Django file saving to sqlite3 db and retrieval

Question

The following is my device model:

class Device(models.Model):
    device_type         = models.ForeignKey(DeviceType,to_field='device_type')
    serial_number       = models.CharField(max_length=200,unique=True)
    in_use_by           = models.ForeignKey(User,to_field='username')
    brand               = models.CharField(max_length=200,default="-", null=False)
    model               = models.CharField(max_length=200,default="-", null=False)
    type_number         = models.CharField(max_length=200,blank=True,null=True, default = None)
    mac_address         = models.CharField(max_length=200,blank=True,null=True, default = None)
    invoice             = models.FileField(upload_to='', null=True)

Here, the invoice field is not of use to me in my website but, it is of use to me as a admin. What I am basically trying to do is, if a device request is accepted then, I will upload the invoice of the device into my sqlite db using the admin panel. I am a newbie to Django and hence, require help for this purpose. Also, I will only upload file through django admin. How should I achieve this? What should I write in upload to parameter so that the file is stored in database?

You don't need to do anything. Once you enable your model in the admin as shown in the tutorial, you will be able to upload your files. — Daniel Roseman, Jun 11 '18 at 08:18
And for downloading is there any special functionality needed? — Aishwary Shukla, Jun 11 '18 at 08:19
You don't store the file itself in the database. Store the file on disk and the path to it in the database. Then downloading is just constructing a link from the path. — thebjorn, Jun 11 '18 at 08:20
But, if I want to store in database then, how can it be achieved? — Aishwary Shukla, Jun 11 '18 at 08:23
Why would you want to do that? It is inefficient and unnecessary, especially with an sqlite db which is just a file on the filesystem anyway. — Daniel Roseman, Jun 11 '18 at 08:31
I just want to have knowledge regarding that stuff. hence, I was asking about that. — Aishwary Shukla, Jun 11 '18 at 09:18

Pranav Aggarwal · Answer 1 · 2018-06-11T08:28:37.490

0

You need to configure your Admin with the required fields you want to edit.

In admin.py:

class DeviceAdmin(admin.ModelAdmin):
    fields = ('device_type', 'invoice', ..)

admin.site.register(Device, DeviceAdmin)

Django Admin field reference

EDIT:

upload_to parameter is the path where you need to store the file. Generally it is the MEDIA_ROOT path as configured in Django settings.

models.FileField(upload_to=settings.MEDIA_ROOT, null=True)

To serve this during development:

urlpatterns = [
    # ... the rest of your URLconf goes here ...
] + static(settings.MEDIA_URL, document_root=settings.MEDIA_ROOT)

Refer

In the DB, only the URL of the file will be stored.

edited Jun 11 '18 at 08:28

answered Jun 11 '18 at 08:09

Pranav Aggarwal

605
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But what should be passed in upload_to parameter in FileField so that my file ges stored in sqlite3 db? – Aishwary Shukla Jun 11 '18 at 08:12
`upload_to` parameter is for the directory you want to save the file in. And the path should come from settings.py file. When you retrieve this field it will give you URL of the file. – Pranav Aggarwal Jun 11 '18 at 08:18
Ok, there must be some way to store files in DB right? – Aishwary Shukla Jun 11 '18 at 08:23
Edited the answer for `FileField`. Django's `FileField` only stores link. If you need to store the file in the DB you need to look at storing blob in DB. For which you need to create a Custom Field dependent on your DB. Refer: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/4915397/django-blob-model-field – Pranav Aggarwal Jun 11 '18 at 08:32

Django file saving to sqlite3 db and retrieval

1 Answers1