Django - multiple profiles

Question

In my project I have two different types of users: teacher and student, each with their own profile data.

After searching for the best approach it seems the way to go forward is using multi-table inheritance:

class BaseProfile(models.Model):
    user = models.OneToOneField(User)
    profile = models.CharField (max_length=10, choices={'teacher', 'student'})
    # other common fields

class Teacher(BaseProfile):
    # teacher specific fields

class Student(BaseProfile):
    # student specific fields

And in settings.py: AUTH_PROFILE_MODULE = myapp.BaseProfile.

Now I want to implement the same functionalities as in django-profiles:

create profiles
edit profiles
display profiles

I have a good idea how to do the edit and display part when I have the correct value in the field profile of BaseProfile.

The problem:

Now I want the creation of the profile to be done automatically (and in the right db: Teacher or Student) directly when a user is created by using a signal. The field profile should contain the value "student" when the user registers through the site via the registration form. The value should be "teacher" when the admin creates a new user through the admin interface.

Anyone an idea how I can accomplish this? Probably I need to write a custom signal, something like the below, and send it from the User Model, but didn't found a working solution yet:

def create_user_profile(sender, instance, request, **kwargs):
    if request.user.is_staff:
        BaseProfile(user=instance, profile='teacher').save()
    else:
        BaseProfile(user=instance, profile='student').save()

Other and better approaches are of course also welcome!

Thanks!

I'm not sure you can modify signal raised when User is saved. Other solution would be create appropriate profile when user is registered. — Rohan, Jul 05 '12 at 05:04
Hi Rohan, thx for the input. In the following post this solution is also suggested: (http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3100521/django-registration-and-multiple-profiles). I'll give it a try. Thanks! — Köver, Jul 05 '12 at 20:14

Efrin · Accepted Answer · 2012-07-06T03:58:10.287

1

In my opinion it isn't a good approach.

I would recommend doing 1 unified profile which will contain an option: user_type = models.CharField(choices=[your_choices], max_length=4)

Then in models you would create two forms - 1 for teacher and 1 for student.

class ProfileFOrm(forms.ModelForm):
    def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
        super(BaseProfileForm, self).__init__(*args, **kwargs)
        for name in self.fields:
            self.fields[name].required = True

class TeacherProfile(ProfileForm):
    class Meta:
        model = Profile
        fields = ('your_fields')


class StudentProfile(ProfileForm):
    class Meta:
        model = Profile
        fields = ('school')

That's just my idea for that :)

Edited

Profile edition:

view.

def profile(request):
p = get_objects_or_404(ProfileModel, user=request.user)
return TemplateResponse(request, 'template.html', {'profile': p})

In models we need a function to check if user is a student or a teacher, so:

class Profile(models.Model):
    ... your fields here...
    def get_student(self):
        return self.user_type == 1

In templates:

{% if profile.get_student%}

>>>>get all data for students ex: <<<<
{{profile.name}}

{% endif %}


{% if profile.get_teacher %}
....

edited Jul 06 '12 at 03:58

answered Jul 05 '12 at 06:09

Efrin

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Hi Efrin, thx for the input. Indeed that is also a way to go, but it is (according to me) a less 'clean' solution and less flexible. I want to stick with the multi-table inheritance. Just need to find a way to fill in that one field `profile` in an automated way. – Köver Jul 05 '12 at 20:08
In my opinion its a bit cleaner way and later it will be way easier to maintain :) We used to have seperated profiles earlier in our project but at some point it was really annoying when we had to access a profile and grab some data. What if a student want's to become a teacher :)? It would be a bit annoying to create a new account in this matter. – Efrin Jul 05 '12 at 20:16
There you have a point :) So your approach is the following: use one 'general' profile model containing all the fields used in all the different profiles. And then you differentiate in profiles by making various 'profileforms'. Still have two more questions: 1. how do you display a certain profile? I guess you probably use different templates per profile? 2. How do you fill the user_type field? Is that field filled during the registration of a user? Thx! – Köver Jul 05 '12 at 20:38
To display a certain profile you would want to use only 1 view. check it in my post above( I'll edit it in a sec) – Efrin Jul 06 '12 at 03:51
Hi Efrin, thx for the insights. I implemented following solution: one 'complete' profile model and differentiate in forms and templates. Using this approach I can also fit everything in django-profiles. Regards! – Köver Jul 07 '12 at 08:50

Django - multiple profiles

1 Answers1