django/docs/releases/1.7.txt

============================================
Django 1.7 release notes - UNDER DEVELOPMENT
============================================

Welcome to Django 1.7!

These release notes cover the `new features`_, as well as some `backwards
incompatible changes`_ you'll want to be aware of when upgrading from Django
1.6 or older versions. We've also dropped some features, which are detailed in
:doc:`our deprecation plan </internals/deprecation>`, and we've `begun the
deprecation process for some features`_.

.. _`new features`: `What's new in Django 1.7`_
.. _`backwards incompatible changes`: `Backwards incompatible changes in 1.7`_
.. _`begun the deprecation process for some features`: `Features deprecated in 1.7`_

Python compatibility
====================

Django 1.7 requires Python 2.7 or above, though we **highly recommend**
the latest minor release. Support for Python 2.6 has been dropped.

This change should affect only a small number of Django users, as most
operating-system vendors today are shipping Python 2.7 or newer as their default
version. If you're still using Python 2.6, however, you'll need to stick to
Django 1.6 until you can upgrade your Python version. Per :doc:`our support
policy </internals/release-process>`, Django 1.6 will continue to receive
security support until the release of Django 1.8.

What's new in Django 1.7
========================

Schema migrations
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Django now has built-in support for schema migrations, which allows models
to be updated, changed and deleted and the changes stored into migration files
and then run on any deployed database.

Migrations are covered in :doc:`their own documentation</topics/migrations>`,
but a few of the key features are:

* ``syncdb`` has been deprecated and replaced by ``migrate``. Don't worry - 
   calls to ``syncdb`` will still work as before.

* A new ``makemigrations`` command provides an easy way to autodetect changes
  to your models and make migrations for them.

* :data:`~django.db.models.signals.post_syncdb` and
  :data:`~django.db.models.signals.post_syncdb` have been renamed to
  :data:`~django.db.models.signals.pre_migrate` and
  :data:`~django.db.models.signals.post_migrate` respectively. The
  ``create_models``/``created_models`` argument has also been deprecated.

* The ``allow_syncdb`` method on database routers is now called ``allow_migrate``,
  but still performs the same function. Routers with ``allow_syncdb`` methods
  will still work, but that method name is deprecated and you should change
  it as soon as possible (nothing more than renaming is required).

New method on Field subclasses
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To help power both schema migrations and composite keys, the Field API now
has a new required method: ``deconstruct()``.

This method takes no arguments, and returns a tuple of four items:

* ``name``: The field's attribute name on its parent model, or None if it is not part of a model
* ``path``: A dotted, Python path to the class of this field, including the class name.
* ``args``: Positional arguments, as a list
* ``kwargs``: Keyword arguments, as a dict

These four values allow any field to be serialized into a file, as well as
allowing the field to be copied safely, both essential parts of these new features.

This change should not affect you unless you write custom Field subclasses;
if you do, you may need to reimplement the ``deconstruct()`` method if your
subclass changes the method signature of ``__init__`` in any way. If your
field just inherits from a built-in Django field and doesn't override ``__init__``,
no changes are necessary.

If you do need to override ``deconstruct()``, a good place to start is the
built-in Django fields (``django/db/models/fields/__init__.py``) as several
fields, including ``DecimalField`` and ``DateField``, override it and show how
to call the method on the superclass and simply add or remove extra arguments.

Calling custom ``QuerySet`` methods from the ``Manager``
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The :meth:`QuerySet.as_manager() <django.db.models.query.QuerySet.as_manager>`
class method has been added to :ref:`create Manager with QuerySet methods
<create-manager-with-queryset-methods>`.

Admin shortcuts support time zones
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The "today" and "now" shortcuts next to date and time input widgets in the
admin are now operating in the :ref:`current time zone
<default-current-time-zone>`. Previously, they used the browser time zone,
which could result in saving the wrong value when it didn't match the current
time zone on the server.

In addition, the widgets now display a help message when the browser and
server time zone are different, to clarify how the value inserted in the field
will be interpreted.

Minor features
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

* The new :attr:`UploadedFile.content_type_extra
  <django.core.files.uploadedfile.UploadedFile.content_type_extra>` attribute
  contains extra parameters passed to the ``content-type`` header on a file
  upload.

* The ``enter`` argument was added to the
  :data:`~django.test.signals.setting_changed` signal.

* The :meth:`QuerySet.update_or_create()
  <django.db.models.query.QuerySet.update_or_create>` method was added.

* :attr:`~django.db.models.Options.app_label` is no longer required for models
  that are defined in a ``models`` package within an app.

* The :meth:`Context.push() <django.template.Context.push>` method now returns
  a context manager which automatically calls :meth:`pop()
  <django.template.Context.pop>` upon exiting the ``with`` statement.
  Additionally, :meth:`push() <django.template.Context.push>` now accepts
  parameters that are passed to the ``dict`` constructor used to build the new
  context level.

* The :class:`~django.utils.feedgenerator.Atom1Feed` syndication feed's
  ``updated`` element now utilizes `updateddate` instead of ``pubdate``,
  allowing the ``published`` element to be included in the feed (which
  relies on ``pubdate``).

* Buttons in :mod:`django.contrib.admin` now use the ``border-radius`` CSS
  property for rounded corners rather than GIF background images.

* Some admin templates now have ``app-<app_name>`` and ``model-<model_name>``
  classes in their ``<body>`` tag to allow customizing the CSS per app or per
  model.

* The admin changelist cells now have a ``field-<field_name>`` class in the
  HTML to enable style customizations.

* :func:`~django.core.mail.send_mail` now accepts an ``html_message``
  parameter for sending a multipart ``text/plain`` and ``text/html`` email.

* The :djadminopt:`--no-color` option for ``django-admin.py`` allows you to
  disable the colorization of management command output.

* The :mod:`sitemap framework<django.contrib.sitemaps>` now makes use of
  :attr:`~django.contrib.sitemaps.Sitemap.lastmod` to set a ``Last-Modified``
  header in the response. This makes it possible for the
  :class:`~django.middleware.http.ConditionalGetMiddleware` to handle
  conditional ``GET`` requests for sitemaps which set ``lastmod``.

* You can override the new :meth:`AuthenticationForm.confirm_login_allowed()
  <django.contrib.auth.forms.AuthenticationForm.confirm_login_allowed>` method
  to more easily customize the login policy.

* :attr:`Field.choices<django.db.models.Field.choices>` now allows you to
  customize the "empty choice" label by including a tuple with an empty string
  or ``None`` for the key and the custom label as the value. The default blank
  option ``"----------"`` will be omitted in this case.

* The admin's search fields can now be customized per-request thanks to the new
  :meth:`django.contrib.admin.ModelAdmin.get_search_fields` method.

* The :meth:`ModelAdmin.get_fields()
  <django.contrib.admin.ModelAdmin.get_fields>` method may be overridden to
  customize the value of :attr:`ModelAdmin.fields
  <django.contrib.admin.ModelAdmin.fields>`.

* :func:`django.contrib.auth.views.password_reset` takes an optional
  ``html_email_template_name`` parameter used to send a multipart HTML email
  for password resets.

* :class:`~django.forms.MultiValueField` allows optional subfields by setting
  the ``require_all_fields`` argument to ``False``. The ``required`` attribute
  for each individual field will be respected, and a new ``incomplete``
  validation error will be raised when any required fields are empty.

* The :meth:`~django.forms.Form.clean` method on a form no longer needs to
  return ``self.cleaned_data``. If it does return a changed dictionary then
  that will still be used.

* The new :attr:`~django.db.models.Options.default_permissions` model
  ``Meta`` option allows you to customize (or disable) creation of the default
  add, change, and delete permissions.

Backwards incompatible changes in 1.7
=====================================

.. warning::

    In addition to the changes outlined in this section, be sure to review the
    :doc:`deprecation plan </internals/deprecation>` for any features that
    have been removed. If you haven't updated your code within the
    deprecation timeline for a given feature, its removal may appear as a
    backwards incompatible change.

allow_syncdb/allow_migrate
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

While Django will still look at ``allow_syncdb`` methods even though they
should be renamed to ``allow_migrate``, there is a subtle difference in which
models get passed to these methods.

For apps with migrations, ``allow_migrate`` will now get passed
:ref:`historical models <historical-models>`, which are special versioned models
without custom attributes, methods or managers. Make sure your ``allow_migrate``
methods are only referring to fields or other items in ``model._meta``.

Miscellaneous
~~~~~~~~~~~~~

* The :meth:`django.core.files.uploadhandler.FileUploadHandler.new_file()`
  method is now passed an additional ``content_type_extra`` parameter. If you
  have a custom :class:`~django.core.files.uploadhandler.FileUploadHandler`
  that implements ``new_file()``, be sure it accepts this new parameter.

* :class:`ModelFormSet<django.forms.models.BaseModelFormSet>`’s no longer
  delete instances when ``save(commit=False)`` is called. See
  :attr:`~django.forms.formsets.BaseFormSet.can_delete` for instructions on how
  to manually delete objects from deleted forms.

* Loading empty fixtures emits a ``RuntimeWarning`` rather than raising
  :class:`~django.core.management.CommandError`.

* :func:`django.contrib.staticfiles.views.serve` will now raise an
  :exc:`~django.http.Http404` exception instead of
  :exc:`~django.core.exceptions.ImproperlyConfigured` when :setting:`DEBUG`
  is ``False``. This change removes the need to conditionally add the view to
  your root URLconf, which in turn makes it safe to reverse by name. It also
  removes the ability for visitors to generate spurious HTTP 500 errors by
  requesting static files that don't exist or haven't been collected yet.

Features deprecated in 1.7
==========================

``django.utils.dictconfig``/``django.utils.importlib``
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

``django.utils.dictconfig`` and ``django.utils.importlib`` were copies of
respectively :mod:`logging.config` and :mod:`importlib` provided for Python
versions prior to 2.7. They have been deprecated.

``django.utils.unittest``
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

``django.utils.unittest`` provided uniform access to the ``unittest2`` library
on all Python versions. Since ``unittest2`` became the standard library's
:mod:`unittest` module in Python 2.7, and Django 1.7 drops support for older
Python versions, this module isn't useful anymore. It has been deprecated. Use
:mod:`unittest` instead.

``django.utils.datastructures.SortedDict``
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As :class:`~collections.OrderedDict` was added to the standard library in
Python 2.7, :class:`~django.utils.datastructures.SortedDict` is no longer
needed and has been deprecated.

Custom SQL location for models package
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Previously, if models were organized in a package (``myapp/models/``) rather
than simply ``myapp/models.py``, Django would look for :ref:`initial SQL data
<initial-sql>` in ``myapp/models/sql/``. This bug has been fixed so that Django
will search ``myapp/sql/`` as documented. The old location will continue to
work until Django 1.9.

``declared_fieldsets`` attribute on ``ModelAdmin.``
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

``ModelAdmin.declared_fieldsets`` was deprecated. Despite being a private API,
it will go through a regular deprecation path. This attribute was mostly used
by methods that bypassed ``ModelAdmin.get_fieldsets()`` but this was considered
a bug and has been addressed.