Question

I’m quite new with Django, and so far I have a pretty basic setup where I attach an extra model to the default User model from (django.contrib.auth.models). In my accounts.models.py I have something in the line of:

class UserExtension(models.Model):
    user = models.OneToOneField(User, primary_key=True)
    # more code

I also have another model which needs to be specified an owner. My question is: Which is the better (more django-ish, more readable, more efficient, more flexible) way to signify the owner:

class Owned(models.Model):
    # code
    owner = models.ForeignKey(User)
    # more code

or:

class Owned(models.Model)
    # code
    owner = models.ForeignKey(UserExtension)
    # more code

I’ll really appreciate if you mention pros and cons of those approaches.

Answer 1

I’d recommend the first option. The user model is the nontrivial model in the sense that an owned object should not be able to exist without a user, but could exist without a UserExtension.

Also consider that in Django 1.5 you are able to create custom user model, eliminating the need for the UserExtension class. See the documentation for more information.