Back
Feb 18, 2010

Business logic in models

In my recent project there was a lot of data business logic, so I had to organize this code somehow. In this article I'll describe a few hints on how to it.

Mixins

Simple business logic functions should in models or managers. When there's a lot of them, the can be split in mixins.

# logic.py
class EventLogic(object):
    def start(self):
        if self.condition():
            # ...


# models.py
class Event(models.Model, EventLogic):
    name = models.CharField()
    # ...

Custom exceptions

For business logic errors you should declare custom exception classes. It's not fun to understand what this specific IntegrityError means.

Generic views

When all logic is in model and can throw, say, BusinessLogicException, we can write views like this:

from django.contrib import messages


def event_action(requets, event_id, action):
    # event = get_object_or_404(...)
    try:
        getattr(event, action)(request.user)
    except BusinessLogicException, e:
        messages.warning(request, e.message)

    return redirect(request.POST.get('next') or event)

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.

Sep 21, 2020Technology
How to Optimize Django ORM Queries

Django ORM is a very abstract and flexible API. But if you do not know exactly how it works, you will likely end up with slow and heavy views, if you have not already. So, this article provides practical solutions to N+1 and high loading time issues. For clarity, I will create a simple view that demonstrates common ORM query problems and shows frequently used practices.

Jan 9, 2017Technology
How to Use GraphQL with Django

GraphQL is a very powerful library, which is not difficult to understand. GraphQL will help to write simple and clear REST API to suit every taste and meet any requirements.

Aug 31, 2016Technology
Angular vs React Comparison

In this article, we will compare two most popular JS Libraries (Angular vs React). Both of them were created by professionals and have been used in famous big projects.

Mar 6, 2010TechnologyManagement
Supplementing settings in settings_local

For local project settings, I use old trick with settings_local file:try:from settings_local import \*except ImportError:passSo in settings_local.py we can override variables from settings.py. I didn't know how to supplement them. For example how to add line to INSTALLED_APPS without copying whole list.Yesterday I finally understood that I can import settings from settings_local:# settings_local.pyfrom settings import \*INSTALLED_APPS += (# ...)

Feb 18, 2010Technology
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.In this article I'll describe how I solve this task.