Model description in django-admin

Question

Is it possible to put a model description or description on the list display page of a certain model in django-admin?

I'm talking about something like when you click a model name link on the homepage of django-admin and when you go to the list display page of that model. There will be a description written on top of the table. Something like

"This model is used to log all accounts that will be fetched by our scrape.... And so on"

Something like that, is it possible?

Yes it is, I did some few changes on the HTML side though. Just put the templatetag in a different line just to make sure the button alignments on the right side won't be affected. Thanks! — Dean Christian Armada, Mar 20 '17 at 03:03

nik_m · Accepted Answer · 2017-03-16T14:58:41.120

That would be a very nice feature to be added in the core of Django's admin. Until then here's a quick walkthrough to your question.

Let's assume that you want to print the docstring of each model, like this:

class MyModel(models.Model):
    """
    I wanna get printed in the Admin!
    """

    # model fields here

So, you want to print it in the change_list page. Good.

Create a custom template tag (either within your app or create another app that will hold the global template tags/filters) like this:

from django import template
from django.utils.html import mark_safe

register = template.Library()

@register.simple_tag()
def model_desc(obj):
    if obj.__doc__:
        return mark_safe('<p>{}</p>'.format(obj.__doc__))
    return ''

Now, inside your project directory (where manage.py lives) create a structure like this:

project/
    project/
        project stuff here, i.e wsgi.py, settings etc
    myapp/
        myapp stuff here, i.e models, views etc
    templates/
        admin/
            change_list.html
    manage.py

Inside the change_list.html add these:

{% extends 'admin/change_list.html' %}
{% load yourapp_tags %}

{# block.super will print the "Select <Model> to change" h1 title #}
{# The model_desc template tag is the one you created and prints the docstring of the given model #}
{% block content_title %}{{ block.super }}<br>{% model_desc cl.model %}{% endblock %}

Here's a screenshot:

[UPDATE]: I have seen in the source that when there is no docstring specified, Django will generate one for you in the following form: ModelName(model_field_name1, model_field_name2, ...). If you do not want that, simply do this:

class MyModelWithoutDocstring(models.Model):

    # model fields here

MyModelWithoutDocstring.__doc__ = ''  # "reset" the __doc__ on this model.

In the step 2, you are asking user to create a global change_list.html. But each model will have its own change_list.html. You might want to correct that. — Abijith Mg, Mar 16 '17 at 10:40
It depends on how modular you want it to be. I decided to add it globally for all models to expose their `docstring` in the `change_list` page. — nik_m, Mar 16 '17 at 10:49

Model description in django-admin

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