView}}}. (This is a bit of black magic, but it's necessary for backwards compatibility. We may require an explicit subclass declaration in the future.) || Not done ||
|| Implement {{{ModelAdminView.add_stage}}}, using newforms instead of the automatic manipulator. || Not done ||
|| Implement {{{ModelAdminView.change_stage}}}, using newforms instead of the automatic manipulator. || Not done ||
|| Implement {{{ModelAdminView.change_list}}}. || Not done ||
|| Implement {{{ModelAdminView.history}}}. || Not done ||
|| Implement {{{ModelAdminView.delete_stage}}}. || Not done ||