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authorTim Graham <timograham@gmail.com>2014-04-28 08:18:43 -0400
committerTim Graham <timograham@gmail.com>2014-04-28 08:20:26 -0400
commit63ae243a13759f2a87184784fa268d6d003c694a (patch)
treee7206f506e7d27378efb6218311839d2e45efdb5 /docs
parent23f3c53aff54b7f298f29e97042d00dbd9379d00 (diff)
[1.7.x] Fixed #22497 -- Highlighted difference between field and class deconstruction.
Thanks nliberg for the suggestion. Backport of b829d53b37 from master
Diffstat (limited to 'docs')
-rw-r--r--docs/howto/custom-model-fields.txt26
-rw-r--r--docs/topics/migrations.txt6
2 files changed, 19 insertions, 13 deletions
diff --git a/docs/howto/custom-model-fields.txt b/docs/howto/custom-model-fields.txt
index 614c63c999..2ef3d498bc 100644
--- a/docs/howto/custom-model-fields.txt
+++ b/docs/howto/custom-model-fields.txt
@@ -230,6 +230,8 @@ All of the options without an explanation in the above list have the same
meaning they do for normal Django fields. See the :doc:`field documentation
</ref/models/fields>` for examples and details.
+.. _custom-field-deconstruct-method:
+
Field deconstruction
--------------------
@@ -239,19 +241,21 @@ Field deconstruction
above. If you have custom fields from previous versions they will
need this method added before you can use them with migrations.
-The counterpoint to writing your ``__init__`` method is writing the
-``deconstruct`` method. This method tells Django how to take an instance
+The counterpoint to writing your ``__init__()`` method is writing the
+``deconstruct()`` method. This method tells Django how to take an instance
of your new field and reduce it to a serialized form - in particular, what
-arguments to pass to ``__init__`` to re-create it.
+arguments to pass to ``__init__()`` to re-create it.
If you haven't added any extra options on top of the field you inherited from,
-then there's no need to write a new ``deconstruct`` method. If, however, you're
-changing the arguments passed in ``__init__`` (like we are in ``HandField``),
-you'll need to supplement the values being passed.
+then there's no need to write a new ``deconstruct()`` method. If, however,
+you're, changing the arguments passed in ``__init__()`` (like we are in
+``HandField``), you'll need to supplement the values being passed.
-The contract of ``deconstruct`` is simple; it returns a tuple of four items:
+The contract of ``deconstruct()`` is simple; it returns a tuple of four items:
the field's attribute name, the full import path of the field class, the
-positional arguments (as a list), and the keyword arguments (as a dict).
+positional arguments (as a list), and the keyword arguments (as a dict). Note
+this is different from the ``deconstruct()`` method :ref:`for custom classes
+<custom-deconstruct-method>` which returns a tuple of three things.
As a custom field author, you don't need to care about the first two values;
the base ``Field`` class has all the code to work out the field's attribute
@@ -259,7 +263,7 @@ name and import path. You do, however, have to care about the positional
and keyword arguments, as these are likely the things you are changing.
For example, in our ``HandField`` class we're always forcibly setting
-max_length in ``__init__``. The ``deconstruct`` method on the base ``Field``
+max_length in ``__init__()``. The ``deconstruct()`` method on the base ``Field``
class will see this and try to return it in the keyword arguments; thus,
we can drop it from the keyword arguments for readability::
@@ -296,7 +300,7 @@ into ``kwargs`` yourself::
return name, path, args, kwargs
More complex examples are beyond the scope of this document, but remember -
-for any configuration of your Field instance, ``deconstruct`` must return
+for any configuration of your Field instance, ``deconstruct()`` must return
arguments that you can pass to ``__init__`` to reconstruct that state.
Pay extra attention if you set new default values for arguments in the
@@ -460,7 +464,7 @@ For example::
The :meth:`.db_type` method is called by Django when the framework
constructs the ``CREATE TABLE`` statements for your application -- that is,
-when you first create your tables. It is also called when constructing a
+when you first create your tables. It is also called when constructing a
``WHERE`` clause that includes the model field -- that is, when you retrieve data
using QuerySet methods like ``get()``, ``filter()``, and ``exclude()`` and have
the model field as an argument. It's not called at any other time, so it can afford to
diff --git a/docs/topics/migrations.txt b/docs/topics/migrations.txt
index 5afdaf2d72..a53444f568 100644
--- a/docs/topics/migrations.txt
+++ b/docs/topics/migrations.txt
@@ -502,8 +502,10 @@ Adding a deconstruct() method
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You can let Django serialize your own custom class instances by giving the class
-a ``deconstruct`` method. It takes no arguments, and should return a tuple
-of 3 things: ``(path, args, kwargs)``.
+a ``deconstruct()`` method. It takes no arguments, and should return a tuple
+of three things: ``(path, args, kwargs)``. Note this return value is different
+from the ``deconstruct()`` method :ref:`for custom fields
+<custom-field-deconstruct-method>` which returns a tuple of four items.
``path`` should be the Python path to the class, with the class name included as the
last part (for example, ``myapp.custom_things.MyClass``). If your class is not