updated docs, and moved them to DOCS.rst and README.rst

AUTHORS

@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+django_polymorphic was initially created by Bert Constantin in 2009/2010.
+
+If you contributed code, test cases etc., your name should
+appear here as well.

DOCS.rst

@@ -0,0 +1,434 @@
+===============================
+Fully Polymorphic Django Models
+===============================
+
+
+'polymorphic.py' is an add-on module that adds automatic
+polymorphism to the Django model inheritance system.
+
+The effect is: For enabled models, objects retrieved from the
+database are always delivered just as they were created and saved,
+with the same type/class and fields - regardless how they are
+retrieved. The resulting querysets are polymorphic, i.e. may deliver
+objects of several different types in a single query result.
+
+Please see the examples below as they demonstrate this best.
+
+Please note that this module is still very experimental. See below for
+current restrictions, caveats, and performance implications.
+
+
+Installation / Testing
+======================
+
+Requirements
+------------
+
+Django 1.1 (or later) and Python 2.5 (or later). This code has been tested
+on Django 1.1.1 / 1.2 alpha and Python 2.5.4 / 2.6.4 on Linux. 
+
+Testing
+-------
+
+The repository (or tar file)  contains a complete Django project
+that may be used for tests or experiments.
+
+To run the included test suite, execute::
+
+    ./manage test poly
+
+'management/commands/polycmd.py' can be used for experiments
+- modify this file to your liking, then run::
+
+    ./manage syncdb      # db is created in /var/tmp/... (settings.py)
+    ./manage polycmd
+    
+Using polymorphic models in your own projects
+---------------------------------------------
+
+Copy polymorphic.py (from the 'poly' dir) into a directory from where
+you can import it, like your app directory (where your models.py and
+views.py files live).
+
+
+Defining Polymorphic Models
+===========================
+
+To make models polymorphic, use PolymorphicModel instead of Django's
+models.Model as the superclass of your base model. All models
+inheriting from your base class will be polymorphic as well::
+
+    from polymorphic import PolymorphicModel    
+
+    class ModelA(PolymorphicModel):
+        field1 = models.CharField(max_length=10)
+        
+    class ModelB(ModelA):
+        field2 = models.CharField(max_length=10)
+        
+    class ModelC(ModelB):
+        field3 = models.CharField(max_length=10)
+
+
+Using Polymorphic Models
+========================
+
+Most of Django's standard ORM functionality is available
+and works as expected:
+
+Create some objects
+-------------------
+
+    >>> ModelA.objects.create(field1='A1')
+    >>> ModelB.objects.create(field1='B1', field2='B2')
+    >>> ModelC.objects.create(field1='C1', field2='C2', field3='C3')
+
+Query results are polymorphic
+-----------------------------
+
+    >>> ModelA.objects.all()
+    .
+    [ <ModelA: id 1, field1 (CharField)>,
+      <ModelB: id 2, field1 (CharField), field2 (CharField)>,
+      <ModelC: id 3, field1 (CharField), field2 (CharField), field3 (CharField)> ]
+
+Filtering for classes (equivalent to python's isinstance() ):
+-------------------------------------------------------------
+
+    >>> ModelA.objects.instance_of(ModelB)
+    .
+    [ <ModelB: id 2, field1 (CharField), field2 (CharField)>,
+      <ModelC: id 3, field1 (CharField), field2 (CharField), field3 (CharField)> ]
+    
+    In general, including or excluding parts of the inheritance tree::
+        
+        ModelA.objects.instance_of(ModelB [, ModelC ...])
+        ModelA.objects.not_instance_of(ModelB [, ModelC ...])
+
+Polymorphic filtering (for fields in derived classes)
+-----------------------------------------------------
+
+    For example, cherrypicking objects from multiple derived classes
+    anywhere in the inheritance tree, using Q objects (with the
+    slightly enhanced syntax: exact model name + three _ + field name):
+    
+    >>> ModelA.objects.filter(  Q( ModelB___field2 = 'B2' )  |  Q( ModelC___field3 = 'C3' )  )
+    .
+    [ <ModelB: id 2, field1 (CharField), field2 (CharField)>,
+      <ModelC: id 3, field1 (CharField), field2 (CharField), field3 (CharField)> ]
+
+Combining Querysets of different types/models
+---------------------------------------------
+
+    Querysets may now be regarded as object containers that allow the
+    aggregation of  different object types - very similar to python
+    lists (as long as the objects are accessed through the manager of
+    a common base class):
+
+    >>> Base.objects.instance_of(ModelX) | Base.objects.instance_of(ModelY)
+    .
+    [ <ModelX: id 1, field_x (CharField)>,
+      <ModelY: id 2, field_y (CharField)> ]
+
+Using Third Party Models (without modifying them)
+-------------------------------------------------
+
+    Third party models can be used as polymorphic models without
+    restrictions by subclassing them. E.g. using a third party
+    model as the root of a polymorphic inheritance tree::
+        
+        from thirdparty import ThirdPartyModel
+        
+        class MyThirdPartyModel(PolymorhpicModel, ThirdPartyModel):
+            pass    # or add fields
+    
+    Or instead integrating the third party model anywhere into an
+    existing polymorphic inheritance tree::
+
+        class MyModel(SomePolymorphicModel):
+            my_field = models.CharField(max_length=10)
+        
+        class MyModelWithThirdParty(MyModel, ThirdPartyModel):
+            pass    # or add fields
+  
+ManyToManyField, ForeignKey, OneToOneField
+------------------------------------------
+
+    Relationship fields referring to polymorphic models work as
+    expected: like polymorphic querysets they now always return the
+    referred objects with the same type/class these were created and
+    saved as.
+    
+    E.g., if in your model you define::
+    
+        field1 = OneToOneField(ModelA)
+        
+    then field1 may now also refer to objects of type ModelB or ModelC.
+    
+    A ManyToManyField example::
+
+        # The model holding the relation may be any kind of model, polymorphic or not
+        class RelatingModel(models.Model):
+            many2many = models.ManyToManyField('ModelA')  # ManyToMany relation to a polymorphic model
+
+        >>> o=RelatingModel.objects.create()
+        >>> o.many2many.add(ModelA.objects.get(id=1))
+        >>> o.many2many.add(ModelB.objects.get(id=2))
+        >>> o.many2many.add(ModelC.objects.get(id=3))
+        
+        >>> o.many2many.all()
+        [ <ModelA: id 1, field1 (CharField)>,
+          <ModelB: id 2, field1 (CharField), field2 (CharField)>,
+          <ModelC: id 3, field1 (CharField), field2 (CharField), field3 (CharField)> ]
+
+Non-Polymorphic Queries
+-----------------------
+    
+    >>> ModelA.base_objects.all()
+    .
+    [ <ModelA: id 1, field1 (CharField)>,
+      <ModelA: id 2, field1 (CharField)>,
+      <ModelA: id 3, field1 (CharField)> ]
+
+    Each polymorphic model has 'base_objects' defined as a normal
+    Django manager. Of course, arbitrary custom managers may be
+    added to the models as well.
+    
+
+Custom Managers, Querysets & Inheritance
+========================================
+    
+Using a Custom Manager
+----------------------
+
+For creating a custom polymorphic manager class, derive your manager
+from PolymorphicManager instead of models.Manager. In your model
+class, explicitly add the default manager first, and then your
+custom manager::
+
+        class MyOrderedManager(PolymorphicManager):
+            def get_query_set(self):
+                return super(MyOrderedManager,self).get_query_set().order_by('some_field')
+                
+        class MyModel(PolymorphicModel):
+            objects = PolymorphicManager()    # add the default polymorphic manager first
+            ordered_objects = MyOrderedManager()    # then add your own manager
+
+The first manager defined ('objects' in the example) is used by
+Django as automatic manager for several purposes, including accessing
+related objects. It must not filter objects and it's safest to use
+the plain PolymorphicManager here.
+
+Manager Inheritance / Propagation
+---------------------------------
+
+Polymorphic models unconditionally inherit all managers from their
+base models (as long as these are polymorphic).
+
+An example (inheriting from MyModel above)::
+
+    class MyModel2(MyModel):
+        pass
+
+    # Managers inherited from MyModel, delivering MyModel2 objects (including MyModel2 subclass objects)
+    >>> MyModel2.objects.all()
+    >>> MyModel2.ordered_objects.all()
+
+Perhaps a more correct way to describe this: With polymorphic models the
+managers are always fully propagated from all polymorphic base models
+(as strictly speaking all managers are always inherited with Django models).
+
+
+Using a Custom Queryset Class
+-----------------------------
+
+The PolymorphicManager class accepts one initialization argument,
+which is the queryset class the manager should use. A custom
+custom queryset class can be defined and used like this::
+
+        class MyQuerySet(PolymorphicQuerySet):
+            def my_queryset_method(...):
+                ...
+    
+        class MyModel(PolymorphicModel):
+            my_objects=PolymorphicManager(MyQuerySet)
+            ...
+    
+
+Performance Considerations
+==========================
+
+The current implementation is pretty simple and does not use any
+custom sql - it is purely based on the Django ORM. Right now the
+query ::
+
+    result_objects = list( ModelA.objects.filter(...) )
+    
+performs one sql query to retrieve ModelA objects and one additional
+query for each unique derived class occurring in result_objects.
+The best case for retrieving 100 objects is 1 db query if all are
+class ModelA. If 50 objects are ModelA and 50 are ModelB, then two
+queries are executed. If result_objects contains only the base model
+type (ModelA), the polymorphic models are just as efficient as plain
+Django models (in terms of executed queries). The pathological worst
+case is 101 db queries if result_objects contains 100 different
+object types (with all of them subclasses of ModelA).
+
+Performance ist relative: when Django users create their own
+polymorphic ad-hoc solution (without a module like polymorphic.py),
+this usually results in a variation of ::
+
+    result_objects = [ o.get_real_instance() for o in BaseModel.objects.filter(...) ]
+
+which of has really bad performance. Relative to this, the
+performance of the current polymorphic.py is pretty good.
+It may well be efficient enough for the majority of use cases.
+
+Chunking: The implementation always requests objects in chunks of
+size Polymorphic_QuerySet_objects_per_request. This limits the
+complexity/duration for each query, including the pathological cases.
+
+
+Possible Optimizations
+======================
+
+PolymorphicQuerySet can be optimized to require only one SQL query
+for the queryset evaluation and retrieval of all objects.
+
+Basically, what ist needed is a possibility to pull in the fields
+from all relevant sub-models with one sql query. However, some deeper
+digging into the Django database layer will be required in order to
+make this happen.
+
+A viable option might be to get the sql query from the QuerySet
+(probably from django.db.models.sql.compiler.SQLCompiler.as_sql), 
+making sure that all necessary joins are done, and then doing a
+custom SQL request from there (like in SQLCompiler.execute_sql).
+
+An optimized version could fall back to the current ORM-only
+implementation for all non-SQL databases.
+
+SQL Complexity 
+--------------
+
+With only one sql query, one sql join for each possible subclass
+would be needed (BaseModel.__subclasses__(), recursively).
+With two sql queries, the number of joins could be reduced to the
+number of actuallly occurring subclasses in the result. A final
+implementation might want to use one query only if the number of
+possible subclasses (and therefore joins) is not too large, and
+two queries otherwise (using the first query to determine the
+actually occurring subclasses, reducing the number of joins for
+the second).
+
+A relatively large number of joins may be needed in both cases,
+which raises concerns regarding the efficiency of these database
+queries. It is currently unclear however, how many model classes
+will actually be involved in typical use cases - the total number
+of classes in the inheritance tree as well as the number of distinct
+classes in query results. It may well turn out that the increased
+number of joins is no problem for the DBMS in all realistic use
+cases. Alternatively, if the sql query execution time is
+significantly longer even in common use cases, this may still be
+acceptable in exchange for the added functionality.
+
+Let's not forget that all of the above is just about optimizations.
+The current simplistic implementation already works well - perhaps
+well enough for the majority of applications. 
+
+
+Loose Ends
+==========
+
+Currently Unsupported Queryset Methods
+--------------------------------------
+
++   aggregate() probably makes only sense in a purely non-OO/relational
+    way. So it seems an implementation would just fall back to the
+    Django vanilla equivalent.
+    
++   annotate(): The current '_get_real_instances' would need minor
+    enhancement.
+
++   defer() and only(): Full support, including slight polymorphism
+    enhancements, seems to be straighforward
+    (depends on '_get_real_instances'). 
+
++   extra(): Does not really work with the current implementation of 
+    '_get_real_instances'. It's unclear if it should be supported.
+
++   select_related(): This would probably need Django core support
+    for traversing the reverse model inheritance OneToOne relations
+    with Django's select_related(), e.g.:
+    *select_related('modela__modelb__foreignkeyfield')*.
+    Also needs more thought/investigation. 
+
++   distinct() needs more thought and investigation as well
+
++   values() & values_list(): Implementation seems to be mostly
+    straighforward
+
+
+Restrictions & Caveats
+----------------------
+
++   Diamond shaped inheritance: There seems to be a general problem 
+    with diamond shaped multiple model inheritance with Django models
+    (tested with V1.1).
+    An example is here: http://code.djangoproject.com/ticket/10808.
+    This problem is aggravated when trying to enhance models.Model
+    by subclassing it instead of modifying Django core (as we do here
+    with PolymorphicModel).
+  
++   The name and appname of the leaf model is stored in the base model
+    (the base model directly inheriting from PolymorphicModel).
+    If a model or an app is renamed, then these fields need to be
+    corrected too, if the db content should stay usable after the rename.
+    Aside from this, these two fields should probably be combined into
+    one field (more db/sql efficiency)
+
++   For all objects that are not instances of the base class type, but
+    instances of a subclass, the base class fields are currently
+    transferred twice from the database (an artefact of the current
+    implementation's simplicity).
+
++   __getattribute__ hack: For base model inheritance back relation
+    fields (like basemodel_ptr), as well as implicit model inheritance
+    forward relation fields, Django internally tries to use our
+    polymorphic manager/queryset in some places, which of course it
+    should not. Currently this is solved with hackish __getattribute__
+    in PolymorphicModel. A minor patch to Django core would probably
+    get rid of that.
+
+In General
+----------   
+ 
+It is important to consider that this code is still very new and experimental.
+
+It has, however, been integrated into one larger system where all seems to work flawlessly
+so far. A small number of people tested this code for their purposes and reported that it
+works well for them.
+
+Right now this module is suitable only for the more enterprising early adopters.
+
+
+Links
+=====
+
+- http://code.djangoproject.com/wiki/ModelInheritance
+- http://lazypython.blogspot.com/2009/02/second-look-at-inheritance-and.html
+- http://www.djangosnippets.org/snippets/1031/
+- http://www.djangosnippets.org/snippets/1034/
+- http://groups.google.com/group/django-developers/browse_frm/thread/7d40ad373ebfa912/a20fabc661b7035d?lnk=gst&q=model+inheritance+CORBA#a20fabc661b7035d
+- http://groups.google.com/group/django-developers/browse_thread/thread/9bc2aaec0796f4e0/0b92971ffc0aa6f8?lnk=gst&q=inheritance#0b92971ffc0aa6f8
+- http://groups.google.com/group/django-developers/browse_thread/thread/3947c594100c4adb/d8c0af3dacad412d?lnk=gst&q=inheritance#d8c0af3dacad412d
+- http://groups.google.com/group/django-users/browse_thread/thread/52f72cffebb705e/b76c9d8c89a5574f
+- http://peterbraden.co.uk/article/django-inheritance
+- http://www.hopelessgeek.com/2009/11/25/a-hack-for-multi-table-inheritance-in-django
+- http://stackoverflow.com/questions/929029/how-do-i-access-the-child-classes-of-an-object-in-django-without-knowing-the-name/929982#929982
+- http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1581024/django-inheritance-how-to-have-one-method-for-all-subclasses
+- http://groups.google.com/group/django-users/browse_thread/thread/cbdaf2273781ccab/e676a537d735d9ef?lnk=gst&q=polymorphic#e676a537d735d9ef
+- http://groups.google.com/group/django-users/browse_thread/thread/52f72cffebb705e/bc18c18b2e83881e?lnk=gst&q=model+inheritance#bc18c18b2e83881e
+- http://code.djangoproject.com/ticket/10808
+- http://code.djangoproject.com/ticket/7270
+

LICENSE

@@ -1,4 +1,6 @@
-Copyright (c) 2009 by Bert Constantin and individual contributors.
+Copyright (c) 2009 or later by the individual contributors.
+Please see the AUTHORS file.
+
 All rights reserved.
 
 Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without

README.rst

@@ -1,474 +1,39 @@
-
 ===============================
 Fully Polymorphic Django Models
 ===============================
 
 
-Overview
+What it Does
-========
+============
 
-'polymorphic.py' is an add-on module that adds fully automatic
+If ``ArtProject`` and ``ResearchProject`` inherit from the model ``Project``::
-polymorphism to the Django model inheritance system.
 
-The effect is: For enabled models, objects retrieved from the
+    >>> Project.objects.all()
-database are always delivered just as they were created and saved,
+	.
-with the same type/class and fields - regardless how they are
+	[ <Project:         id 1, topic: "John's Gathering">,
-retrieved. The resulting querysets are polymorphic, i.e. may deliver
+	  <ArtProject:      id 2, topic: "Sculpting with Tim", artist: "T. Turner">,
+	  <ResearchProject: id 3, topic: "Swallow Aerodynamics", supervisor: "Dr. Winter"> ]
+
+In general, objects retrieved from the database are always delivered just as
+they were created and saved, with the same type/class and fields. It doesn't
+matter how you access these objects: be it through the model's own
+managers/querysets, ForeignKey, ManyToMany or OneToOne fields.
+
+The resulting querysets are polymorphic, and may deliver
 objects of several different types in a single query result.
 
-Please see the concrete examples below as they demonstrate this best.
+``django_polymorphic`` consists of just one add-on module, ``polymorphic.py``,
+that adds this kind of automatic polymorphism to Django's model
+inheritance system (for models that request this behaviour).
 
-Please note that this module is very experimental code. See below for
+Please see additional examples and the documentation here:
-current restrictions, caveats, and performance implications.
 
+	http://bserve.webhop.org/wiki/django_polymorphic
 
-Installation / Testing
+or in the DOCS.rst file in this repository.
-======================
 
-Requirements
+Status
-------------
+------
-
-Django 1.1 and Python 2.5+. This code has been tested
-on Django 1.1.1 with Python 2.5.4 and 2.6.4 on Linux. 
-
-Testing
--------
-
-The repository (or tar file)  contains a complete Django project
-that may be used for testing and experimentation.
-
-To run the included test suite, execute::
-
-    ./manage test poly
-
-'management/commands/polycmd.py' can be used for experiments
-- modify this file to your liking, then run::
-
-    ./manage syncdb      # db is created in /tmp/... (settings.py)
-    ./manage polycmd
-    
-Using polymorphic models in your own projects
----------------------------------------------
-
-Copy polymorphic.py (from the 'poly' dir) into a directory from where
-you can import it, like your app directory (where your models.py and
-views.py files live).
-
-
-Defining Polymorphic Models
-===========================
-
-To make models polymorphic, use PolymorphicModel instead of Django's
-models.Model as the superclass of your base model. All models
-inheriting from your base class will be polymorphic as well::
-
-    from polymorphic import PolymorphicModel    
-
-    class ModelA(PolymorphicModel):
-        field1 = models.CharField(max_length=10)
-        
-    class ModelB(ModelA):
-        field2 = models.CharField(max_length=10)
-        
-    class ModelC(ModelB):
-        field3 = models.CharField(max_length=10)
-
-
-Using Polymorphic Models
-========================
-
-Most of Django's standard ORM functionality is available
-and works as expected:
-
-Create some objects
--------------------
-
-    >>> ModelA.objects.create(field1='A1')
-    >>> ModelB.objects.create(field1='B1', field2='B2')
-    >>> ModelC.objects.create(field1='C1', field2='C2', field3='C3')
-
-Query results are polymorphic
------------------------------
-
-    >>> ModelA.objects.all()
-    .
-    [ <ModelA: id 1, field1 (CharField)>,
-      <ModelB: id 2, field1 (CharField), field2 (CharField)>,
-      <ModelC: id 3, field1 (CharField), field2 (CharField), field3 (CharField)> ]
-
-Filtering for classes (equivalent to python's isinstance() ):
--------------------------------------------------------------
-
-    >>> ModelA.objects.instance_of(ModelB)
-    .
-    [ <ModelB: id 2, field1 (CharField), field2 (CharField)>,
-      <ModelC: id 3, field1 (CharField), field2 (CharField), field3 (CharField)> ]
-    
-    In general, including or excluding parts of the inheritance tree::
-        
-        ModelA.objects.instance_of(ModelB [, ModelC ...])
-        ModelA.objects.not_instance_of(ModelB [, ModelC ...])
-
-Polymorphic filtering (for fields in derived classes)
------------------------------------------------------
-
-    For example, cherrypicking objects from multiple derived classes
-    anywhere in the inheritance tree, using Q objects (with the
-    slightly enhanced syntax: exact model name + three _ + field name):
-    
-    >>> ModelA.objects.filter(  Q( ModelB___field2 = 'B2' )  |  Q( ModelC___field3 = 'C3' )  )
-    .
-    [ <ModelB: id 2, field1 (CharField), field2 (CharField)>,
-      <ModelC: id 3, field1 (CharField), field2 (CharField), field3 (CharField)> ]
-
-Combining Querysets of different types/models
----------------------------------------------
-
-    Querysets may now be regarded as object containers that allow the
-    aggregation of  different object types - very similar to python
-    lists (as long as the objects are accessed through the manager of
-    a common base class):
-
-    >>> Base.objects.instance_of(ModelX) | Base.objects.instance_of(ModelY)
-    .
-    [ <ModelX: id 1, field_x (CharField)>,
-      <ModelY: id 2, field_y (CharField)> ]
-
-Using Third Party Models (without modifying them)
--------------------------------------------------
-
-    Third party models can be used as polymorphic models without
-    restrictions by subclassing them. E.g. using a third party
-    model as the root of a polymorphic inheritance tree::
-        
-        from thirdparty import ThirdPartyModel
-        
-        class MyThirdPartyModel(PolymorhpicModel, ThirdPartyModel):
-            pass    # or add fields
-    
-    Or instead integrating the third party model anywhere into an
-    existing polymorphic inheritance tree::
-
-        class MyModel(SomePolymorphicModel):
-            my_field = models.CharField(max_length=10)
-        
-        class MyModelWithThirdParty(MyModel, ThirdPartyModel):
-            pass    # or add fields
-  
-ManyToManyField, ForeignKey, OneToOneField
-------------------------------------------
-
-    Relationship fields referring to polymorphic models work as
-    expected: like polymorphic querysets they now always return the
-    referred objects with the same type/class these were created and
-    saved as.
-    
-    E.g., if in your model you define::
-    
-        field1 = OneToOneField(ModelA)
-        
-    then field1 may now also refer to objects of type ModelB or ModelC.
-    
-    A ManyToManyField example::
-
-        # The model holding the relation may be any kind of model, polymorphic or not
-        class RelatingModel(models.Model):
-            many2many = models.ManyToManyField('ModelA')  # ManyToMany relation to a polymorphic model
-
-        >>> o=RelatingModel.objects.create()
-        >>> o.many2many.add(ModelA.objects.get(id=1))
-        >>> o.many2many.add(ModelB.objects.get(id=2))
-        >>> o.many2many.add(ModelC.objects.get(id=3))
-        
-        >>> o.many2many.all()
-        [ <ModelA: id 1, field1 (CharField)>,
-          <ModelB: id 2, field1 (CharField), field2 (CharField)>,
-          <ModelC: id 3, field1 (CharField), field2 (CharField), field3 (CharField)> ]
-
-Non-Polymorphic Queries
------------------------
-    
-    >>> ModelA.base_objects.all()
-    .
-    [ <ModelA: id 1, field1 (CharField)>,
-      <ModelA: id 2, field1 (CharField)>,
-      <ModelA: id 3, field1 (CharField)> ]
-
-    Each polymorphic model has 'base_objects' defined as a normal
-    Django manager. Of course, arbitrary custom managers may be
-    added to the models as well.
-    
-
-Custom Managers, Querysets & Inheritance
-========================================
-    
-Using a Custom Manager
-----------------------
-
-For creating a custom polymorphic manager class, derive your manager
-from PolymorphicManager instead of models.Manager. In your model
-class, explicitly add the default manager first, and then your
-custom manager::
-
-        class MyOrderedManager(PolymorphicManager):
-            def get_query_set(self):
-                return super(MyOrderedManager,self).get_query_set().order_by('some_field')
-                
-        class MyModel(PolymorphicModel):
-            objects = PolymorphicManager()    # add the default polymorphic manager first
-            ordered_objects = MyOrderedManager()    # then add your own manager
-
-The first manager defined ('objects' in the example) is used by
-Django as automatic manager for several purposes, including accessing
-related objects. It must not filter objects and it's safest to use
-the plain PolymorphicManager here.
-
-Manager Inheritance
--------------------
-
-The current polymorphic models implementation unconditionally
-inherits all managers from its base models (but only the
-polymorphic base models).
-
-An example (inheriting from MyModel above)::
-
-    class MyModel2(MyModel):
-        pass
-
-    # Managers inherited from MyModel, delivering MyModel2 objects (including MyModel2 subclass objects)
-    >>> MyModel2.objects.all()
-    >>> MyModel2.ordered_objects.all()
-
-Manager inheritance is a somewhat complex topic that needs more
-thought and more actual experience with real-world use-cases.
-
-Using a Custom Queryset Class
------------------------------
-
-The PolymorphicManager class accepts one initialization argument,
-which is the queryset class the manager should use. A custom
-custom queryset class can be defined and used like this::
-
-        class MyQuerySet(PolymorphicQuerySet):
-            def my_queryset_method(...):
-                ...
-    
-        class MyModel(PolymorphicModel):
-            my_objects=PolymorphicManager(MyQuerySet)
-            ...
-    
-
-Performance Considerations
-==========================
-
-The current implementation is pretty simple and does not use any
-custom sql - it is purely based on the Django ORM. Right now the
-query ::
-
-    result_objects = list( ModelA.objects.filter(...) )
-    
-performs one sql query to retrieve ModelA objects and one additional
-query for each unique derived class occurring in result_objects.
-The best case for retrieving 100 objects is 1 db query if all are
-class ModelA. If 50 objects are ModelA and 50 are ModelB, then two
-queries are executed. If result_objects contains only the base model
-type (ModelA), the polymorphic models are just as efficient as plain
-Django models (in terms of executed queries). The pathological worst
-case is 101 db queries if result_objects contains 100 different
-object types (with all of them subclasses of ModelA).
-
-Performance ist relative: when Django users create their own
-polymorphic ad-hoc solution (without a module like polymorphic.py),
-they will tend to use a variation of ::
-
-    result_objects = [ o.get_real_instance() for o in BaseModel.objects.filter(...) ]
-
-which of course has really bad performance. Relative to this, the
-performance of the current polymorphic.py is rather good.
-It's well possible that the current implementation is already
-efficient enough for the majority of use cases.
-
-Chunking: The implementation always requests objects in chunks of
-size Polymorphic_QuerySet_objects_per_request. This limits the
-complexity/duration for each query, including the pathological cases.
-
-
-Possible Optimizations
-======================
-
-PolymorphicQuerySet can be optimized to require only one sql query
-for the queryset evaluation and retrieval of all objects.
-
-Basically, what ist needed is a possibility to pull in the fields
-from all relevant sub-models with one sql query. In order to do this
-on top of the Django ORM, some kind of enhhancement would be needed.
-
-At first, it looks like a reverse select_related for OneToOne
-relations might offer a solution (see http://code.djangoproject.com/ticket/7270)::
-
-    ModelA.objects.filter(...).select_related('modelb','modelb__modelc')
-
-This approach has a number of problems, but nevertheless would
-already execute the correct sql query and receive all the model
-fields required from the db.
-
-A kind of "select_related for values" might be a better solution::
-
-    ModelA.objects.filter(...).values_related(
-        [ base field name list ],  {
-            'modelb' : [field name list ],
-            'modelb__modelc' : [ field name list ]
-        })    
-
-Django's lower level db API in QuerySet.query (see BaseQuery in
-django.db.models.sql.query) might still allow other, better or easier
-ways to implement the needed functionality.
-
-SQL Complexity 
---------------
-
-Regardless how these queries would be created, their complexity is
-the same in any case:
-
-With only one sql query, one sql join for each possible subclass
-would be needed (BaseModel.__subclasses__(), recursively).
-With two sql queries, the number of joins could be reduced to the
-number of actuallly occurring subclasses in the result. A final
-implementation might want to use one query only if the number of
-possible subclasses (and therefore joins) is not too large, and
-two queries otherwise (using the first query to determine the
-actually occurring subclasses, reducing the number of joins for
-the second).
-
-A relatively large number of joins may be needed in both cases,
-which raises concerns regarding the efficiency of these database
-queries. It is currently unclear however, how many model classes
-will actually be involved in typical use cases - the total number
-of classes in the inheritance tree as well as the number of distinct
-classes in query results. It may well turn out that the increased
-number of joins is no problem for the DBMS in all realistic use
-cases. Alternatively, if the sql query execution time is
-significantly longer even in common use cases, this may still be
-acceptable in exchange for the added functionality.
-
-Let's not forget that all of the above is just about optimizations.
-The current simplistic implementation already works well - perhaps
-well enough for the majority of applications. 
-
-
-Restrictions, Caveats, Loose Ends
-=================================
-
-Unsupported Queryset Methods
-----------------------------
-
-+   aggregate() probably makes only sense in a purely non-OO/relational
-    way. So it seems an implementation would just fall back to the
-    Django vanilla equivalent.
-    
-+   annotate(): The current '_get_real_instances' would need minor
-    enhancement.
-
-+   defer() and only(): Full support, including slight polymorphism
-    enhancements, seems to be straighforward
-    (depends on '_get_real_instances'). 
-
-+   extra(): Does not really work with the current implementation of 
-    '_get_real_instances'. It's unclear if it should be supported.
-
-+   select_related(): This would probably need Django core support
-    for traversing the reverse model inheritance OneToOne relations
-    with Django's select_related(), e.g.:
-    *select_related('modela__modelb__foreignkeyfield')*.
-    Also needs more thought/investigation. 
-
-+   distinct() needs more thought and investigation as well
-
-+   values() & values_list(): Implementation seems to be mostly
-    straighforward
-
-
-Restrictions & Caveats
-----------------------
-
-+   Diamond shaped inheritance: There seems to be a general problem 
-    with diamond shaped multiple model inheritance with Django models
-    (tested with V1.1).
-    An example is here: http://code.djangoproject.com/ticket/10808.
-    This problem is aggravated when trying to enhance models.Model
-    by subclassing it instead of modifying Django core (as we do here
-    with PolymorphicModel).
-  
-+   The name and appname of the leaf model is stored in the base model
-    (the base model directly inheriting from PolymorphicModel).
-    If a model or an app is renamed, then these fields need to be
-    corrected too, if the db content should stay usable after the rename.
-    Aside from this, these two fields should probably be combined into
-    one field (more db/sql efficiency)
-
-+   For all objects that are not instances of the base class type, but
-    instances of a subclass, the base class fields are currently
-    transferred twice from the database (an artefact of the current
-    implementation's simplicity).
-
-+   __getattribute__ hack: For base model inheritance back relation
-    fields (like basemodel_ptr), as well as implicit model inheritance
-    forward relation fields, Django internally tries to use our
-    polymorphic manager/queryset in some places, which of course it
-    should not. Currently this is solved with hackish __getattribute__
-    in PolymorphicModel. A minor patch to Django core would probably
-    get rid of that.
-
-+   "instance_of" and "not_instance_of" may need some optimization.
- 
- 
-More Investigation Needed
--------------------------
-
-There are a number of subtleties that have not yet been fully evaluated
-or resolved, for example (among others) the exact implications of
-'use_for_related_fields' in the polymorphic manager.
-
-There may also well be larger issues of conceptual or technical nature
-that might basically be showstoppers (but have not yet been found). 
-
-
-In General
-----------   
- 
-It is important to consider that this code is very experimental
-and very insufficiently tested. A number of test cases are included
-but they need to be expanded. This implementation is currently more
-a tool for exploring the concept of polymorphism within the Django
-framework. After careful testing and consideration it may perhaps be
-useful for actual projects, but it might be too early for this
-right now.
-
-
-Links
-=====
-
-- http://code.djangoproject.com/wiki/ModelInheritance
-- http://lazypython.blogspot.com/2009/02/second-look-at-inheritance-and.html
-- http://www.djangosnippets.org/snippets/1031/
-- http://www.djangosnippets.org/snippets/1034/
-- http://groups.google.com/group/django-developers/browse_frm/thread/7d40ad373ebfa912/a20fabc661b7035d?lnk=gst&q=model+inheritance+CORBA#a20fabc661b7035d
-- http://groups.google.com/group/django-developers/browse_thread/thread/9bc2aaec0796f4e0/0b92971ffc0aa6f8?lnk=gst&q=inheritance#0b92971ffc0aa6f8
-- http://groups.google.com/group/django-developers/browse_thread/thread/3947c594100c4adb/d8c0af3dacad412d?lnk=gst&q=inheritance#d8c0af3dacad412d
-- http://groups.google.com/group/django-users/browse_thread/thread/52f72cffebb705e/b76c9d8c89a5574f
-- http://peterbraden.co.uk/article/django-inheritance
-- http://www.hopelessgeek.com/2009/11/25/a-hack-for-multi-table-inheritance-in-django
-- http://stackoverflow.com/questions/929029/how-do-i-access-the-child-classes-of-an-object-in-django-without-knowing-the-name/929982#929982
-- http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1581024/django-inheritance-how-to-have-one-method-for-all-subclasses
-- http://groups.google.com/group/django-users/browse_thread/thread/cbdaf2273781ccab/e676a537d735d9ef?lnk=gst&q=polymorphic#e676a537d735d9ef
-- http://groups.google.com/group/django-users/browse_thread/thread/52f72cffebb705e/bc18c18b2e83881e?lnk=gst&q=model+inheritance#bc18c18b2e83881e
-- http://code.djangoproject.com/ticket/10808
-- http://code.djangoproject.com/ticket/7270
-
-
-Copyright
-==========
-
-| This code and affiliated files are (C) 2010 Bert Constantin and individual contributors.
-| Please see LICENSE for more information. 
 
+This module is still very experimental. Please see the docs for current restrictions,
+caveats, and performance implications.

poly/management/commands/polycmd.py

@@ -20,10 +20,20 @@ class Command(NoArgsCommand):
     def handle_noargs(self, **options):
         print "polycmd"
 
+
+        Project.objects.all().delete()
+        o=Project.objects.create(topic="John's gathering")
+        o=ArtProject.objects.create(topic="Sculpting with Tim", artist="T. Turner")
+        o=ResearchProject.objects.create(topic="Swallow Aerodynamics", supervisor="Dr. Winter")
+
+        print Project.objects.all()
+        print
+
         ModelA.objects.all().delete()
-        
         o=ModelA.objects.create(field1='A1')
         o=ModelB.objects.create(field1='B1', field2='B2')
         o=ModelC.objects.create(field1='C1', field2='C2', field3='C3')
         
         print ModelA.objects.all()
+
+

poly/models.py

@@ -1,20 +1,6 @@
 from django.db import models
 
-from polymorphic import PolymorphicModel, PolymorphicManager, PolymorphicQuerySet
+from polymorphic import PolymorphicModel, PolymorphicManager, PolymorphicQuerySet, ShowFields, ShowFieldsAndTypes
-
-class ShowFieldContent(object):
-    def __repr__(self):
-        out = 'id %d, ' % (self.id); last = self._meta.fields[-1]
-        for f in self._meta.fields:
-            if f.name in [ 'id', 'p_classname', 'p_appname' ] or 'ptr' in f.name: continue
-            out += f.name + ' (' + type(f).__name__ + ')'
-            if isinstance(f, (models.ForeignKey)):
-                o = getattr(self, f.name)
-                out += ': "' + ('None' if o == None else o.__class__.__name__) + '"'
-            else:
-                out += ': "' + getattr(self, f.name) + '"'
-            if f != last:  out += ', '
-        return '<' + self.__class__.__name__ + ': ' + out + '>'
 
 class PlainA(models.Model):
     field1 = models.CharField(max_length=10)
@@ -39,7 +25,7 @@ class ModelY(Base):
 
 class Enhance_Plain(models.Model):
     field_p = models.CharField(max_length=10)
-class Enhance_Base(ShowFieldContent, PolymorphicModel):
+class Enhance_Base(ShowFieldsAndTypes, PolymorphicModel):
     field_b = models.CharField(max_length=10)
 class Enhance_Inherit(Enhance_Base, Enhance_Plain):
     field_i = models.CharField(max_length=10)
@@ -54,7 +40,7 @@ class DiamondY(DiamondBase):
 class DiamondXY(DiamondX, DiamondY):
     pass
 
-class RelationBase(ShowFieldContent, PolymorphicModel):
+class RelationBase(ShowFieldsAndTypes, PolymorphicModel):
     field_base = models.CharField(max_length=10)
     fk = models.ForeignKey('self', null=True)
     m2m = models.ManyToManyField('self')
@@ -71,7 +57,7 @@ class RelatingModel(models.Model):
 class MyManager(PolymorphicManager):
     def get_query_set(self):
         return super(MyManager, self).get_query_set().order_by('-field1')
-class ModelWithMyManager(ShowFieldContent, ModelA):
+class ModelWithMyManager(ShowFieldsAndTypes, ModelA):
     objects = MyManager()
     field4 = models.CharField(max_length=10)
 
@@ -91,6 +77,13 @@ class MgrInheritA(models.Model):
 class MgrInheritB(MgrInheritA):  
     mgrB = models.Manager()
     field2 = models.CharField(max_length=10)
-class MgrInheritC(ShowFieldContent, MgrInheritB):
+class MgrInheritC(ShowFieldsAndTypes, MgrInheritB):
     pass
 
+class Project(ShowFields,PolymorphicModel):
+    topic = models.CharField(max_length=30)
+class ArtProject(Project):
+    artist = models.CharField(max_length=30)
+class ResearchProject(Project):
+    supervisor = models.CharField(max_length=30)
+

poly/polymorphic.py

@@ -1,478 +1,15 @@
 # -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
 """
-===============================
 Fully Polymorphic Django Models
-===============================
 
+Please see the examples and the documentation here:
 
-Overview
+http://bserve.webhop.org/wiki/django_polymorphic
-========
 
-'polymorphic.py' is an add-on module that adds fully automatic
+or in the included README.rst and DOCS.rst files
-polymorphism to the Django model inheritance system.
-
-The effect is: For enabled models, objects retrieved from the
-database are always delivered just as they were created and saved,
-with the same type/class and fields - regardless how they are
-retrieved. The resulting querysets are polymorphic, i.e. may deliver
-objects of several different types in a single query result.
-
-Please see the concrete examples below as they demonstrate this best.
-
-Please note that this module is very experimental code. See below for
-current restrictions, caveats, and performance implications.
-
-
-Installation / Testing
-======================
-
-Requirements
-------------
-
-Django 1.1 and Python 2.5+. This code has been tested
-on Django 1.1.1 with Python 2.5.4 and 2.6.4 on Linux. 
-
-Testing
--------
-
-The repository (or tar file)  contains a complete Django project
-that may be used for testing and experimentation.
-
-To run the included test suite, execute::
-
-    ./manage test poly
-
-'management/commands/polycmd.py' can be used for experiments
-- modify this file to your liking, then run::
-
-    ./manage syncdb      # db is created in /tmp/... (settings.py)
-    ./manage polycmd
-    
-Using polymorphic models in your own projects
----------------------------------------------
-
-Copy polymorphic.py (from the 'poly' dir) into a directory from where
-you can import it, like your app directory (where your models.py and
-views.py files live).
-
-
-Defining Polymorphic Models
-===========================
-
-To make models polymorphic, use PolymorphicModel instead of Django's
-models.Model as the superclass of your base model. All models
-inheriting from your base class will be polymorphic as well::
-
-    from polymorphic import PolymorphicModel    
-
-    class ModelA(PolymorphicModel):
-        field1 = models.CharField(max_length=10)
-        
-    class ModelB(ModelA):
-        field2 = models.CharField(max_length=10)
-        
-    class ModelC(ModelB):
-        field3 = models.CharField(max_length=10)
-
-
-Using Polymorphic Models
-========================
-
-Most of Django's standard ORM functionality is available
-and works as expected:
-
-Create some objects
--------------------
-
-    >>> ModelA.objects.create(field1='A1')
-    >>> ModelB.objects.create(field1='B1', field2='B2')
-    >>> ModelC.objects.create(field1='C1', field2='C2', field3='C3')
-
-Query results are polymorphic
------------------------------
-
-    >>> ModelA.objects.all()
-    .
-    [ <ModelA: id 1, field1 (CharField)>,
-      <ModelB: id 2, field1 (CharField), field2 (CharField)>,
-      <ModelC: id 3, field1 (CharField), field2 (CharField), field3 (CharField)> ]
-
-Filtering for classes (equivalent to python's isinstance() ):
--------------------------------------------------------------
-
-    >>> ModelA.objects.instance_of(ModelB)
-    .
-    [ <ModelB: id 2, field1 (CharField), field2 (CharField)>,
-      <ModelC: id 3, field1 (CharField), field2 (CharField), field3 (CharField)> ]
-    
-    In general, including or excluding parts of the inheritance tree::
-        
-        ModelA.objects.instance_of(ModelB [, ModelC ...])
-        ModelA.objects.not_instance_of(ModelB [, ModelC ...])
-
-Polymorphic filtering (for fields in derived classes)
------------------------------------------------------
-
-    For example, cherrypicking objects from multiple derived classes
-    anywhere in the inheritance tree, using Q objects (with the
-    slightly enhanced syntax: exact model name + three _ + field name):
-    
-    >>> ModelA.objects.filter(  Q( ModelB___field2 = 'B2' )  |  Q( ModelC___field3 = 'C3' )  )
-    .
-    [ <ModelB: id 2, field1 (CharField), field2 (CharField)>,
-      <ModelC: id 3, field1 (CharField), field2 (CharField), field3 (CharField)> ]
-
-Combining Querysets of different types/models
----------------------------------------------
-
-    Querysets may now be regarded as object containers that allow the
-    aggregation of  different object types - very similar to python
-    lists (as long as the objects are accessed through the manager of
-    a common base class):
-
-    >>> Base.objects.instance_of(ModelX) | Base.objects.instance_of(ModelY)
-    .
-    [ <ModelX: id 1, field_x (CharField)>,
-      <ModelY: id 2, field_y (CharField)> ]
-
-Using Third Party Models (without modifying them)
--------------------------------------------------
-
-    Third party models can be used as polymorphic models without
-    restrictions by subclassing them. E.g. using a third party
-    model as the root of a polymorphic inheritance tree::
-        
-        from thirdparty import ThirdPartyModel
-        
-        class MyThirdPartyModel(PolymorhpicModel, ThirdPartyModel):
-            pass    # or add fields
-    
-    Or instead integrating the third party model anywhere into an
-    existing polymorphic inheritance tree::
-
-        class MyModel(SomePolymorphicModel):
-            my_field = models.CharField(max_length=10)
-        
-        class MyModelWithThirdParty(MyModel, ThirdPartyModel):
-            pass    # or add fields
-  
-ManyToManyField, ForeignKey, OneToOneField
-------------------------------------------
-
-    Relationship fields referring to polymorphic models work as
-    expected: like polymorphic querysets they now always return the
-    referred objects with the same type/class these were created and
-    saved as.
-    
-    E.g., if in your model you define::
-    
-        field1 = OneToOneField(ModelA)
-        
-    then field1 may now also refer to objects of type ModelB or ModelC.
-    
-    A ManyToManyField example::
-
-        # The model holding the relation may be any kind of model, polymorphic or not
-        class RelatingModel(models.Model):
-            many2many = models.ManyToManyField('ModelA')  # ManyToMany relation to a polymorphic model
-
-        >>> o=RelatingModel.objects.create()
-        >>> o.many2many.add(ModelA.objects.get(id=1))
-        >>> o.many2many.add(ModelB.objects.get(id=2))
-        >>> o.many2many.add(ModelC.objects.get(id=3))
-        
-        >>> o.many2many.all()
-        [ <ModelA: id 1, field1 (CharField)>,
-          <ModelB: id 2, field1 (CharField), field2 (CharField)>,
-          <ModelC: id 3, field1 (CharField), field2 (CharField), field3 (CharField)> ]
-
-Non-Polymorphic Queries
------------------------
-    
-    >>> ModelA.base_objects.all()
-    .
-    [ <ModelA: id 1, field1 (CharField)>,
-      <ModelA: id 2, field1 (CharField)>,
-      <ModelA: id 3, field1 (CharField)> ]
-
-    Each polymorphic model has 'base_objects' defined as a normal
-    Django manager. Of course, arbitrary custom managers may be
-    added to the models as well.
-    
-
-Custom Managers, Querysets & Inheritance
-========================================
-    
-Using a Custom Manager
-----------------------
-
-For creating a custom polymorphic manager class, derive your manager
-from PolymorphicManager instead of models.Manager. In your model
-class, explicitly add the default manager first, and then your
-custom manager::
-
-        class MyOrderedManager(PolymorphicManager):
-            def get_query_set(self):
-                return super(MyOrderedManager,self).get_query_set().order_by('some_field')
-                
-        class MyModel(PolymorphicModel):
-            objects = PolymorphicManager()    # add the default polymorphic manager first
-            ordered_objects = MyOrderedManager()    # then add your own manager
-
-The first manager defined ('objects' in the example) is used by
-Django as automatic manager for several purposes, including accessing
-related objects. It must not filter objects and it's safest to use
-the plain PolymorphicManager here.
-
-Manager Inheritance
--------------------
-
-The current polymorphic models implementation unconditionally
-inherits all managers from its base models (but only the
-polymorphic base models).
-
-An example (inheriting from MyModel above)::
-
-    class MyModel2(MyModel):
-        pass
-
-    # Managers inherited from MyModel, delivering MyModel2 objects (including MyModel2 subclass objects)
-    >>> MyModel2.objects.all()
-    >>> MyModel2.ordered_objects.all()
-
-Manager inheritance is a somewhat complex topic that needs more
-thought and more actual experience with real-world use-cases.
-
-Using a Custom Queryset Class
------------------------------
-
-The PolymorphicManager class accepts one initialization argument,
-which is the queryset class the manager should use. A custom
-custom queryset class can be defined and used like this::
-
-        class MyQuerySet(PolymorphicQuerySet):
-            def my_queryset_method(...):
-                ...
-    
-        class MyModel(PolymorphicModel):
-            my_objects=PolymorphicManager(MyQuerySet)
-            ...
-    
-
-Performance Considerations
-==========================
-
-The current implementation is pretty simple and does not use any
-custom sql - it is purely based on the Django ORM. Right now the
-query ::
-
-    result_objects = list( ModelA.objects.filter(...) )
-    
-performs one sql query to retrieve ModelA objects and one additional
-query for each unique derived class occurring in result_objects.
-The best case for retrieving 100 objects is 1 db query if all are
-class ModelA. If 50 objects are ModelA and 50 are ModelB, then two
-queries are executed. If result_objects contains only the base model
-type (ModelA), the polymorphic models are just as efficient as plain
-Django models (in terms of executed queries). The pathological worst
-case is 101 db queries if result_objects contains 100 different
-object types (with all of them subclasses of ModelA).
-
-Performance ist relative: when Django users create their own
-polymorphic ad-hoc solution (without a module like polymorphic.py),
-they will tend to use a variation of ::
-
-    result_objects = [ o.get_real_instance() for o in BaseModel.objects.filter(...) ]
-
-which of course has really bad performance. Relative to this, the
-performance of the current polymorphic.py is rather good.
-It's well possible that the current implementation is already
-efficient enough for the majority of use cases.
-
-Chunking: The implementation always requests objects in chunks of
-size Polymorphic_QuerySet_objects_per_request. This limits the
-complexity/duration for each query, including the pathological cases.
-
-
-Possible Optimizations
-======================
-
-PolymorphicQuerySet can be optimized to require only one sql query
-for the queryset evaluation and retrieval of all objects.
-
-Basically, what ist needed is a possibility to pull in the fields
-from all relevant sub-models with one sql query. In order to do this
-on top of the Django ORM, some kind of enhhancement would be needed.
-
-At first, it looks like a reverse select_related for OneToOne
-relations might offer a solution (see http://code.djangoproject.com/ticket/7270)::
-
-    ModelA.objects.filter(...).select_related('modelb','modelb__modelc')
-
-This approach has a number of problems, but nevertheless would
-already execute the correct sql query and receive all the model
-fields required from the db.
-
-A kind of "select_related for values" might be a better solution::
-
-    ModelA.objects.filter(...).values_related(
-        [ base field name list ],  {
-            'modelb' : [field name list ],
-            'modelb__modelc' : [ field name list ]
-        })    
-
-Django's lower level db API in QuerySet.query (see BaseQuery in
-django.db.models.sql.query) might still allow other, better or easier
-ways to implement the needed functionality.
-
-SQL Complexity 
---------------
-
-Regardless how these queries would be created, their complexity is
-the same in any case:
-
-With only one sql query, one sql join for each possible subclass
-would be needed (BaseModel.__subclasses__(), recursively).
-With two sql queries, the number of joins could be reduced to the
-number of actuallly occurring subclasses in the result. A final
-implementation might want to use one query only if the number of
-possible subclasses (and therefore joins) is not too large, and
-two queries otherwise (using the first query to determine the
-actually occurring subclasses, reducing the number of joins for
-the second).
-
-A relatively large number of joins may be needed in both cases,
-which raises concerns regarding the efficiency of these database
-queries. It is currently unclear however, how many model classes
-will actually be involved in typical use cases - the total number
-of classes in the inheritance tree as well as the number of distinct
-classes in query results. It may well turn out that the increased
-number of joins is no problem for the DBMS in all realistic use
-cases. Alternatively, if the sql query execution time is
-significantly longer even in common use cases, this may still be
-acceptable in exchange for the added functionality.
-
-Let's not forget that all of the above is just about optimizations.
-The current simplistic implementation already works well - perhaps
-well enough for the majority of applications. 
-
-
-Restrictions, Caveats, Loose Ends
-=================================
-
-Unsupported Queryset Methods
-----------------------------
-
-+   aggregate() probably makes only sense in a purely non-OO/relational
-    way. So it seems an implementation would just fall back to the
-    Django vanilla equivalent.
-    
-+   annotate(): The current '_get_real_instances' would need minor
-    enhancement.
-
-+   defer() and only(): Full support, including slight polymorphism
-    enhancements, seems to be straighforward
-    (depends on '_get_real_instances'). 
-
-+   extra(): Does not really work with the current implementation of 
-    '_get_real_instances'. It's unclear if it should be supported.
-
-+   select_related(): This would probably need Django core support
-    for traversing the reverse model inheritance OneToOne relations
-    with Django's select_related(), e.g.:
-    *select_related('modela__modelb__foreignkeyfield')*.
-    Also needs more thought/investigation. 
-
-+   distinct() needs more thought and investigation as well
-
-+   values() & values_list(): Implementation seems to be mostly
-    straighforward
-
-
-Restrictions & Caveats
-----------------------
-
-+   Diamond shaped inheritance: There seems to be a general problem 
-    with diamond shaped multiple model inheritance with Django models
-    (tested with V1.1).
-    An example is here: http://code.djangoproject.com/ticket/10808.
-    This problem is aggravated when trying to enhance models.Model
-    by subclassing it instead of modifying Django core (as we do here
-    with PolymorphicModel).
-  
-+   The name and appname of the leaf model is stored in the base model
-    (the base model directly inheriting from PolymorphicModel).
-    If a model or an app is renamed, then these fields need to be
-    corrected too, if the db content should stay usable after the rename.
-    Aside from this, these two fields should probably be combined into
-    one field (more db/sql efficiency)
-
-+   For all objects that are not instances of the base class type, but
-    instances of a subclass, the base class fields are currently
-    transferred twice from the database (an artefact of the current
-    implementation's simplicity).
-
-+   __getattribute__ hack: For base model inheritance back relation
-    fields (like basemodel_ptr), as well as implicit model inheritance
-    forward relation fields, Django internally tries to use our
-    polymorphic manager/queryset in some places, which of course it
-    should not. Currently this is solved with hackish __getattribute__
-    in PolymorphicModel. A minor patch to Django core would probably
-    get rid of that.
-
-+   "instance_of" and "not_instance_of" may need some optimization.
- 
- 
-More Investigation Needed
--------------------------
-
-There are a number of subtleties that have not yet been fully evaluated
-or resolved, for example (among others) the exact implications of
-'use_for_related_fields' in the polymorphic manager.
-
-There may also well be larger issues of conceptual or technical nature
-that might basically be showstoppers (but have not yet been found). 
-
-
-In General
-----------   
- 
-It is important to consider that this code is very experimental
-and very insufficiently tested. A number of test cases are included
-but they need to be expanded. This implementation is currently more
-a tool for exploring the concept of polymorphism within the Django
-framework. After careful testing and consideration it may perhaps be
-useful for actual projects, but it might be too early for this
-right now.
-
-
-Links
-=====
-
-- http://code.djangoproject.com/wiki/ModelInheritance
-- http://lazypython.blogspot.com/2009/02/second-look-at-inheritance-and.html
-- http://www.djangosnippets.org/snippets/1031/
-- http://www.djangosnippets.org/snippets/1034/
-- http://groups.google.com/group/django-developers/browse_frm/thread/7d40ad373ebfa912/a20fabc661b7035d?lnk=gst&q=model+inheritance+CORBA#a20fabc661b7035d
-- http://groups.google.com/group/django-developers/browse_thread/thread/9bc2aaec0796f4e0/0b92971ffc0aa6f8?lnk=gst&q=inheritance#0b92971ffc0aa6f8
-- http://groups.google.com/group/django-developers/browse_thread/thread/3947c594100c4adb/d8c0af3dacad412d?lnk=gst&q=inheritance#d8c0af3dacad412d
-- http://groups.google.com/group/django-users/browse_thread/thread/52f72cffebb705e/b76c9d8c89a5574f
-- http://peterbraden.co.uk/article/django-inheritance
-- http://www.hopelessgeek.com/2009/11/25/a-hack-for-multi-table-inheritance-in-django
-- http://stackoverflow.com/questions/929029/how-do-i-access-the-child-classes-of-an-object-in-django-without-knowing-the-name/929982#929982
-- http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1581024/django-inheritance-how-to-have-one-method-for-all-subclasses
-- http://groups.google.com/group/django-users/browse_thread/thread/cbdaf2273781ccab/e676a537d735d9ef?lnk=gst&q=polymorphic#e676a537d735d9ef
-- http://groups.google.com/group/django-users/browse_thread/thread/52f72cffebb705e/bc18c18b2e83881e?lnk=gst&q=model+inheritance#bc18c18b2e83881e
-- http://code.djangoproject.com/ticket/10808
-- http://code.djangoproject.com/ticket/7270
-
-
-Copyright
-==========
-
-| This code and affiliated files are (C) 2010 Bert Constantin and individual contributors.
-| Please see LICENSE for more information. 
 
+Copyright: This code and affiliated files are (C) 2010 Bert Constantin
+and individual contributors. Please see LICENSE for more information. 
 """
 
 from django.db import models
@@ -497,7 +34,7 @@ class PolymorphicManager(models.Manager):
     Usually not explicitly needed, except if a custom manager or
     a custom queryset class is to be used.
     
-    For more information, please see module docstring.
+    For more information, please see documentation.
     """
     use_for_related_fields = True
 
@@ -557,11 +94,10 @@ class PolymorphicQuerySet(QuerySet):
         base class query. The class of all of them is self.model (our base model).
         
         Some, many or all of these objects were not created and stored as
-        class self.model, but as a class derived from self.model. So, these
+        class self.model, but as a class derived from self.model. We want to fetch
-        objects in base_result_objects have not the class they were created as
+        their missing fields and return them as they saved.
-        and do not contain all fields of their real class.
         
-        We identify them by looking at o.p_classname & o.p_appname, which specify
+        We identify these objects by looking at o.p_classname & o.p_appname, which specify
         the real class of these objects (the class at the time they were saved).
         We replace them by the correct objects, which we fetch from the db.
         
@@ -958,7 +494,7 @@ class PolymorphicModel(models.Model):
     Abstract base class that provides full polymorphism
     to any model directly or indirectly derived from it
     
-    For usage instructions & examples please see module docstring.
+    For usage instructions & examples please see documentation.
     
     PolymorphicModel declares two fields for internal use (p_classname
     and p_appname) and provides a polymorphic manager as the
@@ -990,8 +526,8 @@ class PolymorphicModel(models.Model):
 
     def pre_save_polymorphic(self):
         """
-        Normally not needed - this function may be called manually in special use-cases.
+        Normally not needed.
-        
+        This function may be called manually in special use-cases.
         When the object is saved for the first time, we store its real class and app name
         into p_classname and p_appname. When the object later is retrieved by
         PolymorphicQuerySet, it uses these fields to figure out the real type of this object
@@ -1010,18 +546,18 @@ class PolymorphicModel(models.Model):
         return super(PolymorphicModel, self).save(*args, **kwargs)
 
     def get_real_instance_class(self):
-        """Normally not needed - only if a non-polymorphic manager
+        """Normally not needed.
-        (like base_objects) has been used to retrieve objects.
+        If a non-polymorphic manager (like base_objects) has been used to
-        Then these objects have the wrong class (the base class).
+        retrieve objects, then the real class/type of these objects may be
-        This function returns the real/correct class for this object.""" 
+        determined using this method.""" 
         return models.get_model(self.p_appname, self.p_classname)
     
     def get_real_instance(self):
-        """Normally not needed - only if a non-polymorphic manager
+        """Normally not needed.
-        (like base_objects) has been used to retrieve objects.
+        If a non-polymorphic manager (like base_objects) has been used to
-        Then these objects have the wrong class (the base class).
+        retrieve objects, then the real class/type of these objects may be
-        This function returns the real object with the correct class
+        retrieve the complete object with i's real class/type and all fields.
-        and content. Each method call executes one db query.""" 
+        Each method call executes one db query.""" 
         if self.p_classname == self.__class__.__name__ and self.p_appname == self.__class__._meta.app_label:
             return self
         return self.get_real_instance_class().objects.get(id=self.id)
@@ -1067,7 +603,7 @@ class PolymorphicModel(models.Model):
         super(PolymorphicModel, self).__init__(*args, **kwargs)
         
     def __repr__(self):
-        "output object descriptions as seen in module docstring"
+        "output object descriptions as seen in documentation"
         out = self.__class__.__name__ + ': id %d, ' % (self.id or - 1); last = self._meta.fields[-1]
         for f in self._meta.fields:
             if f.name in [ 'id', 'p_classname', 'p_appname' ] or 'ptr' in f.name: continue
@@ -1075,3 +611,36 @@ class PolymorphicModel(models.Model):
             if f != last:  out += ', '
         return '<' + out + '>'
     
+
+class ShowFields(object):
+    """ mixin that shows the object's class, it's fields and field contents """
+    def __repr__(self):
+        out = 'id %d, ' % (self.id); last = self._meta.fields[-1]
+        for f in self._meta.fields:
+            if f.name in [ 'id' ] + self.polymorphic_internal_model_fields or 'ptr' in f.name: continue
+            out += f.name
+            if isinstance(f, (models.ForeignKey)):
+                o = getattr(self, f.name)
+                out += ': "' + ('None' if o == None else o.__class__.__name__) + '"'
+            else:
+                out += ': "' + getattr(self, f.name) + '"'
+            if f != last:  out += ', '
+        return '<' + (self.__class__.__name__ + ': ').ljust(17) + out + '>'
+
+
+class ShowFieldsAndTypes(object):
+    """ like ShowFields, but also show field types """
+    def __repr__(self):
+        out = 'id %d, ' % (self.id); last = self._meta.fields[-1]
+        for f in self._meta.fields:
+            if f.name in [ 'id' ] + self.polymorphic_internal_model_fields or 'ptr' in f.name: continue
+            out += f.name + ' (' + type(f).__name__ + ')'
+            if isinstance(f, (models.ForeignKey)):
+                o = getattr(self, f.name)
+                out += ': "' + ('None' if o == None else o.__class__.__name__) + '"'
+            else:
+                out += ': "' + getattr(self, f.name) + '"'
+            if f != last:  out += ', '
+        return '<' + self.__class__.__name__ + ': ' + out + '>'
+
+