Django model property without a field

Question

Is it possible to set a property in django (for backwards compatibility), without a corresponding field? Here is a simple test case with a custom user model:

class CustomUser(AbstractBaseUser):
  email = models.EmailField(max_length=254, unique=True, db_index=True)
  USERNAME_FIELD = 'email'
  ...
  permissions = models.IntegerField(default=0)

  @property
  def is_staff(self):
    return self.permissions >= 2
  @is_staff.setter
  def is_staff(self, value):
    if value and not self.is_staff:
      self.permissions = 2
    if not value and self.is_staff:
      self.permissions = 1

Now when I try to load this user using the default admin interface, I get the following error: 'CustomUserAdmin.list_filter[0]' refers to 'is_staff' which does not refer to a Field.

Is there a way to set this up so that the model provides is_staff as a function of another field?

Answer 1

It's perfectly possible, and the code you've given would not by itself cause any problems. The problem only comes because you've tried to use that property in the admin list_filter, which you can't do, because like any filtering that translates into a db query, so needs an actual db field.