Django - User full name as unicode

Question

I have many Models linked to User and I'd like my templates to always display his full_name if available. Is there a way to change the default User __unicode__() ? Or is there another way to do it ?

I have a profile model registered where I can define the __unicode__(), should I link all my models to it ? Seems not a good idea to me.

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Imagine I need to display the form for this object

class UserBagde
    user = model.ForeignKey(User)
    badge = models.ForeignKey(Bagde)

I will have to select box with __unicodes__ of each object, won't I ?
How can I have full names in the user's one ?

Peeved

Also remember first_name and last_name are optional fields in User. so some elements of your select box could have no text if you go with this approach! – Juggins

That's why I said "if available" meaning fallback to default if not – Peeved

Answer 1

Try this:

User.full_name = property(lambda u: u"%s %s" % (u.first_name, u.last_name))

EDIT

Apparently what you want already exists..

https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/dev/ref/contrib/auth/#django.contrib.auth.models.User.get_full_name

ALSO

if its imperative that the unicode function be replaced:

def user_new_unicode(self):
    return self.get_full_name()

# Replace the __unicode__ method in the User class with out new implementation
User.__unicode__ = user_new_unicode 

# or maybe even
User.__unicode__ = User.get_full_name()

Fallback if name fields are empty

def user_new_unicode(self):
    return self.username if self.get_full_name() == "" else self.get_full_name()

# Replace the __unicode__ method in the User class with out new implementation
User.__unicode__ = user_new_unicode 

Juggins

That's more what I'm searching. Is there somewhere I can put this assignment in order to have it anywhere ? – Peeved

put it in the models.py of ANY installed app, I generally have a membership app, that has my profile model, I would put this under that declaration, but that s more personal preference than anything. – Juggins

I agree with the profile location, I'll that thanks. Actually it seems to work even when I don't import the profile model, I don't understand how :) ... – Peeved

you don't have to import any models, just by having the app in your installed apps is enough. – Juggins

how to call this method from view? – Lebar

you wouldn't probably call the unicode replacement functions directly: full_name = str(request.user) gets the unicode string representation of the currently logged in user OR full_name = request.user.get_full_name() OR full_name = request.user.__unicode__() it really kinda depends on what you are doing. – Juggins

You may mean: docs.djangoproject.com/en/2.0/topics/auth/customizing/… – Thayer

@AntonioRomero This question/answer was for a much earlier version of Django. The answer above should work for all versions through Django 1.11.x LTS End of Life – Juggins

You are right. But at the given (dev) link there is actually no information about the function get_full_name – Thayer

Answer 2

If you have a profile model set up as Django suggests, you could define the full name on that model

from django.contrib.auth.models import User

class UserProfile(models.Model):
    user = models.OneToOneField(User)
    ...

@property
def full_name(self):
    return "%s %s" % (self.user.first_name, self.user.last_name)

then anywhere you have access to the user object you can easily do user.get_profile.full_name

Alternatively, if you only need the full name in the template you could write a simple tag:

@register.simple_tag
def fullname(user):
    return "%s %s" % (user.first_name, user.last_name)

Police

That's what I'm already doing when I can access to the user object directly (as I said I already have a profile model) but for example in forms when I have to choose from a user in a list, I'll always have usernames displaied – Peeved

Answer 3

Just slam get_full_name to the __unicode__ method like so

User.__unicode__ = User.get_full_name

Make sure you override it with the callable, not the result of the function. User.get_full_name() will fail with the open and close brackets.

Place on any included file and you should be good.

Ramburt

Answer 4

I found there's a quick way to do this in Django 1.5. Check this: custom User models

and I also notice,

User.__unicode__ = User.get_full_name()

which metions by Francis Yaconiello is not work on my side (Django 1.3). Will raise error like this:

TypeError: unbound method get_full_name() must be called with User instance as first argument (got nothing instead)

Consueloconsuetude