Models

Models in the general app should not be added to if it can be avoided. Ask Nathan for details.

AMBaseModel

This is the abstract model all Access Missouri models inherit from, which means all models get the following characteristics.

Note

AMBaseModel is intended to be an abstract model. Do not create instances of it, but make sure every single Access Missouri model does implement it. The canned functionality can save your bacon.

Model Fields:

  • created_at - DateTimeField with the exact date/time a specific instance of a model was created at. Automatically fills. You shouldn’t have to think about this.
  • updated_at - DateTimeField with the exact date/time a specific instance of a model was last updated/changed at. Automatically fills. You shouldn’t have to think about this.
  • extras - Perhaps the most important of the inherited fields, this is a JSONField key-value store of anything that doesn’t fit somewhere else in a model. Use liberally. More info in the database is better than less.
class general.models.AMBaseModel
Variables:
  • created_at (DateTimeField) – The exact date/time a specific instance of a model was created at. Automatically fills. You shouldn’t have to think about this.
  • updated_at (DateTimeField) – The exact date/time a specific instance of a model was last updated/changed at. Automatically fills. You shouldn’t have to think about this.
  • extras (JSONField) – Perhaps the most important of the inherited fields, this is a JSONField key-value store of anything that doesn’t fit somewhere else in a model. Use liberally. More info in the database is better than less.

Person

The core model to all the people-centered functionality in Access Missouri. Surprisingly simple, actually.

class general.models.Person
Variables:
  • first_name (CharField) – Self explanatory. Max length 300.
  • last_name (CharField) – Self explanatory. Max length 300.
  • middle_name (CharField) – Self explanatory. Max length 300. Can be blank, cannot be None.
  • nickname (CharField) – Pretty straightforward. If someone’s name is Joan, but they go by “Peggy,” this should be filled in, but also if someone’s name is Robert and they go by “Bob.” We use this for a lot of fuzzy object matching. Max length 300. Can be blank, cannot be None.
  • gender (CharField) – Free-form CharField. Not really used. Can be blank, cannot be None.
  • suffix (CharField) – “Jr.”, “Sr.”, etc. if relevant. Max length 10. Can be blank, cannot be None.
  • index_name (CharField) – The least intuitive of the fields, this is a cached concatenation of the person’s name fields designed to be easily queryable. Max length is 400.
  • flavor_text (CharField) – Just like on a trading card, this is the text to give someone an idea of a person’s character.
get_full_name()

Returns a person’s formatted full name without making you do the heavy lifting in an inconsistent way.

Returns:Full concatenated person name.
Return type:str
get_absolute_url()

Concatenates absolute path (no “https://….”, but “/path/to”) to standard view of object.

Returns:Path to person’s standard template view.
Return type:str
get_admin_url()

Concatenates absolute path (no “https://….”, but “/path/to”) to admin interface view of object.

Returns:Path to person’s standard Django admin UI view.
Return type:str