Relaciones muchos a muchos

Para definir una relación muchos a muchos, utilice ManyToManyField.

En este ejemplo, un objeto Article puede publicarse en múltiples objetos Publication, y un objeto Publication tiene múltiples objetos Article:

from django.db import models


class Publication(models.Model):
    title = models.CharField(max_length=30)

    class Meta:
        ordering = ["title"]

    def __str__(self):
        return self.title


class Article(models.Model):
    headline = models.CharField(max_length=100)
    publications = models.ManyToManyField(Publication)

    class Meta:
        ordering = ["headline"]

    def __str__(self):
        return self.headline

A continuación se presentan ejemplos de operaciones que se pueden realizar utilizando las facilidades de la API de Python.

Crea unos pocos instancias de Publication:

>>> p1 = Publication(title="The Python Journal")
>>> p1.save()
>>> p2 = Publication(title="Science News")
>>> p2.save()
>>> p3 = Publication(title="Science Weekly")
>>> p3.save()

Crear un Artículo:

>>> a1 = Article(headline="Django lets you build web apps easily")

No puedes asociarlo con una Publicación hasta que se haya guardado:

>>> a1.publications.add(p1)
Traceback (most recent call last):
...
ValueError: "<Article: Django lets you build web apps easily>" needs to have a value for field "id" before this many-to-many relationship can be used.

¡Guárdalo!

>>> a1.save()

Asocia el Artículo con una Publicación:

>>> a1.publications.add(p1)

Crea otro Artículo, y establece que debe aparecer en sus publicaciones:

>>> a2 = Article(headline="NASA uses Python")
>>> a2.save()
>>> a2.publications.add(p1, p2)
>>> a2.publications.add(p3)

Añadirlo por segunda vez está bien, no duplicará la relación:

>>> a2.publications.add(p3)

Añadir un objeto del tipo incorrecto levanta TypeError:

>>> a2.publications.add(a1)
Traceback (most recent call last):
...
TypeError: 'Publication' instance expected

Crea y agrega una Publicación a un Artículo en un paso utilizando create():

>>> new_publication = a2.publications.create(title="Highlights for Children")

Los objetos Article tienen acceso a sus objetos relacionados de tipo Publication:

>>> a1.publications.all()
<QuerySet [<Publication: The Python Journal>]>
>>> a2.publications.all()
<QuerySet [<Publication: Highlights for Children>, <Publication: Science News>, <Publication: Science Weekly>, <Publication: The Python Journal>]>

Los objetos Publicación tienen acceso a sus objetos relacionados del tipo Artículo:

>>> p2.article_set.all()
<QuerySet [<Article: NASA uses Python>]>
>>> p1.article_set.all()
<QuerySet [<Article: Django lets you build web apps easily>, <Article: NASA uses Python>]>
>>> Publication.objects.get(id=4).article_set.all()
<QuerySet [<Article: NASA uses Python>]>

Las relaciones muchos-a-muchos pueden ser consultadas utilizando consultas en relación con relaciones.

>>> Article.objects.filter(publications__id=1)
<QuerySet [<Article: Django lets you build web apps easily>, <Article: NASA uses Python>]>
>>> Article.objects.filter(publications__pk=1)
<QuerySet [<Article: Django lets you build web apps easily>, <Article: NASA uses Python>]>
>>> Article.objects.filter(publications=1)
<QuerySet [<Article: Django lets you build web apps easily>, <Article: NASA uses Python>]>
>>> Article.objects.filter(publications=p1)
<QuerySet [<Article: Django lets you build web apps easily>, <Article: NASA uses Python>]>

>>> Article.objects.filter(publications__title__startswith="Science")
<QuerySet [<Article: NASA uses Python>, <Article: NASA uses Python>]>

>>> Article.objects.filter(publications__title__startswith="Science").distinct()
<QuerySet [<Article: NASA uses Python>]>

La función count() respeta también a distinct().

>>> Article.objects.filter(publications__title__startswith="Science").count()
2

>>> Article.objects.filter(publications__title__startswith="Science").distinct().count()
1

>>> Article.objects.filter(publications__in=[1, 2]).distinct()
<QuerySet [<Article: Django lets you build web apps easily>, <Article: NASA uses Python>]>
>>> Article.objects.filter(publications__in=[p1, p2]).distinct()
<QuerySet [<Article: Django lets you build web apps easily>, <Article: NASA uses Python>]>

Se admiten consultas inversas de muchos a muchos (es decir, comenzando en la tabla que no tiene una ManyToManyField).

>>> Publication.objects.filter(id=1)
<QuerySet [<Publication: The Python Journal>]>
>>> Publication.objects.filter(pk=1)
<QuerySet [<Publication: The Python Journal>]>

>>> Publication.objects.filter(article__headline__startswith="NASA")
<QuerySet [<Publication: Highlights for Children>, <Publication: Science News>, <Publication: Science Weekly>, <Publication: The Python Journal>]>

>>> Publication.objects.filter(article__id=1)
<QuerySet [<Publication: The Python Journal>]>
>>> Publication.objects.filter(article__pk=1)
<QuerySet [<Publication: The Python Journal>]>
>>> Publication.objects.filter(article=1)
<QuerySet [<Publication: The Python Journal>]>
>>> Publication.objects.filter(article=a1)
<QuerySet [<Publication: The Python Journal>]>

>>> Publication.objects.filter(article__in=[1, 2]).distinct()
<QuerySet [<Publication: Highlights for Children>, <Publication: Science News>, <Publication: Science Weekly>, <Publication: The Python Journal>]>
>>> Publication.objects.filter(article__in=[a1, a2]).distinct()
<QuerySet [<Publication: Highlights for Children>, <Publication: Science News>, <Publication: Science Weekly>, <Publication: The Python Journal>]>

Excluyendo un elemento relacionado funciona como esperarías tú también (aunque la consulta SQL involucrada es un poco compleja):

>>> Article.objects.exclude(publications=p2)
<QuerySet [<Article: Django lets you build web apps easily>]>

Si eliminamos una Publication, las instancias relacionadas de Article no podrán acceder a ella.

>>> p1.delete()
>>> Publication.objects.all()
<QuerySet [<Publication: Highlights for Children>, <Publication: Science News>, <Publication: Science Weekly>]>
>>> a1 = Article.objects.get(pk=1)
>>> a1.publications.all()
<QuerySet []>

Si eliminamos un Article, las instancias relacionadas de Publication no podrán acceder a él:

>>> a2.delete()
>>> Article.objects.all()
<QuerySet [<Article: Django lets you build web apps easily>]>
>>> p2.article_set.all()
<QuerySet []>

Añadiendo mediante el extremo «otro» de un m2m:

>>> a4 = Article(headline="NASA finds intelligent life on Earth")
>>> a4.save()
>>> p2.article_set.add(a4)
>>> p2.article_set.all()
<QuerySet [<Article: NASA finds intelligent life on Earth>]>
>>> a4.publications.all()
<QuerySet [<Publication: Science News>]>

Agregar mediante la otra extremidad utilizando palabras clave:

>>> new_article = p2.article_set.create(headline="Oxygen-free diet works wonders")
>>> p2.article_set.all()
<QuerySet [<Article: NASA finds intelligent life on Earth>, <Article: Oxygen-free diet works wonders>]>
>>> a5 = p2.article_set.all()[1]
>>> a5.publications.all()
<QuerySet [<Publication: Science News>]>

Eliminando Publication de un Article:

>>> a4.publications.remove(p2)
>>> p2.article_set.all()
<QuerySet [<Article: Oxygen-free diet works wonders>]>
>>> a4.publications.all()
<QuerySet []>

Desde el otro extremo:

>>> p2.article_set.remove(a5)
>>> p2.article_set.all()
<QuerySet []>
>>> a5.publications.all()
<QuerySet []>

Los conjuntos de relación pueden ser establecidos:

>>> a4.publications.all()
<QuerySet [<Publication: Science News>]>
>>> a4.publications.set([p3])
>>> a4.publications.all()
<QuerySet [<Publication: Science Weekly>]>

Los conjuntos de relación pueden ser borrados:

>>> p2.article_set.clear()
>>> p2.article_set.all()
<QuerySet []>

Y puedes borrar desde el otro extremo:

>>> p2.article_set.add(a4, a5)
>>> p2.article_set.all()
<QuerySet [<Article: NASA finds intelligent life on Earth>, <Article: Oxygen-free diet works wonders>]>
>>> a4.publications.all()
<QuerySet [<Publication: Science News>, <Publication: Science Weekly>]>
>>> a4.publications.clear()
>>> a4.publications.all()
<QuerySet []>
>>> p2.article_set.all()
<QuerySet [<Article: Oxygen-free diet works wonders>]>

Recrea los Article y Publication que hemos eliminado:

>>> p1 = Publication(title="The Python Journal")
>>> p1.save()
>>> a2 = Article(headline="NASA uses Python")
>>> a2.save()
>>> a2.publications.add(p1, p2, p3)

Elimina en bloque algunas instancias de Publication, y las referencias a publicaciones eliminadas ya no estarán incluidas en las entradas relacionadas:

>>> Publication.objects.filter(title__startswith="Science").delete()
>>> Publication.objects.all()
<QuerySet [<Publication: Highlights for Children>, <Publication: The Python Journal>]>
>>> Article.objects.all()
<QuerySet [<Article: Django lets you build web apps easily>, <Article: NASA finds intelligent life on Earth>, <Article: NASA uses Python>, <Article: Oxygen-free diet works wonders>]>
>>> a2.publications.all()
<QuerySet [<Publication: The Python Journal>]>

Elimina en bloque algunos artículos - las referencias a objetos eliminados deberían irse:

>>> q = Article.objects.filter(headline__startswith="Django")
>>> print(q)
<QuerySet [<Article: Django lets you build web apps easily>]>
>>> q.delete()

Después del delete(), el caché de la QuerySet necesita ser borrado, y los objetos referenciados deben haber ido:

>>> print(q)
<QuerySet []>
>>> p1.article_set.all()
<QuerySet [<Article: NASA uses Python>]>