django admin make a field read-only when modifying obj but required when adding new obj

Question

In admin I would like to disable a field when modifying object, but make it required when adding new object.

Whats the django way to go about this one?

Answer 1

The situation with inline forms is still not fixed for Django 2.2.x but the solution from John is actually pretty smart.

Code slightly tuned to my situation:

class NoteListInline(admin.TabularInline):
""" Notes list, readonly """
    model = Note
    verbose_name = _('Note')
    verbose_name_plural = _('Notes')
    extra = 0
    fields = ('note', 'created_at')
    readonly_fields = ('note', 'created_at')

    def has_add_permission(self, request, obj=None):
    """ Only add notes through AddInline """
    return False

class NoteAddInline(admin.StackedInline):
    """ Notes edit field """
    model = Note
    verbose_name = _('Note')
    verbose_name_plural = _('Notes')
    extra = 1
    fields = ('note',)
    can_delete = False

    def get_queryset(self, request):
        queryset = super().get_queryset(request)
        return queryset.none()  # no existing records will appear

@admin.register(MyModel)
class MyModelAdmin(admin.ModelAdmin):
    # ...
    inlines = (NoteListInline, NoteAddInline)
    # ...