Django Admin

Django gives you a complete admin panel for free. You can add, edit and delete data without writing any pages.

Create an Admin User

python manage.py createsuperuser

Username: admin
Email address: admin@example.com
Password:
Password (again):
Superuser created successfully.

The password is hidden while you type. Now run the server and open http://127.0.0.1:8000/admin/. Log in with the username and password you chose.

Register Your Models

At first, the admin only shows Users and Groups. To manage your own models, register them in courses/admin.py:

from django.contrib import admin
from .models import Course, Student

admin.site.register(Course)
admin.site.register(Student)

Refresh the admin and a Courses section appears with Courses and Students. Each row shows the text from the model's __str__ method.

Customise the List Page

A ModelAdmin class controls how a model looks in the admin:

from django.contrib import admin
from .models import Course, Student

@admin.register(Course)
class CourseAdmin(admin.ModelAdmin):
    list_display = ["name", "fee", "duration_months", "is_online"]
    list_filter = ["is_online", "duration_months"]
    search_fields = ["name"]
    ordering = ["name"]

@admin.register(Student)
class StudentAdmin(admin.ModelAdmin):
    list_display = ["name", "email", "course", "joined"]
    list_filter = ["course"]
    search_fields = ["name", "email"]
    date_hierarchy = "joined"

The @admin.register(...) decorator does the same job as admin.site.register(...). Use one or the other, not both.

Name               Fee    Duration months   Is online
Graphic Designing  6000   3                 False
SEO                5000   2                 True
Web Development    8000   6                 False

ModelAdmin Options

Show Related Rows Inline

Edit students directly on their course's page with an inline:

class StudentInline(admin.TabularInline):
    model = Student
    extra = 1

@admin.register(Course)
class CourseAdmin(admin.ModelAdmin):
    list_display = ["name", "fee"]
    inlines = [StudentInline]

extra = 1 shows one empty row for adding a new student. (Use this version of CourseAdmin instead of the earlier one.)

Change the Admin Titles

admin.site.site_header = "Workownix Admin"
admin.site.site_title = "Workownix"
admin.site.index_title = "Manage courses and students"

Who Can Use the Admin?

• Superusers can do everything
• Staff users can log in, but only see what their permissions allow
• Normal users cannot open the admin at all

You manage users and permissions from the admin itself, under Users and Groups.

Exercise