Question

I’m writing my first Django app and want to create a header model which has several different classes in it.

Code:

class Meta(models.Model):
    meta_keywords = models.CharField(max_length=500) 
    meta_description = models.CharField(max_length=500)
    page_title = models.CharField(max_length=200)
    page_id = models.CharField(max_length=100)

class Javascript(models.Model):
    page_id = models.CharField(max_length=100)
    status = models.BooleanField()

class Javascript_resources(models.Model):
    page_id = models.CharField(max_length=100)
    status = models.BooleanField() #whether or not these are live/local

class Style_sheets(models.Model):
    page_id = models.CharField(max_length = 100)
    resource_type = models.CharField(max_length = 100)
    status = models.BooleanField()

How could I create a function in the model to return an object that has the correct meta object, style_sheets object, javascript object etc..

Answer 1

The best solution for this problem, in my case, ended up looking like this:

I like to store the related files in a database for several reasons. In my settings file I have a status setting that allows me to control the entire site’s header. I have certain files that are live/local only and some that are resources. For instance, I used less css locally but compile it for the live site. When I change this variable, this automatically changes my headers by querying the database for the proper files. I also check the files exist because it can be very frustrating to debug when a css/js file doesn’t load properly! Its a bit overkill but will be used for many sites.

from models import *

from django.conf import settings
from os import path # could also be written as import os.path

class Resources(object):

status = True
page_id = ""


# META INFORMATION
meta_keywords = ""
meta_description = ""
page_title = ""
favicon = ""

# RESOURCES
javascript_resources = []
javascript_files = []
style_sheets = []

def __init__(self, page_id = "home"):
    self.page_id = page_id.lower()
    self.get_status()
    self.get_meta()
    self.get_javascript()
    self.get_style_sheets()

def get_status(self):
    status = settings.SITE_STATUS

    if(status != "live"):
        self.status = False
    else:
        self.status = True


def get_meta(self):
    current = Meta.objects.get(page_id = self.page_id)
    self.meta_keywords = current.meta_keywords
    self.meta_description = current.meta_description
    self.page_title = current.page_title
    self.favicon = current.favicon

# this function will set all of the proper javascript lists and validate all files!
def get_javascript(self):


    javascript_list = Javascript.objects.filter(Q(page_id = "all") | Q(page_id = self.page_id)).filter(status = self.status)
    javascript_resources_list = Javascript_resources.objects.filter(Q(page_id = "all") | Q(page_id = self.page_id)).filter(status = self.status)

    #now evaulate the javascript
    if len(javascript_list) > 0:
        for resource in javascript_list:
            file_name = resource.url

            if self.exists(file_name):
                self.javascript_files.append(file_name)

    if len(javascript_resources_list) > 0:
        for resource in javascript_resources_list:
            file_name = resource.url

            if self.exists(file_name):
                self.javascript_resources.append(file_name)


def get_style_sheets(self):

    style_sheet_list = Style_sheets.objects.filter(Q(page_id = "all") | Q(page_id = self.page_id)).filter(status = self.status)


    if len(style_sheet_list) > 0:
        for resource in style_sheet_list:
            file_name = resource.url
            file_type = resource.file_type

            if self.exists(file_name):
                style_sheet = []
                style_sheet.append(file_type)
                style_sheet.append(file_name)

                self.style_sheets.append(style_sheet)

def exists(self, file_name):

    url = settings.STATIC_URL + file_name

    status = False

    if  path.exists(url):
        status = True

    return status