Why can't I save my model instances after editing them?

Question

I have a model which I can instantiate just fine, but once created, if I attempt to save it I get an IntegrityError saying that the primary key must be unique. What's causing this?

There are other models that inherit from Node, and they're giving me the same problem.

Here's my model:

class Node(MPTTModel):
    title = models.CharField(max_length=255)
    parent = models.ForeignKey('self', null=True, blank=True,
                               related_name='children')

class Book(Node):
    isbn13 = models.CharField(max_length=14)
    description = models.TextField()

Here's the SQL it generates:

CREATE TABLE "main_node" (
    "id" integer NOT NULL PRIMARY KEY,
    "title" varchar(255) NOT NULL,
    "parent_id" integer,
    "type" varchar(1) NOT NULL,
    "lft" integer unsigned NOT NULL,
    "rght" integer unsigned NOT NULL,
    "tree_id" integer unsigned NOT NULL,
    "level" integer unsigned NOT NULL
)
;
CREATE TABLE "main_book" (
    "node_ptr_id" integer NOT NULL PRIMARY KEY REFERENCES "main_node" ("id"),
    "isbn13" varchar(14) NOT NULL,
    "description" text NOT NULL
)
;

And what happens when I attempt to save a preexisting model instance:

>>> b = Book.objects.create(title='c+ for dummies', isbn13='111-1111111111', description='nt')
>>> b.title='c++ for dummies'
>>> b.save()
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<console>", line 1, in <module>
  File "C:\Users\Jackie\Desktop\Code\ProjectName\main\models.py", line 56, in save
    super(Book, self).save(self, *args)
  File "C:\Python27\lib\site-packages\django\db\models\base.py", line 460, in save
    self.save_base(using=using, force_insert=force_insert, force_update=force_update)
  File "C:\Python27\lib\site-packages\django\db\models\base.py", line 553, in save_base
    result = manager._insert(values, return_id=update_pk, using=using)
  File "C:\Python27\lib\site-packages\django\db\models\manager.py", line 195, in _insert
    return insert_query(self.model, values, **kwargs)
  File "C:\Python27\lib\site-packages\django\db\models\query.py", line 1436, in insert_query
    return query.get_compiler(using=using).execute_sql(return_id)
  File "C:\Python27\lib\site-packages\django\db\models\sql\compiler.py", line 791, in execute_sql
    cursor = super(SQLInsertCompiler, self).execute_sql(None)
  File "C:\Python27\lib\site-packages\django\db\models\sql\compiler.py", line 735, in execute_sql
    cursor.execute(sql, params)
  File "C:\Python27\lib\site-packages\django\db\backends\util.py", line 34, in execute
    return self.cursor.execute(sql, params)
  File "C:\Python27\lib\site-packages\django\db\backends\sqlite3\base.py", line 234, in execute
    return Database.Cursor.execute(self, query, params)
IntegrityError: PRIMARY KEY must be unique

Here are the queries that this runs:

>>> for q in connection.queries:
...   print q['sql'] + "\n\n"
...
SELECT MAX("main_node"."tree_id") AS "tree_id__max" FROM "main_node"


INSERT INTO "main_node" ("title", "parent_id", "type", "lft", "rght", "tree_id", "level") VALUES (c+
 for dummies, None, B, 1, 2, 1, 0)


INSERT INTO "main_book" ("node_ptr_id", "isbn13", "description") VALUES (1, 111-1111111111, nt)




SELECT (1) AS "a" FROM "main_node" WHERE "main_node"."id" = 1  LIMIT 1


UPDATE "main_node" SET "title" = c++ for dummies, "parent_id" = NULL, "type" = B, "lft" = 1, "rght"
= 2, "tree_id" = 1, "level" = 0 WHERE "main_node"."id" = 1


INSERT INTO "main_book" ("node_ptr_id", "isbn13", "description") VALUES (1, 111-1111111111, nt)

Why is it trying to insert into main_book when I'm resaving the already created instance?

Answer 1

Are you over-riding the "save()" method in any of your models? I had a similar issue and after a lot of digging, found out it was because of a small mistake in my over-ridden "save()".

Can you please post the whole of your model definitions? (from the generated SQL, it looks like what you have posted is not complete)