django temporarily disable signals

Question

I have a signal callback in django:

@receiver(post_save, sender=MediumCategory)
def update_category_descendants(sender, **kwargs):
    
    def children_for(category):
        return MediumCategory.objects.filter(parent=category)
    
    def do_update_descendants(category):
        children = children_for(category)
        descendants = list() + list(children)
        
        for descendants_part in [do_update_descendants(child) for child in children]:
            descendants += descendants_part
        
        category.descendants.clear()
        for descendant in descendants:
            if category and not (descendant in category.descendants.all()):
                category.descendants.add(descendant)
                category.save()
        return list(descendants)
    
    # call it for update
    do_update_descendants(None)

...but in the signal handler's body I'm using .save() on the same model MediumCategory. This causes the signal to be dispatched again. How can I disable it?

The perfect solution would be a with statement with some 'magic' inside.

UPDATE: Here is my final solution, if anyone interested:

class MediumCategory(models.Model):
    name = models.CharField(max_length=100)
    slug = models.SlugField(blank=True)
    parent = models.ForeignKey('self', blank=True, null=True)
    parameters = models.ManyToManyField(AdvertisementDescriptonParameter, blank=True)
    count_mediums = models.PositiveIntegerField(default=0)
    count_ads = models.PositiveIntegerField(default=0)
    
    descendants = models.ManyToManyField('self', blank=True, null=True)
    
    def save(self, *args, **kwargs):
        self.slug = slugify(self.name)
        super(MediumCategory, self).save(*args, **kwargs)
    
    def __unicode__(self):
        return unicode(self.name)
(...)
@receiver(post_save, sender=MediumCategory)
def update_category_descendants(sender=None, **kwargs):
    def children_for(category):
        return MediumCategory.objects.filter(parent=category)
    
    def do_update_descendants(category):
        children = children_for(category)
        descendants = list() + list(children)
        
        for descendants_part in [do_update_descendants(child) for child in children]:
            descendants += descendants_part
        
        if category:
            category.descendants.clear()
            for descendant in descendants:
                category.descendants.add(descendant)
        return list(descendants)
    
    # call it for update
    do_update_descendants(None)

Answer 1

To disable a signal on your model, a simple way to go is to set an attribute on the current instance to prevent upcoming signals firing.

This can be done using a simple decorator that checks if the given instance has the 'skip_signal' attribute, and if so prevents the method from being called:

from functools import wraps

def skip_signal():
    def _skip_signal(signal_func):
        @wraps(signal_func)
        def _decorator(sender, instance, **kwargs):
            if hasattr(instance, 'skip_signal'):
                return None
            return signal_func(sender, instance, **kwargs)  
        return _decorator
    return _skip_signal

You can now use it this way:

from django.db.models.signals import post_save
from django.dispatch import receiver

@receiver(post_save, sender=MyModel)
@skip_signal()
def my_model_post_save(sender, instance, **kwargs):
    instance.some_field = my_value
    # Here we flag the instance with 'skip_signal'
    # and my_model_post_save won't be called again
    # thanks to our decorator, avoiding any signal recursion
    instance.skip_signal  = True
    instance.save()

Hope This helps.

Answer 2

Perhaps I'm wrong, but I think that category.save() is not needed in your code, add() is enough because change is made in descendant but in category.

Also, to avoid signals you can:

• Disconnect signal and reconnect.
• Use update: Descendant.objects.filter( pk = descendant.pk ).update( category = category )

Answer 3

Here is solution to temporary disable signal receiver per instance which allows to use it on production (bc it is thread-safe)

[usage.py]

from django.db.models.signals import post_save

payment = Payment()
with mute_signals_for(payment, signals=[post_save]):
   payment.save()  # handle_payment signal receiver will be skipped

[code.py]

from contextlib import contextmanager
from functools import wraps

MUTE_SIGNALS_ATTR = '_mute_signals'


def mutable_signal_receiver(func):
    """Decorator for signals to allow to skip them by setting attr MUTE_SIGNALS_ATTR on instance,
    which can be done via mute_signals_for"""
    @wraps(func)
    def wrapper(sender, instance, signal, **kwargs):
        mute_signals = getattr(instance, MUTE_SIGNALS_ATTR, False)
        if mute_signals is True:
            pass  # skip all signals
        elif isinstance(mute_signals, list) and signal in mute_signals:
            pass  # skip user requested signal
        else:  # allow signal receiver
            return func(sender=sender, instance=instance, signal=signal, **kwargs)
    return wrapper


@contextmanager
def mute_signals_for(instance, signals):
    """Context manager to skip signals for @instance (django model), @signals can be
    True to skip all signals or list of specified signals, like [post_delete, post_save] """
    try:
        yield setattr(instance, MUTE_SIGNALS_ATTR, signals)
    finally:
        setattr(instance, MUTE_SIGNALS_ATTR, False)

[signals.py]

@receiver(post_save, sender=Payment, dispatch_uid='post_payment_signal')
@mutable_signal_receiver
def handle_payment(sender, instance, created, **kwargs):
    """called after payment is registered in the system."""