Import model from another app Django

Question

I have a problem importing a model from another app. I am using Django 2.0.

My project structure looks like this:

--api
  --api
    --settings.py
    --urls.py
    --wsgi.py
  --product
    --models.py
  --chat
    --models.py
--manage.py

To show only the problem I have I simplified the structure. If you are missing something important let me know it.

The file causing the error:

chat/models.py

from api.product.models import Product
from django.contrib.auth.models import User
from django.db import models


class Chat(models.Model):
    product = models.ForeignKey(Product)
    enquirer = models.ForeignKey(User)

product/models.py

from django.db import models
from django.contrib.auth.models import User

class Product(models.Model):
    id = models.AutoField(primary_key=True)
    user = models.ForeignKey(User, on_delete=models.CASCADE)
    category = models.ForeignKey(Category, related_name='category', on_delete=None)
    front_image = models.ImageField(upload_to="")
    title = models.CharField(max_length=100)
    price = models.PositiveIntegerField()
    description = models.CharField(max_length=5000)
    date = models.DateTimeField(auto_now_add=True)

settings.py

INSTALLED_APPS = [
    'account.apps.AccountConfig',
    'product.apps.ProductConfig',
    'profileInfo.apps.ProfileInfoConfig',
    'chat.apps.ChatConfig',
    'django.contrib.admin',
    'django.contrib.auth',
    'django.contrib.contenttypes',
    'django.contrib.sessions',
    'django.contrib.messages',
    'django.contrib.staticfiles',
    'rest_framework',
    'rest_framework.authtoken',
    'corsheaders',
]

The error is the following: ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'api.product' I do not understand why Django even can not find api.product.

Is that a common problem ? Thank you for your help.

Answer 1

Based on your settings and the file directory, the project root is the uppest app directory. So that means that you import the models by writing:

from product.models import Product

instead of:

from api.product.models import Product

If your IDE suggested that import, something is probably wrong with the project root.

Answer 2

The solution I found that works for me using Python 3.x

...
from django.apps import apps
...

and then whereever in your code you need to import a model you can do the following.
...
model = apps.get_model('app_name', 'ModelName')
...