You’ve customized your Django Admin, but it has a hidden power: “Actions.” An action is a function you can run on all selected items in the admin list.
Let’s build the most useful action: “Export selected items to CSV“. Django Admin Actions make this type of bulk export possible out of the box.
Step 1: The Action Function
An action is just a Python function that takes 3 arguments: (modeladmin, request, queryset). We’ll write one for our Post model.
pages/admin.py
import csv
from django.http import HttpResponse
def export_as_csv(modeladmin, request, queryset):
"""A custom action to export selected Posts to a CSV."""
# 1. Set up the HttpResponse
response = HttpResponse(content_type='text/csv')
response['Content-Disposition'] = 'attachment; filename="posts.csv"'
# 2. Create a CSV writer
writer = csv.writer(response)
# 3. Write the header row
writer.writerow(['Title', 'Author', 'Text'])
# 4. Write the data rows
for post in queryset:
writer.writerow([post.title, post.author.username, post.text])
return response
# Give it a "nice name" for the admin dropdown
export_as_csv.short_description = "Export Selected Posts to CSV"Step 2: Register the Action
Now, just add this function to your ModelAdmin‘s actions list.
pages/admin.py
from django.contrib import admin
from .models import Post
class PostAdmin(admin.ModelAdmin):
list_display = ('title', 'author')
# ... other settings ...
# 4. Add the 'actions' list
actions = [export_as_csv] # <-- Add your function here
admin.site.register(Post, PostAdmin)Step 3: Run It!
Go to your Post list in the admin. You will now see an “Action” dropdown menu.
- Check the boxes for 3-4 posts.
- Select “Export Selected Posts to CSV” from the dropdown.
- Click “Go”.
Your browser will instantly download a posts.csv file with the exact data you selected!
Key Takeaways
- Django Admin allows custom actions, enabling functions on selected items in the admin list.
- You can create an action to ‘Export selected items to CSV’ for your Post model.
- First, define the action function in your pages/admin.py file with appropriate arguments.
- Next, register the action in your ModelAdmin’s actions list to make it available.
- Finally, use the dropdown menu in the Post list to export selected posts as a CSV file.
