Automatically Setting User Fields in Django Admin

To automatically set the created_by and updated_by fields to the current logged-in user in the Django admin, you need to override the save_model() method in your ModelAdmin class. The current approach in your model's save() method won't work because it doesn't have access to the request object that contains the user information.

Here's how to implement this correctly:

Update your admin.py

PYTHONCopied
from django.contrib import admin
from .models import Member

class MembersAdmin(admin.ModelAdmin):
    list_display = ("firstname", "lastname", "joined_date", "created_by", "updated_by")
    prepopulated_fields = {"slug": ("firstname", "lastname")}
    
    def save_model(self, request, obj, form, change):
        if not change:  # If creating a new object
            obj.created_by = request.user
        obj.updated_by = request.user  # Always set updated_by to current user
        super().save_model(request, obj, form, change)

admin.site.register(Member, MembersAdmin)

Update your models.py

You can simplify your model's save method since the user handling will be done in the admin:

PYTHONCopied
from django.db import models
from django.contrib.auth.models import User

class Member(models.Model):
    firstname = models.CharField(max_length=50)
    lastname = models.CharField(max_length=50)
    phone = models.IntegerField(null=True)
    joined_date = models.DateField(null=True)
    slug = models.SlugField(default="", null=False)
    created_dt = models.DateField(auto_now_add=True, null=True)
    last_modified_dt = models.DateField(auto_now=True, null=True)
    
    created_by = models.ForeignKey(User, on_delete=models.CASCADE, null=True, blank=True, related_name='created_by')
    updated_by = models.ForeignKey(User, on_delete=models.CASCADE, null=True, blank=True, related_name='updated_by')

    def __str__(self) -> str:
        return f"{self.firstname} {self.lastname}"

Explanation

1. The save_model() method in ModelAdmin is called when saving an object through the admin interface.
2. The request parameter contains the current HTTP request, which includes the logged-in user.
3. The change parameter is True if editing an existing object, and False if creating a new one.
4. We set created_by only when creating a new object, and always update updated_by.

This approach ensures that:

• When a new record is created, both created_by and updated_by are set to the current user
• When an existing record is updated, only updated_by is changed to the current user

If you need to implement this behavior outside the admin interface (e.g., in your views), you would need to use a similar approach in your view's form handling.