Check if OneToOneField is None in Django

Question

I have two models like this:

class Type1Profile(models.Model):
    user = models.OneToOneField(User, unique=True)
    ...


class Type2Profile(models.Model):
            


        

Answer 1

I like joctee's answer, because it's so simple.

if hasattr(request.user, 'type1profile'):
    # do something
elif hasattr(request.user, 'type2profile'):
    # do something else
else:
    # do something else

Other commenters have raised concerns that it may not work with certain versions of Python or Django, but the Django documentation shows this technique as one of the options:

You can also use hasattr to avoid the need for exception catching:

>>> hasattr(p2, 'restaurant')
False

Of course, the documentation also shows the exception catching technique:

p2 doesn’t have an associated restaurant:

>>> from django.core.exceptions import ObjectDoesNotExist
>>> try:
>>>     p2.restaurant
>>> except ObjectDoesNotExist:
>>>     print("There is no restaurant here.")
There is no restaurant here.

I agree with Joshua that catching the exception makes it clearer what's happening, but it just seems messier to me. Perhaps this is a reasonable compromise?

>>> print(Restaurant.objects.filter(place=p2).first())
None

This is just querying the Restaurant objects by place. It returns None if that place has no restaurant.

Here's an executable snippet for you to play with the options. If you have Python, Django, and SQLite3 installed, it should just run. I tested it with Python 2.7, Python 3.4, Django 1.9.2, and SQLite3 3.8.2.

# Tested with Django 1.9.2
import sys

import django
from django.apps import apps
from django.apps.config import AppConfig
from django.conf import settings
from django.core.exceptions import ObjectDoesNotExist
from django.db import connections, models, DEFAULT_DB_ALIAS
from django.db.models.base import ModelBase

NAME = 'udjango'


def main():
    setup()

    class Place(models.Model):
        name = models.CharField(max_length=50)
        address = models.CharField(max_length=80)

        def __str__(self):              # __unicode__ on Python 2
            return "%s the place" % self.name

    class Restaurant(models.Model):
        place = models.OneToOneField(Place, primary_key=True)
        serves_hot_dogs = models.BooleanField(default=False)
        serves_pizza = models.BooleanField(default=False)

        def __str__(self):              # __unicode__ on Python 2
            return "%s the restaurant" % self.place.name

    class Waiter(models.Model):
        restaurant = models.ForeignKey(Restaurant)
        name = models.CharField(max_length=50)

        def __str__(self):              # __unicode__ on Python 2
            return "%s the waiter at %s" % (self.name, self.restaurant)

    syncdb(Place)
    syncdb(Restaurant)
    syncdb(Waiter)

    p1 = Place(name='Demon Dogs', address='944 W. Fullerton')
    p1.save()
    p2 = Place(name='Ace Hardware', address='1013 N. Ashland')
    p2.save()
    r = Restaurant(place=p1, serves_hot_dogs=True, serves_pizza=False)
    r.save()

    print(r.place)
    print(p1.restaurant)

    # Option 1: try/except
    try:
        print(p2.restaurant)
    except ObjectDoesNotExist:
        print("There is no restaurant here.")

    # Option 2: getattr and hasattr
    print(getattr(p2, 'restaurant', 'There is no restaurant attribute.'))
    if hasattr(p2, 'restaurant'):
        print('Restaurant found by hasattr().')
    else:
        print('Restaurant not found by hasattr().')

    # Option 3: a query
    print(Restaurant.objects.filter(place=p2).first())


def setup():
    DB_FILE = NAME + '.db'
    with open(DB_FILE, 'w'):
        pass  # wipe the database
    settings.configure(
        DEBUG=True,
        DATABASES={
            DEFAULT_DB_ALIAS: {
                'ENGINE': 'django.db.backends.sqlite3',
                'NAME': DB_FILE}},
        LOGGING={'version': 1,
                 'disable_existing_loggers': False,
                 'formatters': {
                    'debug': {
                        'format': '%(asctime)s[%(levelname)s]'
                                  '%(name)s.%(funcName)s(): %(message)s',
                        'datefmt': '%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S'}},
                 'handlers': {
                    'console': {
                        'level': 'DEBUG',
                        'class': 'logging.StreamHandler',
                        'formatter': 'debug'}},
                 'root': {
                    'handlers': ['console'],
                    'level': 'WARN'},
                 'loggers': {
                    "django.db": {"level": "WARN"}}})
    app_config = AppConfig(NAME, sys.modules['__main__'])
    apps.populate([app_config])
    django.setup()
    original_new_func = ModelBase.__new__

    @staticmethod
    def patched_new(cls, name, bases, attrs):
        if 'Meta' not in attrs:
            class Meta:
                app_label = NAME
            attrs['Meta'] = Meta
        return original_new_func(cls, name, bases, attrs)
    ModelBase.__new__ = patched_new


def syncdb(model):
    """ Standard syncdb expects models to be in reliable locations.

    Based on https://github.com/django/django/blob/1.9.3
    /django/core/management/commands/migrate.py#L285
    """
    connection = connections[DEFAULT_DB_ALIAS]
    with connection.schema_editor() as editor:
        editor.create_model(model)

main()