[Django]-Adding custom fields to users in Django

The recommended way is to create a new model and give it a OneToOneField() with the built-in User model like so:

class Student(models.Model):
    user = models.OneToOneField(User)
    college = models.CharField(max_length=30)
    major = models.CharField(max_length=30)

etc.

Then you can access the fields like this:

user = User.objects.get(username='jsmith')
college = user.student.college

I know It’s too late and Django has changed a lot since then, but just for seekers,

According to Django documentation if you’re happy with User model and just want to add some extra fields, do these:

1- Your models.py should be like this:

from django.contrib.auth.models import AbstractUser
class CustomUser(AbstractUser):
    mobile = models.CharField(max_length=16)
    # if your additional field is a required field, just add it, don't forget to add 'email' field too.
    # REQUIRED_FIELDS = ['mobile', 'email']

2- add this to the setting.py

AUTH_USER_MODEL = 'myapp.CustomUser'

done!

Now you can run python manage.py syncdb

I am not aware of a step by step(though I am sure a solid google would produce something). But here is a quick go at it.

1) Create a UserProfile model to hold the extra information and put it in your models.py. It could look something like this:

class UserProfile(models.Model):
    #required by the auth model
    user = models.ForeignKey(User, unique=True)
    middle_name = models.CharField(max_length=30, null=True, blank=True)

2) Tell your settings.py about the new class by adding this line (with the appropriate name):

AUTH_PROFILE_MODULE = "myapp.UserProfile"

3) Add a signal listener to create a blank UserProfile record when a new user is added. You can find a great snippet with directions here.

4) When processing the new user record you can populate the UserProfile record as well. Here is how I do the insert (notice the get_profile):

if (form.is_valid()):
    cd = form.cleaned_data
    user = User.objects.create_user(cd["UserName"], cd["Email"], cd["Password"])
    user.first_name = cd["FirstName"]
    user.last_name = cd["LastName"]
    user.save()
    #Save userinfo record
    uinfo = user.get_profile()
    uinfo.middle_name = cd["MiddleName"]
    uinfo.save()

That is all there is to it. This is not comprehensive, but should point you in the right direction.

Update: Please note that AUTH_PROFILE_MODULE is deprecated since v1.5: https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/stable/releases/1.5/#auth-profile-module

I arrived almost in 2023. Django at this moment is on 4.1.4…

If you want to extend User model without replacing it, following the django docs you can:

1. Create proxy model based on User model if your changes are purely behavioral, and don’t require change data.
2. Use OneToOneField in a new model. This way you can add more fields to the existing User model:

from django.contrib.auth.models import User

class Employee(models.Model):
    user = models.OneToOneField(User, on_delete=models.CASCADE)
    department = models.CharField(max_length=100)

This way you can query new fields from User model:

>>> u = User.objects.get(username='fsmith')
>>> freds_department = u.employee.department

If you want to tweak user’s data in admin profile you can edit your admin.py this way:

from django.contrib import admin
from django.contrib.auth.admin import UserAdmin as BaseUserAdmin
from django.contrib.auth.models import User

from my_user_profile_app.models import Employee

# Define an inline admin descriptor for Employee model
# which acts a bit like a singleton
class EmployeeInline(admin.StackedInline):
    model = Employee
    can_delete = False
    verbose_name_plural = 'employee'

# Define a new User admin
class UserAdmin(BaseUserAdmin):
    inlines = (EmployeeInline,)

# Re-register UserAdmin
admin.site.unregister(User)
admin.site.register(User, UserAdmin)

It’s just another model. You manipulate it exactly the same way you manipulate every other model you come across.