Question

When I have a given django model class like this:

class BaseClass(models.Model):
     some_field = models.CharField(max_length = 80)
     ...

and some subclasses of it, for example

class SomeClass(BaseClass):
     other_field =  models.CharField(max_length = 80)

Then I know I can get the derived object by calling

base  = BaseClass.objects.get(pk=3)
my_obj= base.someclass

Now the problem arises that I have multiple subclasses, and all I have is an instance of the base class. How can I get to the subclassed object without knowing it’s class in advance?

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The idea is to load a corresponding view and let that do the stuff. My project features only have a limited set of default actions for these models, like view, edit, delete etc. What I don’t want is to expose the type of the given object via URL, so the “normal way” is not available

Answer 1

There isn’t a built-in way.

Perhaps the best thing to do is to define a derived_type field on your base class, which is set automatically on save of the derived class. You could then have a get_derived method on the base which checks the value of derived_type and returns the actual derived object.