# Django Admin Integration

In order to be able to edit the translations via the `django.contrib.admin` application you need to register a special admin class for the translated models. The admin class must derive from `modeltranslation.admin.TranslationAdmin` which does some funky patching on all your models registered for translation. Taken the news example the most simple case would look like:

    from django.contrib import admin
    from news.models import News
    from modeltranslation.admin import TranslationAdmin

    class NewsAdmin(TranslationAdmin):
        pass

    admin.site.register(News, NewsAdmin)

## Tweaks Applied to the Admin

### formfield_for_dbfield

The `TranslationBaseModelAdmin` class, which `TranslationAdmin` and all inline related classes in modeltranslation derive from, implements a special method which is `formfield_for_dbfield(self, db_field, **kwargs)`. This method does the following:

1. Copies the widget of the original field to each of its translation fields.

2. Checks if the original field was required and if so makes the default translation field required instead.

### get_form/get_fieldsets

In addition the `TranslationBaseModelAdmin` class overrides `get_form` and `get_fieldsets` to make the options `fields`, `exclude` and `fieldsets` work in a transparent way. It basically does:

1. Removes the original field from every admin form by adding it to `exclude` under the hood.

2. Replaces the - now removed - original fields with their corresponding translation fields.

Taken the `fieldsets` option as an example, where the `title` field is registered for translation but not the `news` field:

    class NewsAdmin(TranslationAdmin):
        fieldsets = [
            (u'News', {'fields': ('title', 'news',)})
        ]

In this case `get_fieldsets` will return a patched fieldset which contains the translation fields of `title`, but not the original field:

    >>> a = NewsAdmin(NewsModel, site)
    >>> a.get_fieldsets(request)
    [(u'News', {'fields': ('title_de', 'title_en', 'news',)})]

## TranslationAdmin in Combination with Other Admin Classes

If there already exists a custom admin class for a translated model and you don’t want or can’t edit that class directly there is another solution.

Taken a reusable blog app which defines a model `Entry` and a corresponding admin class called `EntryAdmin`. This app is not yours and you don’t want to touch it at all.

In the most common case you simply make use of Python’s support for multiple inheritance like this:

    class MyTranslatedEntryAdmin(EntryAdmin, TranslationAdmin):
        pass

The class is then registered for the `admin.site` (not to be confused with modeltranslation’s `translator`). If `EntryAdmin` is already registered through the blog app, it has to be unregistered first:

    admin.site.unregister(Entry)
    admin.site.register(Entry, MyTranslatedEntryAdmin)

### Admin Classes that Override `formfield_for_dbfield`

In a more complex setup the original `EntryAdmin` might override `formfield_for_dbfield` itself:

    class EntryAdmin(model.Admin):
        def formfield_for_dbfield(self, db_field, **kwargs):
            # does some funky stuff with the formfield here

Unfortunately the first example won’t work anymore because Python can only execute one of the `formfield_for_dbfield` methods. Since both admin classes implement this method Python must make a decision and it chooses the first class `EntryAdmin`. The functionality from `TranslationAdmin` will not be executed and translation in the admin will not work for this class.

But don’t panic, here’s a solution:

    class MyTranslatedEntryAdmin(EntryAdmin, TranslationAdmin):
        def formfield_for_dbfield(self, db_field, **kwargs):
            field = super(MyTranslatedEntryAdmin, self).formfield_for_dbfield(db_field, **kwargs)
            self.patch_translation_field(db_field, field, **kwargs)
            return field

This implements the `formfield_for_dbfield` such that both functionalities will be executed. The first line calls the superclass method which in this case will be the one of `EntryAdmin` because it is the first class inherited from. The `TranslationAdmin` capsulates its functionality in the `patch_translation_field` method and the `formfield_for_dbfield` implementation of the `TranslationAdmin` class simply calls it. You can copy this behaviour by calling it from a custom admin class and that’s done in the example above. After that the `field` is fully patched for translation and finally returned.

## Admin Inlines

Added in version 0.2.

Support for tabular and stacked inlines, common and generic ones.

A translated inline must derive from one of the following classes:

> - `modeltranslation.admin.TranslationTabularInline`

> - `modeltranslation.admin.TranslationStackedInline`

> - `modeltranslation.admin.TranslationGenericTabularInline`

> - `modeltranslation.admin.TranslationGenericStackedInline`

Just like `TranslationAdmin` these classes implement a special method `formfield_for_dbfield` which does all the patching.

For our example we assume that there is a new model called `Image`. The definition is left out for simplicity. Our `News` model inlines the new model:

    from django.contrib import admin
    from news.models import Image, News
    from modeltranslation.admin import TranslationTabularInline

    class ImageInline(TranslationTabularInline):
        model = Image

    class NewsAdmin(admin.ModelAdmin):
        list_display = ('title',)
        inlines = [ImageInline,]

    admin.site.register(News, NewsAdmin)

Note

In this example only the `Image` model is registered in `translation.py`. It’s not a requirement that `NewsAdmin` derives from `TranslationAdmin` in order to inline a model which is registered for translation.

### Complex Example with Admin Inlines

In this more complex example we assume that the `News` and `Image` models are registered in `translation.py`. The `News` model has an own custom admin class called `NewsAdmin` and the `Image` model an own generic stacked inline class called `ImageInline`. Furthermore we assume that `NewsAdmin` overrides `formfield_for_dbfield` itself and the admin class is already registered through the news app.

Note

The example uses the technique described in TranslationAdmin in combination with other admin classes.

Bringing it all together our code might look like this:

    from django.contrib import admin
    from news.admin import ImageInline
    from news.models import Image, News
    from modeltranslation.admin import TranslationAdmin, TranslationGenericStackedInline

    class TranslatedImageInline(ImageInline, TranslationGenericStackedInline):
        model = Image

    class TranslatedNewsAdmin(NewsAdmin, TranslationAdmin):
        inlines = [TranslatedImageInline,]

        def formfield_for_dbfield(self, db_field, **kwargs):
            field = super(TranslatedNewsAdmin, self).formfield_for_dbfield(db_field, **kwargs)
            self.patch_translation_field(db_field, field, **kwargs)
            return field

    admin.site.unregister(News)
    admin.site.register(News, NewsAdmin)

## Using Tabbed Translation Fields

Added in version 0.3.

Modeltranslation supports separation of translation fields via jquery-ui tabs. The proposed way to include it is through the inner `Media` class of a `TranslationAdmin` class like this:

    class NewsAdmin(TranslationAdmin):
        class Media:
            js = (
                'modeltranslation/js/force_jquery.js',
                '//ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jqueryui/1.8.24/jquery-ui.min.js',
                'modeltranslation/js/tabbed_translation_fields.js',
            )
            css = {
                'screen': ('modeltranslation/css/tabbed_translation_fields.css',),
            }

Note

Here we stick to the jquery library shipped with Django. The `force_jquery.js` script is necessary when using Django’s built-in `django.jQuery` object. Otherwise the normal `jQuery` object won’t be available to the included (non-namespaced) jquery-ui library.

Standard jquery-ui theming can be used to customize the look of tabs, the provided css file is supposed to work well with a default Django admin.

As an alternative, if want to use a more recent version of jquery, you can do so by including this in your `Media` class instead:

    class NewsAdmin(TranslationAdmin):
        class Media:
            js = (
                '//ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.9.1/jquery.min.js',
                '//ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jqueryui/1.10.2/jquery-ui.min.js',
                'modeltranslation/js/tabbed_translation_fields.js',
            )
            css = {
                'screen': ('modeltranslation/css/tabbed_translation_fields.css',),
            }

### Tabbed Translation Fields Admin Classes

Added in version 0.7.

To ease the inclusion of the required static files for tabbed translation fields, the following admin classes are provided:

> - `TabbedDjangoJqueryTranslationAdmin` (aliased to `TabbedTranslationAdmin`)

> - `TabbedExternalJqueryTranslationAdmin`

Rather than inheriting from `TranslationAdmin`, simply subclass one of these classes like this:

    class NewsAdmin(TabbedTranslationAdmin):
        pass

## `TranslationAdmin` Options

### `TranslationAdmin.group_fieldsets`

Added in version 0.6.

When this option is activated untranslated and translation fields are grouped into separate fieldsets. The first fieldset contains the untranslated fields, followed by a fieldset for each translation field. The translation field fieldsets use the original field’s `verbose_name` as a label.

Activating the option is a simple way to reduce the visual clutter one might experience when mixing these different types of fields.

The `group_fieldsets` option expects a boolean. By default fields are not grouped into fieldsets (`group_fieldsets = False`).

A few simple policies are applied:

> - A `fieldsets` option takes precedence over the `group_fieldsets` option.

> - Other default `ModelAdmin` options like `exclude` are respected.

    class NewsAdmin(TranslationAdmin):
        group_fieldsets = True

### Formfields with None-checkbox

There is the special widget which allow to choose whether empty field value should be stores as empty string or `None` (see None-checkbox widget). In `TranslationAdmin` some fields can use this widget regardless of their `empty_values` setting:

    class NewsAdmin(TranslationAdmin):
        both_empty_values_fields = ('title', 'text')

### Admin pages automatic language activation

Added in version 0.20.

From this version onward, Modeltranslation in admin pages automatically activates to document language instead of first language of the list.

In order to revert back to previous behaviour, customize your admin base page (i.e. `admin/base_site.html`) adding this:

    <script>
        window.MODELTRANSLATION_AUTO_SELECT_CURRENT_LANGUAGE = false
    </script>