Django search fields in multiple models

Question

I want to search multiple fields in many models. I don't want to use other apps like 'Haystack', only pure Django. For example:

# models.py

class Person(models.Model):
    first_name = models.CharField("First name", max_length=255)
    last_name = models.CharField("Last name", max_length=255)
    # other fields


class Restaurant(models.Model):
    restaurant_name = models.CharField("Restaurant name", max_length=255)
    # other fields


class Pizza(models.Model):
    pizza_name = models.CharField("Pizza name", max_length=255)
    # other fields

When I type "Tonny" I should get a:

• "Tonny Montana" from Person model
• "Tonny's Restaurant" from Restaurant model
• "Tonny's Special Pizza" from Pizza model.

Answer 1

One solution is to query all the models

# Look up Q objects for combining different fields in a single query
from django.db.models import Q
people = Person.objects.filter(Q(first_name__contains=query) | Q(last_name__contains=query)
restaurants = Restaurant.objects.filter(restaurant_name__contains=query)
pizzas = Pizza.objects.filter(pizza_name__contains=query)

Then combine the results, if you want

from itertools import chain
results = chain(people, restaurants, pizzas)

---

Ok, sure, here's a more generic solution. Search all CharFields in all models:

search_models = [] # Add your models here, in any way you find best.
search_results = []
for model in search_models:
    fields = [x for x in model._meta.fields if isinstance(x, django.db.models.CharField)]
    search_queries = [Q(**{x.name + "__contains" : search_query}) for x in fields]
    q_object = Q()
    for query in search_queries:
        q_object = q_object | query

    results = model.objects.filter(q_object)
    search_results.append(results)

This will give you a list of all the querysets, you can then mold it to a format you choose to work with.

To get a list of models to fill search_models, you can do it manually, or use something like get_models. Read the docs for more information on how that works.