Using Django models with an already created DB table

Question

I have a DB (lets call it data_db) containing some tables. I want to create a dashboard to present data from data_db, so I created a Django project for that purpose.

When I want to get data from one of the tables in data_db, is there a way to do it with Models? (I want Django security management with the DB) or do I have to use raw SQL?

One note: there is existing data in the data_db's table, and I don't want to create a new table with the same exact data on the default Django DB. I also use 2 DBs, Django default's and data_db and I created a database router for data_db to prevent Django from creating all its tables in there.

Thanks.

willeM_ Van Onsem · Accepted Answer · 2021-03-03 18:13:11Z

3

Yes. In fact Django can even help you create the models. Models that you do not migrate with the help of Django are unmanaged models. These have a managed = False attribute in the Meta class, so something like:

class MyModel(models.Model):
    # … fields …
    
    class Meta:
        managed = False

If you thus write these unmanaged models, you can make queries with the Django ORM, without Django trying to create new models for these tables.

Of course, specifying models that match with the database is cumbersome. Therefore Django can often construct models based on the tables. You can generate the models with the inspectdb command [Django-doc].

You can generate these models on the stdout with:

python3 manage.py inspectdb

or you can save these to a file through I/O redirection:

python3 manage.py inspectdb > app_name/models.py

answered Mar 3, 2021 at 18:13

willeM_ Van Onsem

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