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django/docs/ref/models/options.txt
Malcolm Tredinnick b4dd4d4bb7 Fixed #3163 -- Add a "Meta.managed" option to models.
This allows a model to be defined which is not subject to database table
creation and removal. Useful for models that sit over existing tables or
database views.

Thanks to Alexander Myodov, Wolfgang Kriesing and Ryan Kelly for the bulk of
this patch.

git-svn-id: http://code.djangoproject.com/svn/django/trunk@10008 bcc190cf-cafb-0310-a4f2-bffc1f526a37
2009-03-09 03:35:02 +00:00

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.. _ref-models-options:
======================
Model ``Meta`` options
======================
This document explains all the possible :ref:`metadata options <meta-options>` that you can give your model in its internal
``class Meta``.
Available ``Meta`` options
==========================
.. currentmodule:: django.db.models
``abstract``
------------
.. attribute:: Options.abstract
If ``True``, this model will be an :ref:`abstract base class <abstract-base-classes>`.
``db_table``
------------
.. attribute:: Options.db_table
The name of the database table to use for the model::
db_table = 'music_album'
.. _table-names:
Table names
~~~~~~~~~~~
To save you time, Django automatically derives the name of the database table
from the name of your model class and the app that contains it. A model's
database table name is constructed by joining the model's "app label" -- the
name you used in ``manage.py startapp`` -- to the model's class name, with an
underscore between them.
For example, if you have an app ``bookstore`` (as created by
``manage.py startapp bookstore``), a model defined as ``class Book`` will have
a database table named ``bookstore_book``.
To override the database table name, use the ``db_table`` parameter in
``class Meta``.
If your database table name is an SQL reserved word, or contains characters that
aren't allowed in Python variable names -- notably, the hyphen -- that's OK.
Django quotes column and table names behind the scenes.
``db_tablespace``
-----------------
.. attribute:: Options.db_tablespace
.. versionadded:: 1.0
The name of the database tablespace to use for the model. If the backend doesn't
support tablespaces, this option is ignored.
``get_latest_by``
-----------------
.. attribute:: Options.get_latest_by
The name of a :class:`DateField` or :class:`DateTimeField` in the model. This
specifies the default field to use in your model :class:`Manager`'s
:class:`~QuerySet.latest` method.
Example::
get_latest_by = "order_date"
See the docs for :meth:`~django.db.models.QuerySet.latest` for more.
``managed``
-----------------------
.. attribute:: Options.managed
.. versionadded:: 1.1
If ``False``, no database table creation or deletion operations will be
performed for this model. This is useful if the model represents an existing
table or a database view that has been created by some other means.
The default value is ``True``, meaning Django will create the appropriate
database tables in :ref:`django-admin-syncdb` and remove them as part of a
:ref:`reset <django-admin-reset>` management command.
If a model contains a :class:`~django.db.models.ManyToManyField` and has
``managed=False``, the intermediate table for the many-to-many join will also
not be created. Should you require the intermediate table to be created, set
it up as an explicit model and use the :attr:`ManyToManyField.through`
attribute.
For tests involving models with ``managed=False``, it's up to you to ensure
the correct tables are created as part of the test setup.
``order_with_respect_to``
-------------------------
.. attribute:: Options.order_with_respect_to
Marks this object as "orderable" with respect to the given field. This is almost
always used with related objects to allow them to be ordered with respect to a
parent object. For example, if an ``Answer`` relates to a ``Question`` object,
and a question has more than one answer, and the order of answers matters, you'd
do this::
class Answer(models.Model):
question = models.ForeignKey(Question)
# ...
class Meta:
order_with_respect_to = 'question'
``ordering``
------------
.. attribute:: Options.ordering
The default ordering for the object, for use when obtaining lists of objects::
ordering = ['-order_date']
This is a tuple or list of strings. Each string is a field name with an optional
"-" prefix, which indicates descending order. Fields without a leading "-" will
be ordered ascending. Use the string "?" to order randomly.
.. note::
Regardless of how many fields are in :attr:`~Options.ordering`, the admin
site uses only the first field.
For example, to order by a ``pub_date`` field ascending, use this::
ordering = ['pub_date']
To order by ``pub_date`` descending, use this::
ordering = ['-pub_date']
To order by ``pub_date`` descending, then by ``author`` ascending, use this::
ordering = ['-pub_date', 'author']
``permissions``
---------------
.. attribute:: Options.permissions
Extra permissions to enter into the permissions table when creating this object.
Add, delete and change permissions are automatically created for each object
that has ``admin`` set. This example specifies an extra permission,
``can_deliver_pizzas``::
permissions = (("can_deliver_pizzas", "Can deliver pizzas"),)
This is a list or tuple of 2-tuples in the format ``(permission_code,
human_readable_permission_name)``.
``unique_together``
-------------------
.. attribute:: Options.unique_together
Sets of field names that, taken together, must be unique::
unique_together = (("driver", "restaurant"),)
This is a list of lists of fields that must be unique when considered together.
It's used in the Django admin and is enforced at the database level (i.e., the
appropriate ``UNIQUE`` statements are included in the ``CREATE TABLE``
statement).
.. versionadded:: 1.0
For convenience, unique_together can be a single list when dealing with a single
set of fields::
unique_together = ("driver", "restaurant")
``verbose_name``
----------------
.. attribute:: Options.verbose_name
A human-readable name for the object, singular::
verbose_name = "pizza"
If this isn't given, Django will use a munged version of the class name:
``CamelCase`` becomes ``camel case``.
``verbose_name_plural``
-----------------------
.. attribute:: Options.verbose_name_plural
The plural name for the object::
verbose_name_plural = "stories"
If this isn't given, Django will use :attr:`~Options.verbose_name` + ``"s"``.