Example of the new django 3.0 TextChoices enumeration types

django_choices.txt

from django.db import models

class Animal(models.Model):

    class AnimalType(models.TextChoices):
        ANTELOPE = 'A', 'Antelope'
        BAT = 'B', 'Bat'
        COUGAR = 'C', 'Cougar'

    animal_type = models.CharField(max_length=1, choices=AnimalType.choices, default=AnimalType.ANTELOPE)

# In this example, the middle value on each line is what is saved to the database. So, `B` if I selected Bat. Since I am only using one character for each possible entry in this example, I set the `max_length` to 1.

>>> # Working with the AnimalType class itself outside of the Animal model
>>>
>>> Animal.AnimalType.values
['A', 'B', 'C']
>>>
>>> Animal.AnimalType.names
['ANTELOPE', 'BAT', 'COUGAR']
>>>
>>> Animal.AnimalType.labels
['Antelope', 'Bat', 'Cougar']
>>>
>>> Animal.AnimalType.choices
[('A', 'Antelope'), ('B', 'Bat'), ('C', 'Cougar')]
>>>
>>> dict(Animal.AnimalType.choices)
{'A': 'Antelope', 'B': 'Bat', 'C': 'Cougar'}
>>>
>>> # Working with AnimalType in a Model Instance
>>> my_animal = Animal()
>>> my_animal.save()
>>>
>>> my_animal_type = my_animal.animal_type
>>>
>>> # To get the value saved to the database:
>>> str(my_animal.animal_type)
'A'
>>>
>>> # To get the display name:
>>> # https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/3.0/ref/models/instances/#django.db.models.Model.get_FOO_display
>>> my_animal.get_animal_type_display()
'Antelope'

Nice one. Very simple and straight forward.

Do you know how labels are stored in database?

You can access labels with Animal.AnimalType.labels

Hi, how can I make a Text Choices field editable in django admin? For example, I would like to allow admin to add his own values if there is no suitable value? Trying googling but can't find solution yet.