Getting Started

This guide will walk you through the process of setting up Django Faker Admin for your project in three steps:

1. Creating a database model

2. Creating a model factory

3. Setting up the admin interface

Prerequisites

• Django 5.2 or higher

• Python 3.12 or higher

• Installed packages: * django-faker-admin * factory_boy

Create Database Model

First, define your Django model in your app’s models.py file:

# myapp/models.py
from django.db import models

class Customer(models.Model):
    MEMBERSHIP_CHOICES = (
        ('bronze', 'Bronze'),
        ('silver', 'Silver'),
        ('gold', 'Gold'),
        ('platinum', 'Platinum'),
    )

    first_name = models.CharField(max_length=100)
    last_name = models.CharField(max_length=100)
    email = models.EmailField(unique=True)
    phone_number = models.CharField(max_length=20, blank=True)
    birth_date = models.DateField(null=True, blank=True)
    membership = models.CharField(
        max_length=10,
        choices=MEMBERSHIP_CHOICES,
        default='bronze'
    )
    is_active = models.BooleanField(default=True)
    created_at = models.DateTimeField(auto_now_add=True)
    updated_at = models.DateTimeField(auto_now=True)

    def __str__(self):
        return f"{self.first_name} {self.last_name}"

    class Meta:
        ordering = ['last_name', 'first_name']

After defining your model, create and apply migrations:

python manage.py makemigrations
python manage.py migrate

Create a Model Factory

Next, create a factory for your model using factory_boy. This factory will be used by Django Faker Admin to generate fake data:

# myapp/factories.py
import factory
import factory.fuzzy
from datetime import datetime, timedelta
from .models import Customer

class CustomerFactory(factory.django.DjangoModelFactory):
    first_name = factory.Faker('first_name')
    last_name = factory.Faker('last_name')
    email = factory.LazyAttribute(
        lambda obj: f"{obj.first_name.lower()}.{obj.last_name.lower()}@example.com"
    )
    phone_number = factory.Faker('phone_number')
    birth_date = factory.Faker(
        'date_between',
        start_date='-70y',
        end_date='-18y'
    )
    membership = factory.fuzzy.FuzzyChoice(
        [choice[0] for choice in Customer.MEMBERSHIP_CHOICES]
    )
    is_active = factory.Faker('boolean', chance_of_getting_true=80)
    created_at = factory.LazyFunction(datetime.now)

    class Meta:
        model = Customer

Set up the Admin Interface

Finally, register your model with the Django admin and incorporate the Django Faker Admin mixin:

# myapp/admin.py
from django.contrib import admin
from django_faker_admin.mixins import FakerAdminMixin
from .models import Customer
from .factories import CustomerFactory

@admin.register(Customer)
class CustomerAdmin(FakerAdminMixin, admin.ModelAdmin):
    list_display = ('first_name', 'last_name', 'email', 'membership', 'is_active', 'created_at')
    list_filter = ('membership', 'is_active', 'created_at')
    search_fields = ('first_name', 'last_name', 'email')
    date_hierarchy = 'created_at'

    # Configure the factory to use for generating fake data
    factory_class = CustomerFactory

Make sure Django Faker Admin is included in your INSTALLED_APPS:

# settings.py
INSTALLED_APPS = [
    'django.contrib.admin',
    # ... other Django apps
    'django_faker_admin',
    # ... your apps
]

Using the Admin Interface

Once you’ve completed these steps:

1. Start your development server:

   python manage.py runserver
   

2. Navigate to your admin site (typically http://127.0.0.1:8000/admin/)

3. Log in with your admin credentials

4. Go to the Customer admin page

5. You’ll see additional options provided by Django Faker Admin:

   • A “Populate Dummy Data” button in the change list view

   • Options to specify how many fake objects to create

   • Configuration for specific field values

6. Click “Generate” to create fake customer records based on your factory configuration