How to add column in ManyToMany Table (Django)

Question

From the example of Django Book, I understand if I create models as following:

from xxx import B

class A(models.Model):
    b = ManyToManyField(B)
         


        

Answer 1

Under the hood, Django creates automatically a through model. It is possible to modify this automatic model foreign key column names.

I could not test the implications on all scenarios, so far it works properly for me.

Using Django 1.8 and onwards' _meta api:

class Person(models.Model):
    pass

class Group(models.Model):
    members = models.ManyToManyField(Person)

Group.members.through._meta.get_field('person').column = 'alt_person_id'
Group.members.through._meta.get_field('group' ).column =  'alt_group_id'

# Prior to Django 1.8 _meta can also be used, but is more hackish than this
Group.members.through.person.field.column = 'alt_person_id'
Group.members.through.group .field.column =  'alt_group_id'