Back
Feb 18, 2010

User profiles with inheritance in Django

Usually users' profiles are stored in single model. When there are multiple user types, separation is made by some field like user_type.

Situation is a little more complicated when different data is needed for each user type.

Of course it's better when all users have same type and are granted different permissions. But since we got task to have separate user types - we'll have to solve it.

Simple solution

The most obvious solution is to make base profile with type identifier, which will pull needed model instance:

request.user.get_profile().get_final_profile()

But I don't really like this solution. Firstly, get_final_profile method is basically a big switch-case. Secondly - we must not forget to call extra method.

I wanted to simply write request.user.profile ans get needed profile instance. This is possible by combining two known tricks - Upcast and AutoOneToOneField.

Upcast

Allows to get sublass instance from base class instance.

AutoOneToOneField

Allows creating related objects on request. This field is not needed per se, only idea. Taking AutoOneToOneField as a base, it's easy to create a new one that calls upcast when related objects is requested.

Solution

class UpCastModel(models.Model):
    """
    Base class for models that are ment to be inherited.
    Introduces upcast method that returns child instance.
    """
    final_type = models.ForeignKey(ContentType, editable=False)

    def save(self, args, **kwargs):
        if not self.pk:
            self.final_type = ContentType.objects.get_for_model(type(self))
        super(UpCastModel, self).save(args, **kwargs)

    def upcast(self):
        if not hasattr(self, '_upcast'):
            if self.final_type.model_class == self.class:
                self._upcast = self
            else:
                self._upcast = self.final_type.get_object_for_this_type(id=self.pk)
        return self._upcast

    class Meta:
        abstract = True


class UpCastSingleRelatedObjectDescriptor(SingleRelatedObjectDescriptor):

    def get(self, instance, instance_type=None):
        parent = super(
            UpCastSingleRelatedObjectDescriptor, self
        ).get(instance, instance_type)
        return parent.upcast()


class UpCastOneToOneField(models.OneToOneField):
    """
    UpCastOneToOneField gets child of related object.
    """
    def contribute_to_related_class(self, cls, related):
        setattr(
            cls, related.get_accessor_name(),
            UpCastSingleRelatedObjectDescriptor(related)
        )

Now profile looks like this:

class BaseProfile(UpcastModel):
    user = UpCastOneToOneField(User)


class BoyProfile(BaseProfile):
    pass


class GirlProfile(CitizenProfile):
    pass

In order to get users, profile, we just need to write requst.user.profile.

Subscribe for the news and updates

More thoughts
Feb 3, 2025Technology
Figma for Developers: What Dev Mode Offers and How to Use It

This article explores Figma’s Dev Mode, a tool that streamlines design-to-code translation by enabling precise inspection, automated code generation, and seamless integration with design systems.

Mar 18, 2024Technology
From boring to exciting: turn learning to code into an adventure

Tired of boring programming courses where you're forced to read thick textbooks and write code that's never used? Need a platform that makes learning fun and exciting? Then you're in the right place!

Apr 27, 2022TechnologyBusiness
How to Choose the Best Javascript Framework: Comparison of the Top Javascript Frameworks

In our article, you will find the best JavaScript framework comparison so that you know for sure how to choose the right one for your project.

Sep 1, 2021TechnologyBusiness
Top 10 Web Development Frameworks in 2021 - 2022

We have reviewed the top web frameworks for server and client-side development and compared their pros and cons. Find out which one can be a great fit for your next project.

Mar 6, 2010Technology
Ajax form validation

There was a task to submit form with ajax, with server side validation of course. Obvious solution is to do validation and return json with erros. I didn't like idea of writing separate view for validation and then inserting errors in form html on client side. Especially since I already had a generic template for django form with errors display. In this article I'll describe how I solved the task.

Feb 28, 2010Technology
Composing multiple views in Django

In UNIX way, each view should solve single task. This is good idea, but sometimes we need to mix logic of different views on same page. Filter, sort, paginate, or, for example, add comment on product page. In this article I'll show how we can mix such multiple views.