Django: What is a permission codename?

Question

I'm trying to set up a permissions decorator in my Django app. The docs mention it and nowhere could I find explained what this codename represents (a model field? a model method? a permissions method?).

What is the codename and where can I setup codenames?

https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/1.9/topics/auth/default/#the-permission-required-decorator

Answer 1

You can add custom permissions to any model under Meta class. Those permission name are called codename. It goes like this:

class Dish(models.Model):
    name = models.CharField()
    class Meta:
        permissions = (
            ('can_approve_dish', "Can approve Dish publication"),
            ('can_delete_dish', "Can Delete Dish")
        )

Here, can_approve_dish is a codename. Now, to perform any operation on Dish, you can check for permission like this:

# Assuming Dish model is under app named - `'app'`
if user.has_perm('app.can_delete_dish'):
    dish.delete()

These permissions would be available on admin site to be assigned to users after migration. So, if you haven't assigned a can_delete_dish permission to a user, he won't be able to delete that dish.

If you've added different permissions on multiple models under the app named - app, all those permissions will come under name app. That means, you've to have unique codename across models in the same app.