How to clean up bulky models.py files

Using Django
1

Hey, everyone! I have seen a lot of posts on Stack Overflow regrading bulky models.py files so I thought I could post my solution to the problem. The docs explain how to separate each model class into its own file if need be so I will not get into that. This post is centered around model methods and how they can quickly increase file size depending on their usage.

My solution: create an inheritance hierarchy.

  1. Create an abstract model to hold the model fields
    ex: class UserAbstract(models.Model):
    field_one…
    field_two…
    class Meta:
    abstract = True

  2. Create another abstract model to hold model methods that inherits from the model in #1. Method implementations can be placed in this file due to the model fields being defined in the UserAbstract class.
    ex: UserImpl(UserAbstract):
    method 1…
    method 2…
    class Meta:
    abstract = True

  3. Create the final model that inherits from the model in #2 and define your official meta class attributes.
    ex: class User(UserImpl):
    class Meta:
    …

Not everyone will need to use this implementation, but it serves as a great way to organize your code if your model files start to get really big. Let me know what you think!

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