Unfold is theme for Django admin incorporating most common practises for building full-fledged admin areas. It is designed to work at the top of default administration provided by Django.
- Unfold: demo site is available at unfoldadmin.com
- Formula: repository with demo implementation at github.com/unfoldadmin/formula
- Turbo: Django & Next.js boilerplate implementing Unfold at github.com/unfoldadmin/turbo
Did you decide to start using Unfold but you don't have time to make the switch from native Django admin? Get in touch with us and let's supercharge development by using our know-how.
- Visual: provides new user interface based on Tailwind CSS framework
- Sidebar: simplifies definition of custom sidebar navigation with icons
- Dark mode: supports both light and dark mode versions
- Configuration: most of the basic options can be changed in settings.py
- Dependencies: completely based only on
django.contrib.admin - Actions: multiple ways how to define actions within different parts of admin
- WYSIWYG: built-in support for WYSIWYG (Trix)
- Array widget: built-in widget for
django.contrib.postgres.fields.ArrayField - Filters: custom dropdown, numeric, datetime, and text fields
- Dashboard: custom components for rapid dashboard development
- Model tabs: define custom tab navigations for models
- Fieldset tabs: merge several fielsets into tabs in change form
- Colors: possibility to override default color scheme
- Changeform modes: display fields in changeform in compressed mode
- Third party packages: default support for multiple popular applications
- Environment label: distinguish between environments by displaying a label
- Nonrelated inlines: displays nonrelated model as inline in changeform
- Parallel admin: support for default admin in parallel with Unfold. Admin migration guide
- VS Code: project configuration and development container is included
- Installation
- Configuration
- Actions
- Filters
- Custom admin pages
- Nonrelated inlines
- Display decorator
- Change form tabs
- Third party packages
- User Admin Form
- Adding custom styles and scripts
- Project level Tailwind stylesheet
- Admin dashboard
- Unfold development
- Credits
The installation process is minimal. Everything what is needed after installation is to put new application at the beginning of INSTALLED_APPS. Default admin configuration in urls.py can stay as it is and there are no changes required.
# settings.py
INSTALLED_APPS = [
"unfold", # before django.contrib.admin
"unfold.contrib.filters", # optional, if special filters are needed
"unfold.contrib.forms", # optional, if special form elements are needed
"unfold.contrib.inlines", # optional, if special inlines are needed
"unfold.contrib.import_export", # optional, if django-import-export package is used
"unfold.contrib.guardian", # optional, if django-guardian package is used
"unfold.contrib.simple_history", # optional, if django-simple-history package is used
"django.contrib.admin", # required
]In case you need installation command below are the versions for pip and poetry which needs to be executed in shell.
pip install django-unfold
poetry add django-unfoldJust for an example below is the minimal admin configuration in terms of adding Unfold into URL paths.
# urls.py
from django.contrib import admin
from django.urls import path
urlpatterns = [
path("admin/", admin.site.urls),
# Other URL paths
]After installation, it is required that admin classes are going to inherit from custom ModelAdmin available in unfold.admin.
# admin.py
from django.contrib import admin
from unfold.admin import ModelAdmin
@admin.register(MyModel)
class CustomAdminClass(ModelAdmin):
passNote: Registered admin models coming from third party packages are not going to properly work with Unfold because of parent class. By default, these models are registered by using django.contrib.admin.ModelAdmin but it is needed to use unfold.admin.ModelAdmin. Solution for this problem is to unregister model and then again register it back by using unfold.admin.ModelAdmin.
# admin.py
from django.contrib import admin
from django.contrib.auth.admin import UserAdmin as BaseUserAdmin
from django.contrib.auth.models import User
from unfold.admin import ModelAdmin
admin.site.unregister(User)
@admin.register(User)
class UserAdmin(BaseUserAdmin, ModelAdmin):
pass# settings.py
from django.templatetags.static import static
from django.urls import reverse_lazy
from django.utils.translation import gettext_lazy as _
UNFOLD = {
"SITE_TITLE": None,
"SITE_HEADER": None,
"SITE_URL": "/",
# "SITE_ICON": lambda request: static("icon.svg"), # both modes, optimise for 32px height
"SITE_ICON": {
"light": lambda request: static("icon-light.svg"), # light mode
"dark": lambda request: static("icon-dark.svg"), # dark mode
},
# "SITE_LOGO": lambda request: static("logo.svg"), # both modes, optimise for 32px height
"SITE_LOGO": {
"light": lambda request: static("logo-light.svg"), # light mode
"dark": lambda request: static("logo-dark.svg"), # dark mode
},
"SITE_SYMBOL": "speed", # symbol from icon set
"SHOW_HISTORY": True, # show/hide "History" button, default: True
"SHOW_VIEW_ON_SITE": True, # show/hide "View on site" button, default: True
"ENVIRONMENT": "sample_app.environment_callback",
"DASHBOARD_CALLBACK": "sample_app.dashboard_callback",
"THEME": "dark", # Force theme: "dark" or "light". Will disable theme switcher
"LOGIN": {
"image": lambda request: static("sample/login-bg.jpg"),
"redirect_after": lambda request: reverse_lazy("admin:APP_MODEL_changelist"),
},
"STYLES": [
lambda request: static("css/style.css"),
],
"SCRIPTS": [
lambda request: static("js/script.js"),
],
"COLORS": {
"primary": {
"50": "250 245 255",
"100": "243 232 255",
"200": "233 213 255",
"300": "216 180 254",
"400": "192 132 252",
"500": "168 85 247",
"600": "147 51 234",
"700": "126 34 206",
"800": "107 33 168",
"900": "88 28 135",
"950": "59 7 100",
},
},
"EXTENSIONS": {
"modeltranslation": {
"flags": {
"en": "🇬🇧",
"fr": "🇫🇷",
"nl": "🇧🇪",
},
},
},
"SIDEBAR": {
"show_search": False, # Search in applications and models names
"show_all_applications": False, # Dropdown with all applications and models
"navigation": [
{
"title": _("Navigation"),
"separator": True, # Top border
"items": [
{
"title": _("Dashboard"),
"icon": "dashboard", # Supported icon set: https://fonts.google.com/icons
"link": reverse_lazy("admin:index"),
"badge": "sample_app.badge_callback",
"permission": lambda request: request.user.is_superuser,
},
{
"title": _("Users"),
"icon": "people",
"link": reverse_lazy("admin:users_user_changelist"),
},
],
},
],
},
"TABS": [
{
"models": [
"app_label.model_name_in_lowercase",
],
"items": [
{
"title": _("Your custom title"),
"link": reverse_lazy("admin:app_label_model_name_changelist"),
"permission": "sample_app.permission_callback",
},
],
},
],
}
def dashboard_callback(request, context):
"""
Callback to prepare custom variables for index template which is used as dashboard
template. It can be overridden in application by creating custom admin/index.html.
"""
context.update(
{
"sample": "example", # this will be injected into templates/admin/index.html
}
)
return context
def environment_callback(request):
"""
Callback has to return a list of two values represeting text value and the color
type of the label displayed in top right corner.
"""
return ["Production", "danger"] # info, danger, warning, success
def badge_callback(request):
return 3
def permission_callback(request):
return request.user.has_perm("sample_app.change_model")# admin.py
from django import models
from django.contrib import admin
from django.contrib.postgres.fields import ArrayField
from django.db import models
from unfold.admin import ModelAdmin
from unfold.contrib.forms.widgets import ArrayWidget, WysiwygWidget
@admin.register(MyModel)
class CustomAdminClass(ModelAdmin):
# Display fields in changeform in compressed mode
compressed_fields = True # Default: False
# Preprocess content of readonly fields before render
readonly_preprocess_fields = {
"model_field_name": "html.unescape",
"other_field_name": lambda content: content.strip(),
}
# Display submit button in filters
list_filter_submit = False
# Custom actions
actions_list = [] # Displayed above the results list
actions_row = [] # Displayed in a table row in results list
actions_detail = [] # Displayed at the top of for in object detail
actions_submit_line = [] # Displayed near save in object detail
formfield_overrides = {
models.TextField: {
"widget": WysiwygWidget,
},
ArrayField: {
"widget": ArrayWidget,
}
}It is highly recommended to read the base Django actions documentation before reading this section, since Unfold actions are derived from Django actions.
Besides traditional actions selected from dropdown, Unfold supports several other types of actions. Following table gives overview of all available actions together with their recommended usage:
| Type of action | Appearance | Usage | Examples of usage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Default | List view - top of listing (in dropdown) | Actions, where you want to select specific subset of instances to perform this action upon | Bulk deleting, bulk activation |
| Global | List view - top of listing (as buttons) | General actions for model, without selecting specific instances | Import, export |
| Row | List view - in each row | Action for one specific instance, executable from listing | Activation, sync with external service |
| Detail | Detail view - top of detail | Action for one specific instance, executable from detail | Activation, sync with external service |
| Submit line | Detail view - near submit button | Action performed during form submit (instance save) | Publishing article together with save |
Unfold also uses custom @action decorator, supporting 2 more parameters in comparison to base @action decorator:
url_path: Action path name, used to override the path under which the action will be available (if not provided, URL path will be generated by Unfold)attrs: Dictionary of the additional attributes added to the<a>element, used for e.g. opening action in new tab ({"target": "_blank"})
This section provides explanation of how the action handler functions should be constructed for Unfold actions. For default actions, follow official Django admin documentation.
Submit row actions work a bit differently when compared to other custom Unfold actions.
These actions first invoke form save (same as if you hit Save button) and then lets you
perform additional logic on already saved instance.
All these actions are based on custom URLs generated for each of them. Handler function for these views is basically function based view.
For actions without intermediate steps, you can write all the logic inside handler directly. Request and object ID are both passed to these action handler functions, so you are free to fetch the instance from database and perform any operations with it. In the end, it is recommended to return redirect back to either detail or listing, based on where the action was triggered from.
For actions with intermediate steps, it is recommended to use handler function only to redirect to custom URL with custom view. This view can be extended from base Unfold view, to have unified experience.
If that's confusing, there are examples for both these actions in next section.
# admin.py
from django.db.models import Model
from django.contrib.admin import register
from django.shortcuts import redirect
from django.urls import reverse_lazy
from django.utils.translation import gettext_lazy as _
from django.http import HttpRequest
from unfold.admin import ModelAdmin
from unfold.decorators import action
class User(Model):
pass
@register(User)
class UserAdmin(ModelAdmin):
actions_list = ["changelist_global_action_import"]
actions_row = ["changelist_row_action_view_on_website"]
actions_detail = ["change_detail_action_block"]
actions_submit_line = ["submit_line_action_activate"]
@action(description=_("Save & Activate"))
def submit_line_action_activate(self, request: HttpRequest, obj: User):
"""
If instance is modified in any way, it also needs to be saved,
since this handler is invoked after instance is saved.
:param request:
:param obj: Model instance that was manipulated, with changes already saved to database
:return: None, this handler should not return anything
"""
obj.is_active = True
obj.save()
@action(description=_("Import"), url_path="import")
def changelist_global_action_import(self, request: HttpRequest):
"""
Handler for global actions does not receive any queryset or object ids, because it is
meant to be used for general actions for given model.
:param request:
:return: View, as described in section above
"""
# This is example of action redirecting to custom page, where the action will be handled
# (with intermediate steps)
return redirect(
reverse_lazy("view-where-import-will-be-handled")
)
@action(description=_("Row"), url_path="row-action", attrs={"target": "_blank"})
def changelist_row_action_view_on_website(self, request: HttpRequest, object_id: int):
"""
Handler for list row action.
:param request:
:param object_id: ID of instance that this action was invoked for
:return: View, as described in section above
"""
return redirect(f"https://example.com/{object_id}")
@action(description=_("Detail"), url_path="detail-action", attrs={"target": "_blank"})
def change_detail_action_block(self, request: HttpRequest, object_id: int):
"""
Handler for detail action.
:param request:
:param object_id: ID of instance that this action was invoked for
:return: View, as described in section above
"""
# This is example of action that handled whole logic inside handler
# function and redirects back to object detail
user = User.objects.get(pk=object_id)
user.block()
return redirect(
reverse_lazy("admin:users_user_change", args=(object_id,))
)By default, Django admin handles all filters as regular HTML links pointing at the same URL with different query parameters. This approach is for basic filtering more than enough. In the case of more advanced filtering by incorporating input fields, it is not going to work.
Note: when implementing a filter which contains input fields, there is a no way that user can submit the values, because default filters does not contain submit button. To implement submit button, unfold.admin.ModelAdmin contains boolean list_filter_submit flag which enables submit button in filter form.
Text input field which allows filtering by the free string submitted by the user. There are two different variants of this filter: FieldTextFilter and TextFilter.
FieldTextFilter requires just a model field name and the filter will make __icontains search on this field. There are no other things to configure so the integration in list_filter will be just one new row looking like ("model_field_name", FieldTextFilter).
In the case of the TextFilter, it is needed the write a whole new class inheriting from TextFilter with a custom implementation of the queryset method and the parameter_name attribute. This attribute will be a representation of the search query parameter name in URI. The benefit of the TextFilter is the possibility of writing complex queries.
from django.contrib import admin
from django.contrib.auth.models import User
from django.core.validators import EMPTY_VALUES
from django.utils.translation import gettext_lazy as _
from unfold.admin import ModelAdmin
from unfold.contrib.filters.admin import TextFilter, FieldTextFilter
class CustomTextFilter(TextFilter):
title = _("Custom filter")
parameter_name = "query_param_in_uri"
def queryset(self, request, queryset):
if self.value() not in EMPTY_VALUES:
# Here write custom query
return queryset.filter(your_field=self.value())
return queryset
@admin.register(User)
class MyAdmin(ModelAdmin):
list_filter_submit = True
list_filter = [
("model_charfield", FieldTextFilter),
CustomTextFilter
]Dropdown filters will display a select field with a list of options. Unfold contains two types of dropdowns: ChoicesDropdownFilter and RelatedDropdownFilter.
The difference between them is that ChoicesDropdownFilter will collect a list of options based on the choices attribute of the model field so most commonly it will be used in combination with CharField with specified choices. On the other side, RelatedDropdownFilter needs a one-to-many or many-to-many foreign key to display options.
Note: At the moment Unfold does not implement a dropdown with an autocomplete functionality, so it is important not to use dropdowns displaying large datasets.
# admin.py
from django.contrib import admin
from django.contrib.auth.models import User
from unfold.admin import ModelAdmin
from unfold.contrib.filters.admin import ChoicesDropdownFilter, RelatedDropdownFilter, DropdownFilter
class CustomDropdownFilter(DropdownFilter):
title = _("Custom dropdown filter")
parameter_name = "query_param_in_uri"
def lookups(self, request, model_admin):
return [
["option_1", _("Option 1")],
["option_2", _("Option 2")],
]
def queryset(self, request, queryset):
if self.value() not in EMPTY_VALUES:
# Here write custom query
return queryset.filter(your_field=self.value())
return queryset
@admin.register(User)
class MyAdmin(ModelAdmin):
list_filter_submit = True
list_filter = [
CustomDropdownFilter,
("modelfield_with_choices", ChoicesDropdownFilter),
("modelfield_with_foreign_key", RelatedDropdownFilter)
]Currently, Unfold implements numeric filters inside unfold.contrib.filters application. In order to use these filters, it is required to add this application into INSTALLED_APPS in settings.py right after unfold application.
# admin.py
from django.contrib import admin
from django.contrib.auth.models import User
from unfold.admin import ModelAdmin
from unfold.contrib.filters.admin import (
RangeNumericListFilter,
RangeNumericFilter,
SingleNumericFilter,
SliderNumericFilter,
)
class CustomSliderNumericFilter(SliderNumericFilter):
MAX_DECIMALS = 2
STEP = 10
class CustomRangeNumericListFilter(RangeNumericListFilter):
parameter_name = "items_count"
title = "items"
@admin.register(User)
class YourModelAdmin(ModelAdmin):
list_filter_submit = True # Submit button at the bottom of the filter
list_filter = (
("field_A", SingleNumericFilter), # Numeric single field search, __gte lookup
("field_B", RangeNumericFilter), # Numeric range search, __gte and __lte lookup
("field_C", SliderNumericFilter), # Numeric range filter but with slider
("field_D", CustomSliderNumericFilter), # Numeric filter with custom attributes
CustomRangeNumericListFilter, # Numeric range search not restricted to a model field
)
def get_queryset(self, request):
return super().get_queryset().annotate(items_count=Count("item", distinct=True))# admin.py
from django.contrib import admin
from django.contrib.auth.models import User
from unfold.admin import ModelAdmin
from unfold.contrib.filters.admin import (
RangeDateFilter,
RangeDateTimeFilter,
)
@admin.register(User)
class YourModelAdmin(ModelAdmin):
list_filter_submit = True # Submit button at the bottom of the filter
list_filter = (
("field_E", RangeDateFilter), # Date filter
("field_F", RangeDateTimeFilter), # Datetime filter
)By default, Unfold provides a basic view mixin which helps with creation of basic views which are part of Unfold UI. The implementation requires creation of class based view inheriting from unfold.views.UnfoldModelAdminViewMixin. It is important to add title and permissions_required properties.
# admin.py
from django.views.generic import TemplateView
from unfold.admin import ModelAdmin
from unfold.views import UnfoldModelAdminViewMixin
class MyClassBasedView(UnfoldModelAdminViewMixin, TemplateView):
title = "Custom Title" # required: custom page header title
permissions_required = () # required: tuple of permissions
template_name = "some/template/path.html"
class CustomAdmin(ModelAdmin):
def get_urls(self):
return super().get_urls() + [
path(
"custom-url-path",
MyClassBasedView.as_view(model_admin=self), # IMPORTANT: model_admin is required
name="custom_name"
),
]The template is straightforward, extend from unfold/layouts/base.html and the UI will display all Unfold components like header or sidebar with all menu items. Then all content needs to be located in content block.
{% extends "unfold/layouts/base.html" %}
{% block content %}
Content here
{% endblock %}
To display inlines which are not related (no foreign key pointing at the main model) to the model instance in changeform, you can use nonrelated inlines which are included in unfold.contrib.inlines module. Make sure this module is included in INSTALLED_APPS in settings.py.
from django.contrib.auth.models import User
from unfold.admin import ModelAdmin
from unfold.contrib.inlines.admin import NonrelatedTabularInline
from .models import OtherModel
class OtherNonrelatedInline(NonrelatedTabularInline): # NonrelatedStackedInline is available as well
model = OtherModel
fields = ["field1", "field2"] # Ignore property to display all fields
def get_form_queryset(self, obj):
"""
Gets all nonrelated objects needed for inlines. Method must be implemented.
"""
return self.model.objects.all()
def save_new_instance(self, parent, instance):
"""
Extra save method which can for example update inline instances based on current
main model object. Method must be implemented.
"""
pass
@admin.register(User)
class UserAdmin(ModelAdmin):
inlines = [OtherNonrelatedInline]NOTE: credit for this functionality goes to django-nonrelated-inlines
Unfold introduces it's own unfold.decorators.display decorator. By default it has exactly same behavior as native django.contrib.admin.decorators.display but it adds same customizations which helps to extends default logic.
@display(label=True), @display(label={"value1": "success"}) displays a result as a label. This option fits for different types of statuses. Label can be either boolean indicating we want to use label with default color or dict where the dict is responsible for displaying labels in different colors. At the moment these color combinations are supported: success(green), info(blue), danger(red) and warning(orange).
@display(header=True) displays in results list two information in one table cell. Good example is when we want to display customer information, first line is going to be customer's name and right below the name display corresponding email address. Method with such a decorator is supposed to return a list with two elements return "Full name", "E-mail address". There is a third optional argument, which is type of the string and its value is displayed in a circle before first two values on the front end. Its optimal usage is for displaying initials.
# admin.py
from django.db.models import TextChoices
from django.utils.translation import gettext_lazy as _
from unfold.admin import ModelAdmin
from unfold.decorators import display
class UserStatus(TextChoices):
ACTIVE = "ACTIVE", _("Active")
PENDING = "PENDING", _("Pending")
INACTIVE = "INACTIVE", _("Inactive")
CANCELLED = "CANCELLED", _("Cancelled")
class UserAdmin(ModelAdmin):
list_display = [
"display_as_two_line_heading",
"show_status",
"show_status_with_custom_label",
]
@display(
description=_("Status"),
ordering="status",
label=True
)
def show_status_default_color(self, obj):
return obj.status
@display(
description=_("Status"),
ordering="status",
label={
UserStatus.ACTIVE: "success", # green
UserStatus.PENDING: "info", # blue
UserStatus.INACTIVE: "warning", # orange
UserStatus.CANCELLED: "danger", # red
},
)
def show_status_customized_color(self, obj):
return obj.status
@display(description=_("Status with label"), ordering="status", label=True)
def show_status_with_custom_label(self, obj):
return obj.status, obj.get_status_display()
@display(header=True)
def display_as_two_line_heading(self, obj):
"""
Third argument is short text which will appear as prefix in circle
"""
return [
"First main heading",
"Smaller additional description", # Use None in case you don't need it
"AB", # Short text which will appear in front of
# Image instead of initials. Initials are ignored if image is available
{
"path": "some/path/picture.jpg,
"squared": True, # Picture is displayed in square format, if empty circle
"borderless": True # Picture will be displayed without border
"width": 64, # Removes default width. Use together with height
"height": 48, # Removes default height. Use together with width
}
]When the change form contains a lot of fieldsets, sometimes it is better to group them into tabs so it will not be needed to scroll. To mark a fieldset for tab navigation it is required to add a tab CSS class to the fieldset. Once the fieldset contains tab class it will be recognized in a template and grouped into tab navigation. Each tab must contain its name. If the name is not available, it will be not included in the tab navigation.
# admin.py
from django.contrib import admin
from django.utils.translation import gettext_lazy as _
from unfold.admin import ModelAdmin
from .models import MyModel
@admin.register(MyModel)
class MyModelAdmin(ModelAdmin):
fieldsets = (
(
None,
{
"fields": [
"field_1",
"field_2",
],
},
),
(
_("Tab 1"),
{
"classes": ["tab"],
"fields": [
"field_3",
"field_4",
],
},
),
(
_("Tab 2"),
{
"classes": ["tab"],
"fields": [
"field_5",
"field_6",
],
},
),
)In general, django-celery-beat does not have any components that require special styling. The default changelist templates are not inheriting from Unfold's ModelAdmin but they are using default ModelAdmin coming from django.contrib.admin which is causing some design discrepancies in the changelist.
In the source code below you can find a short code snippet to unregister all django-celery-beat admin classes and register them with the proper parent ModelAdmin class.
# admin.py
from django.contrib import admin
from unfold.admin import ModelAdmin
from django_celery_beat.models import (
ClockedSchedule,
CrontabSchedule,
IntervalSchedule,
PeriodicTask,
SolarSchedule,
)
from django_celery_beat.admin import ClockedScheduleAdmin as BaseClockedScheduleAdmin
from django_celery_beat.admin import CrontabScheduleAdmin as BaseCrontabScheduleAdmin
from django_celery_beat.admin import PeriodicTaskAdmin as BasePeriodicTaskAdmin
from django_celery_beat.admin import PeriodicTaskForm, TaskSelectWidget
admin.site.unregister(PeriodicTask)
admin.site.unregister(IntervalSchedule)
admin.site.unregister(CrontabSchedule)
admin.site.unregister(SolarSchedule)
admin.site.unregister(ClockedSchedule)
class UnfoldTaskSelectWidget(UnfoldAdminSelectWidget, TaskSelectWidget):
pass
class UnfoldPeriodicTaskForm(PeriodicTaskForm):
def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
super().__init__(*args, **kwargs)
self.fields["task"].widget = UnfoldAdminTextInputWidget()
self.fields["regtask"].widget = UnfoldTaskSelectWidget()
@admin.register(PeriodicTask)
class PeriodicTaskAdmin(BasePeriodicTaskAdmin, ModelAdmin):
form = UnfoldPeriodicTaskForm
@admin.register(IntervalSchedule)
class IntervalScheduleAdmin(ModelAdmin):
pass
@admin.register(CrontabSchedule)
class CrontabScheduleAdmin(BaseCrontabScheduleAdmin, ModelAdmin):
pass
@admin.register(SolarSchedule)
class SolarScheduleAdmin(ModelAdmin):
pass
@admin.register(ClockedSchedule)
class ClockedScheduleAdmin(BaseClockedScheduleAdmin, ModelAdmin):
passAdding support for django-guardian is quote straightforward in Unfold, just add unfold.contrib.guardian to INSTALLED_APPS at the beggining of the file. This action will override all templates coming from the django-guardian. Please note that Object permissions link is available in top right dropdown navigation.
- Add
unfold.contrib.import_exporttoINSTALLED_APPSat the beggining of the file. This action will override all templates coming from the application. - Change
import_form_classandexport_form_classin ModelAdmin which is inheriting fromImportExportModelAdmin. This chunk of code is responsible for adding proper styling to form elements.
# admin.py
from unfold.admin import ModelAdmin
from import_export.admin import ImportExportModelAdmin
from unfold.contrib.import_export.forms import ExportForm, ImportForm, SelectableFieldsExportForm
class ExampleAdmin(ModelAdmin, ImportExportModelAdmin):
import_form_class = ImportForm
export_form_class = ExportForm
# export_form_class = SelectableFieldsExportFormWhen implementing import_export.admin.ExportActionModelAdmin class in admin panel, import_export plugin adds its own implementation of action form which is not incorporating Unfold CSS classes. For this reason, unfold.contrib.import_export.admin contains class with the same name ExportActionModelAdmin which inherits behavior of parent form and adds appropriate CSS classes.
Note: This class has been removed and in new version (4.x) of django-import-export it is not needed.
admin.py
from unfold.admin import ModelAdmin
from unfold.contrib.import_export.admin import ExportActionModelAdmin
class ExampleAdmin(ModelAdmin, ExportActionModelAdmin):
passBy default, Unfold supports django-modeltranslation and TabbedTranslationAdmin admin class for the tabbed navigation is implemented with custom styling as well.
from django.contrib import admin
from modeltranslation.admin import TabbedTranslationAdmin
from unfold.admin import ModelAdmin
from .models import MyModel
@admin.register(MyModel)
class MyModelAdmin(ModelAdmin, TabbedTranslationAdmin):
passFor django-modeltranslation fields for spefic languages, it is possible to define custom flags which will appear as a suffix in field's label. It is recommended to use emojis as suffix.
# settings.py
UNFOLD = {
"EXTENSIONS": {
"modeltranslation": {
"flags": {
"en": "🇬🇧",
"fr": "🇫🇷",
"nl": "🇧🇪",
},
},
},
}This application is supported in Unfold by default. It is not needed to add any other applications into INSTALLED_APPS. Unfold is recognizing special form widget coming from django-money and applying specific styling.
To make this application work, add unfold.contrib.simple_history into settings.py in INSTALLED_APPS variable before right after unfold. This app should ensure that templates coming from django-simple-history are overriden by Unfold.
User's admin in Django is specific as it contains several forms which are requiring custom styling. All of these forms has been inherited and accordingly adjusted. In user admin class it is needed to use these inherited form classes to enable custom styling matching rest of the website.
# models.py
from django.contrib.admin import register
from django.contrib.auth.models import User
from django.contrib.auth.admin import UserAdmin as BaseUserAdmin
from unfold.admin import ModelAdmin
from unfold.forms import AdminPasswordChangeForm, UserChangeForm, UserCreationForm
@register(User)
class UserAdmin(BaseUserAdmin, ModelAdmin):
form = UserChangeForm
add_form = UserCreationForm
change_password_form = AdminPasswordChangeFormTo add new custom styles, for example for custom dashboard, it is possible to load them via STYLES key in UNFOLD dict. This key accepts a list of strings or lambda functions which will be loaded on all pages. JavaScript files can be loaded by using similar apprach, but SCRIPTS is used.
# settings.py
from django.templatetags.static import static
UNFOLD = {
"STYLES": [
lambda request: static("css/style.css"),
],
"SCRIPTS": [
lambda request: static("js/script.js"),
],
}When creating custom dashboard or adding custom components, it is needed to add own styles. Adding custom styles is described above. Most of the time, it is supposed that new elements are going to match with the rest of the administration panel. First of all, create tailwind.config.js in your application. Below is located minimal configuration for this file.
// tailwind.config.js
module.exports = {
content: ["./your_project/**/*.{html,py,js}"],
// In case custom colors are defined in UNFOLD["COLORS"]
colors: {
primary: {
50: "rgb(var(--color-primary-50) / <alpha-value>)",
100: "rgb(var(--color-primary-100) / <alpha-value>)",
200: "rgb(var(--color-primary-200) / <alpha-value>)",
300: "rgb(var(--color-primary-300) / <alpha-value>)",
400: "rgb(var(--color-primary-400) / <alpha-value>)",
500: "rgb(var(--color-primary-500) / <alpha-value>)",
600: "rgb(var(--color-primary-600) / <alpha-value>)",
700: "rgb(var(--color-primary-700) / <alpha-value>)",
800: "rgb(var(--color-primary-800) / <alpha-value>)",
900: "rgb(var(--color-primary-900) / <alpha-value>)",
950: "rgb(var(--color-primary-950) / <alpha-value>)",
},
},
};Once the configuration file is set, it is possible to compile new styles which can be loaded into admin by using STYLES key in UNFOLD dict.
npx tailwindcss -o your_project/static/css/styles.css --watch --minifyCreate templates/admin/index.html in your project and paste the base template below into it. By default, all your custom styles here are not compiled because CSS classes are located in your specific project. Here it is needed to set up the Tailwind for your project and all requried instructions are located in Project Level Tailwind Stylesheet chapter.
{% extends 'unfold/layouts/base_simple.html' %}
{% load cache humanize i18n %}
{% block breadcrumbs %}{% endblock %}
{% block title %}
{% if subtitle %}
{{ subtitle }} |
{% endif %}
{{ title }} | {{ site_title|default:_('Django site admin') }}
{% endblock %}
{% block branding %}
<h1 id="site-name">
<a href="{% url 'admin:index' %}">
{{ site_header|default:_('Django administration') }}
</a>
</h1>
{% endblock %}
{% block content %}
Start creating your own Tailwind components here
{% endblock %}When you are building a new dashboard, you need to display some data mostly coming from the database. To pass these data to the dashboard template, Unfold contains a special DASHBOARD_CALLBACK parameter which allows passing a dictionary of variables to templates/admin/index.html template.
# views.py
def dashboard_callback(request, context):
context.update({
"custom_variable": "value",
})
return context# settings.py
UNFOLD = {
"DASHBOARD_CALLBACK": "app.views.dashboard_callback",
}Unfold provides a set of already predefined templates to speed up overall dashboard development. These templates contain predefined design which matches global design style so there is no need to spend any time adjusting styles.
The biggest benefit of Unfold components is the possibility to nest them inside one template file provides an unlimited amount of possible combinations. Then each component includes children variable which contains a value specified in the parent component. Except for children variable, components can have multiple variables coming from the parent template as component variables. These parameters can be specified in the same as parameters when using {% include with param1=value1 param2=value2 %} template tag.
{% component "unfold/components/flex.html" with col=1 %}
{% component "unfold/components/card.html" %}
{% component "unfold/components/title.html" %}
Card Title
{% endcomponent %}
{% endcomponent %}
{% endcomponent %}Below you can find a more complex example which is using multiple components and processing them based on the passed variables from the DASHBOARD_CALLBACK.
{% load i18n %}
{% block content %}
{% component "unfold/components/container.html" %}
{% component "unfold/components/flex.html" with class="gap-4"%}
{% component "unfold/components/navigation.html" with items=navigation %}
{% endcomponent %}
{% component "unfold/components/navigation.html" with class="ml-auto" items=filters %}
{% endcomponent %}
{% endcomponent %}
{% component "unfold/components/flex.html" with class="gap-8 mb-8 flex-col lg:flex-row" %}
{% for card in cards %}
{% trans "Last 7 days" as label %}
{% component "unfold/components/card.html" with class="lg:w-1/3" %}
{% component "unfold/components/text.html" %}
{{ card.title }}
{% endcomponent %}
{% component "unfold/components/title.html" %}
{{ card.metric }}
{% endcomponent %}
{% endcomponent %}
{% endfor %}
{% endcomponent %}
{% endcomponent %}
{% endblock %}| Component | Description | Arguments |
|---|---|---|
| unfold/components/chart/bar.html | Bar chart implementation | class, data, height, width |
| unfold/components/chart/line.html | Line chart implementation | class, data, height, width |
| unfold/components/card.html | Card component | class, title, footer, label |
| unfold/components/container.html | Wrapper for settings max width | class |
| unfold/components/flex.html | Flex items | class, col |
| unfold/components/navigation.html | List of navigation links | class, items |
| unfold/components/progress.html | Percentual progress bar | class, value, title, description |
| unfold/components/separator.html | Separator, horizontal rule | class |
| unfold/components/text.html | Paragraph of text | class |
| unfold/components/title.html | Basic heading element | class |
Before adding any source code, it is recommended to have pre-commit installed on your local computer to check for all potential issues when comitting the code.
pip install pre-commit
pre-commit install
pre-commit install --hook-type commit-msg
pre-commit run --all-files # Check if everything is okayTo add a new feature or fix the easiest approach is to use django-unfold in combination with Poetry. The process looks like:
- Install django-unfold via
poetry add django-unfold - After that it is needed to git clone the repository somewhere on local computer.
- Edit pyproject.toml and update django-unfold line
django-unfold = { path = "../django-unfold", develop = true} - Lock and update via
poetry lock && poetry update
At the moment project contains package.json with all dependencies required to compile new CSS file. Tailwind configuration file is set to check all html, js and py files for Tailwind's classeses occurrences.
npm install
npx tailwindcss -i src/unfold/styles.css -o src/unfold/static/unfold/css/styles.css --watch --minify
npm run tailwind:watch # run after each change in code
npm run tailwind:build # run onceSome components like datepickers, calendars or selectors in admin was not possible to style by overriding html templates so their default styles are overriden in styles.css.
Note: most of the custom styles located in style.css are created via @apply some-tailwind-class; as is not possible to manually add CSS class to element which are for example created via jQuery.
Unfold already contains prepared support for VS Code development. After cloning the project locally, open the main folder in VS Code (in terminal code .). Immediately, you would see a message from VS Code Folder contains a Dev Container configuration file. Reopen folder to develop in a container which will inform you that the support for containers is prepared. Confirm the message by clicking on Reopen in Container. If the message is not there, you can still manually open the project in a container by running the command Dev Containers: Reopen in Container.
Now the VS Code will build an image and install Python dependencies. After successful installation is completed, VS Code will spin a container and from now it is possible to directly develop in the container. Unfold contains an example development application with the basic Unfold configuration available under tests/server. Run python manage.py runserver within a tests/server folder to start a development Django server. Note that you have to run the command from VS Code terminal which is already connected to the running container.
Note: this is not a production ready server. Use it just for running tests or developing features & fixes.
The container has already a node preinstalled so it is possible to compile a new CSS. Open the terminal and run npm install which will install all dependencies and will create node_modules folder. Now, you can run npm commands for Tailwind as described in the previous chapter.
- django-nonrelated-inlines - Django admin inlines for unrelated models
- TailwindCSS - CSS framework
- HTMX - AJAX communication with backend
- Material Icons - Icons from Google Fonts
- Trix - WYSIWYG editor
- Alpine.js - JavaScript interactions