Django Admin- disable Editing and remove “Save” buttons for a specific model

Question

I have a Django Model which I wish to be only readonly. No adds and edits allowed.

I have marked all fields readonly and overridden has_add_permission in ModelAdmin

Answer 1

Based on the excellent answer from @mat_gessel, here's my solution:

The main differences are UX'y:

• use messages and redirect (with reversing-admin-urls), rather than HttpResponseForbidden to prevent a save
• define get_readonly_fields conditionally to prevent un-saveable inputs being displayed

Also:

• override change_form.html app-wide, because read_only is such a useful, non-invasive enhancement
• define has_delete_permission (may not be required by the OP)
• test request.method != 'GET' to prevent PATCH and friends (not altogether sure if this is required, tbh)

my_app/admin.py

from django.core.urlresolvers import reverse
from django.shortcuts import redirect

from django.contrib import admin
from django.contrib import messages


class MyModelAdmin(admin.ModelAdmin):
    # let's assume two fields...
    fields = (field1, field2)

    def changeform_view(self, request, object_id=None, form_url='', extra_context=None):
        if object_id:
            extra_context = extra_context or {}
            extra_context['read_only'] = True

            if request.method != 'GET':
                messages.error(request, "Cannot edit a MyModel object")
                return redirect(
                    reverse('admin:myapp_mymodel_change', args=[object_id])
                )

        return super(MyModelAdmin, self).changeform_view(request, object_id, extra_context=extra_context)

    def has_delete_permission(self, request, obj=None):
        return False

    def get_readonly_fields(self, request, obj=None):
        if obj:
            # display all fields as text, rather than inputs
            return (field1, field2)
        else:
            return []

admin/change_form.html

{% extends "admin/change_form.html" %}
{% load admin_modify %}
{# remove the save buttons if read_only is truthy #}
{% block submit_buttons_top %}{% if not read_only %}{% submit_row %}{% endif %}{% endblock %}
{% block submit_buttons_bottom %}{% if not read_only %}{% submit_row %}{% endif %}{% endblock %}

(Tested on Django 1.9: heads up: some imports have moved since then, eg reverse)