Fixed #12090 -- Show admin actions on the edit pages too #16012

mgaligniana · 2022-08-30T02:55:59Z

Hi!

It fixes ticket 12090
Discussion thread: https://forum.djangoproject.com/t/admin-actions-also-in-the-object-details-view/22927/4
To run new tests please do: ./runtests.py admin_views.test_actions.AdminDetailActionsTest
When save_on_top is True looks like:

Tests added:
- test_available_detail_actions -> Actions form displayed (with singular description)
- test_available_list_actions -> Actions with plural description
- test_detail_actions_are_not_present_in_add_view -> Actions form is not displayed in "Add" view
- test_update_external_subscriber_without_select_an_action -> Select an action is not required
- test_external_subscriber_is_not_updated_when_select_an_action -> If I edit the object and then execute an action, the object is not changed/updated
- test_custom_function_action_streaming_response_change_view -> Happy path
- test_action_with_permissions -> Can't run action without permissions
- test_redirect_after_an_action -> Redirects to changelist view after ran an action
- ...

django/contrib/admin/templates/admin/includes/edit_actions.html

djm · 2022-09-05T12:59:44Z

Another point that is worth mentioning: Django Admin Inline Actions have the description attribute which can be used to give a more friendly human-readable name to the action.

e.g

@admin.action(description='Mark selected stories as published')
def make_published(modeladmin, request, queryset):
    queryset.update(status='p')

The problem this poses is that this attribute was always designed to be used as part of an action against multiple instances of a given model and thus over the years people (me..) would have used names written in the plural-form like "Regenerate contracts", or "Refresh indexes".

Therefore using those names in the context of the edit page would cause them to not make sense because it's a singular object being "actioned" rather than multiple. Others would have followed this naming pattern too, especially as the documentation example uses the wording "Mark selected stories as published" which would not work in singular form.

In an ideal world, inline actions would need two variables to do a good job of this - as Django does in many other places (verbose_name vs verbose_name_plural) etc. But this poses another problem in that the known-plural version is currently called description so it's not as simple as adding a new description_plural parameter.

felixxm · 2023-06-21T07:59:02Z

@mgaligniana Do you have time to keep working on this?

mgaligniana · 2023-06-21T11:09:42Z

@felixxm Yes! This week I'm going to add some progress! 🙏 Sorry, I've been busy these months.

django/contrib/admin/options.py

mgaligniana · 2023-07-09T17:27:51Z

Another point that is worth mentioning: Django Admin Inline Actions have the description attribute which can be used to give a more friendly human-readable name to the action.

e.g
@admin.action(description='Mark selected stories as published')
def make_published(modeladmin, request, queryset):
    queryset.update(status='p')
The problem this poses is that this attribute was always designed to be used as part of an action against multiple instances of a given model and thus over the years people (me..) would have used names written in the plural-form like "Regenerate contracts", or "Refresh indexes".

Therefore using those names in the context of the edit page would cause them to not make sense because it's a singular object being "actioned" rather than multiple. Others would have followed this naming pattern too, especially as the documentation example uses the wording "Mark selected stories as published" which would not work in singular form.

In an ideal world, inline actions would need two variables to do a good job of this - as Django does in many other places (verbose_name vs verbose_name_plural) etc. But this poses another problem in that the known-plural version is currently called description so it's not as simple as adding a new description_plural parameter.

Has been passed almost 1 year! Sorry djm, but finally I've returned to work on this! 🙏

~~As I defined other different variable for detail view actions: detail_actions. The description could be written in singular way! That solve the problem?~~

nessita

Added some initial thoughts.

django/contrib/admin/options.py

tests/admin_views/admin.py

mgaligniana · 2025-05-05T19:08:52Z

I've applied all the comments! + added couple of tests (I updated the PR description with more details)

Let me know any test or change to add! 💪 I will not disappear again and I will try to finish it!

mgaligniana · 2025-05-13T13:55:33Z

🎗️ I've noticed we tagged as selenium but I haven't added tests for that. If it is required, what test could I add?

knyghty · 2025-05-20T09:42:27Z

@mgaligniana the label is just so the selenium tests run. With that in mind I've also added the screenshots label.

I'm not sure if a selenium test is needed or not. I guess it would be nice to write a test that selects an action and runs it, though I'm not sure if it's just duplicating the tests that are already written.

I will try to do an accessibility review today as I'm interested in this getting landed :)

sarahboyce · 2025-05-20T09:48:50Z

Exactly ☝️ as this changes admin code, we want all admin tests to run and a number of these are selenium tests

knyghty

I had a quick scan of the code but not too deep. I left some comments.

From an accessibility point of view I see no issues here because we're just re-using what already exists.

knyghty · 2025-05-20T09:46:54Z

django/contrib/admin/options.py

-        ordering.  Otherwise don't specify the queryset, let the field decide
+        ordering. Otherwise don't specify the queryset, let the field decide


I think we usually try to avoid unrelated cleanup in PRs but I'll let the fellows be the judge, I don't really know.

knyghty · 2025-05-20T09:47:55Z

django/contrib/admin/options.py

+            selected_action = request.POST.get("action", "")
+            if actions and selected_action:


I wonder if we could use walrus operator here?

As it's used only for the condition I think is better don't declare a variable and use it directly in the if. Thank you!

Yes, brain fog, just confused that I saw it twice.

knyghty · 2025-05-20T09:50:23Z

docs/ref/contrib/admin/actions.txt

+    The actions will be available also in the detail view but the description should be
+    adjusted to make sense we are talking about only one object::


Reads better like this to my native English brain:

"The actions will also be available in the detail view but the description should be adjusted to show we are only talking about a single object."

knyghty · 2025-05-20T09:50:30Z

docs/ref/contrib/admin/actions.txt

+        def make_published(modeladmin, request, queryset):
+            pass
+
+    It will looks like this:


Suggested change

It will looks like this:

It will look like this:

sarahboyce

Thank you for the updates @mgaligniana
We need a release note in 6.0 and I have a question about the API design 😁 but I think we're close

sarahboyce · 2025-07-24T08:45:42Z

docs/ref/contrib/admin/actions.txt

+description to show we are only talking about a single object::
+
+    @admin.action(
+        description="Mark selected story as published",


Suggested change

description="Mark selected story as published",

description="Mark story as published",

This would need an update to the image
I also think the image dropdown format is inconsistent with other dropdowns on the page (maybe a different operating system or browser) @nessita might be able to help here

sarahboyce · 2025-07-24T08:57:08Z

django/contrib/admin/actions.py

@@ -14,7 +14,8 @@

 @action(
    permissions=["delete"],
-    description=gettext_lazy("Delete selected %(verbose_name_plural)s"),
+    description=gettext_lazy("Delete"),


Suggested change

description=gettext_lazy("Delete"),

description=gettext_lazy("Delete %(verbose_name)s"),

sarahboyce · 2025-07-24T09:07:51Z

django/contrib/admin/options.py

+                # If action was executed from change view, redirect to
+                # list view once finished.
+                is_change_view = request.resolver_match.url_name.endswith("change")
+                return HttpResponseRedirect(
+                    reverse(
+                        "admin:%s_%s_changelist"
+                        % (self.opts.app_label, self.opts.model_name)
+                    )
+                    if is_change_view
+                    else request.get_full_path()
+                )


So I understand this is a nicer flow for the delete action which is provided by default, however I wonder if this is nicer for the other custom actions 🤔
The delete action on the single view is not that useful (as we already have a delete button when you have a delete permission) so I would question if we even should list it

Do you think we should have a boolean like changelist_only that can be set on the action? Perhaps defaults to True so folks need to opt in to the feature and actions like the delete case might not want to be on a singular level?

So I understand this is a nicer flow for the delete action which is provided by default, however I wonder if this is nicer for the other custom actions 🤔

Makes sense. In the last commit I've deleted the logic I had added redirecting to the list view + I've added a success message.

The delete action on the single view is not that useful (as we already have a delete button when you have a delete permission) so I would question if we even should list it
Do you think we should have a boolean like changelist_only that can be set on the action? Perhaps defaults to True so folks need to opt in to the feature and actions like the delete case might not want to be on a singular level?

Brilliant! I've added that changelist_only option. I did it in a new commit so you can check easily the new changes + new test

mgaligniana · 2025-07-24T12:58:16Z

I always forget the release notes! Arggh! 😆

Thank you Sarah! I'll read and apply the comments during this week, thank you!

mgaligniana · 2025-07-26T16:23:24Z

django/contrib/admin/decorators.py

+    permissions=None,
+    description=None,
+    description_plural=None,
+    changelist_only=True,


🎗️ I've added some documentation for this new parameter. But I would need help!

I know changelist_only was my suggestion, but I'm wondering if show_on_change_form would be a better name with a default of False. I think it's nicer to enable something than disable something

mgaligniana · 2025-07-26T16:26:33Z

django/contrib/admin/options.py

@@ -1648,23 +1652,16 @@ def response_action(self, request, queryset):

            response = func(self, request, queryset)

+            self.message_user(request, "Action executed successfully", messages.SUCCESS)


🎗️ For sure it could be better message or more detailed. I'll wait for comments!

I think I would be tempted to remove and allow folks to write their own message in their custom actions

edvm · 2025-07-30T16:37:38Z

This is so cool, thanks for working on this @mgaligniana , I've been waiting for this feature idk... since 2023? one more time, thank you!!! 🙌 🙌 🙌

sarahboyce

We also need a release note
I made a suggestion to update changelist_only to show_on_change_form, we might want to get other peoples opinions on a range of names

Possible release notes in 6.0 admin section could be:

* The new ``show_on_change_form`` argument of
  :func:`~django.contrib.admin.action` allows the action to be available on the
  admin change form view. Defaults to ```False``.

* The new ``description_plural`` argument of
  :func:`~django.contrib.admin.action` specifies a human-readable description
  for actions applied to multiple objects on the admin changelist. Defaults to
  the ``description`` value. This is useful when ``show_on_change_form`` is
  set to ``True``, where ``description`` is then used for a single object on
  the change form.

sarahboyce · 2025-07-31T07:45:42Z

django/contrib/admin/decorators.py

-            description='Mark selected stories as published',
+            description='Mark story as published',
+            description_plural='Mark selected stories as published',


Now that we have changelist_only, we either should add this to the example here or revert the current changes to the docstring as having description and description_plural together only makes sense when changelist_only=False

I think we can revert the changes to the docstring as it is just showing that two things are equivalent and I think this is sufficiently demonstrated in the existing example

sarahboyce · 2025-07-31T07:47:28Z

django/contrib/admin/options.py

@@ -1648,23 +1652,16 @@ def response_action(self, request, queryset):

            response = func(self, request, queryset)

+            self.message_user(request, "Action executed successfully", messages.SUCCESS)


I think I would be tempted to remove and allow folks to write their own message in their custom actions

sarahboyce · 2025-07-31T08:56:23Z

django/contrib/admin/decorators.py

+    permissions=None,
+    description=None,
+    description_plural=None,
+    changelist_only=True,


I know changelist_only was my suggestion, but I'm wondering if show_on_change_form would be a better name with a default of False. I think it's nicer to enable something than disable something

sarahboyce · 2025-07-31T08:57:26Z

docs/ref/contrib/admin/actions.txt

+Actions are also available in the admin object detail page. We can adjust the
+description to show we are only talking about a single object::
+
+    @admin.action(
+        description="Mark story as published",
+        description_plural="Mark selected stories as published",
+    )
+    def make_published(modeladmin, request, queryset):
+        pass
+
+This will give us an admin object detail page that looks like this:
+
+.. image:: _images/adding-actions-to-the-modeladmin-detail-view.png
+
+.. versionchanged:: 6.0
+
+    Actions were added to the admin object detail page by setting ``changelist_only`` to False.


(note I am running with the show_on_change_form suggestion)

Suggested change

Actions are also available in the admin object detail page. We can adjust the

description to show we are only talking about a single object::

@admin.action(

description="Mark story as published",

description_plural="Mark selected stories as published",

)

def make_published(modeladmin, request, queryset):

pass

This will give us an admin object detail page that looks like this:

.. image:: _images/adding-actions-to-the-modeladmin-detail-view.png

.. versionchanged:: 6.0

Actions were added to the admin object detail page by setting ``changelist_only`` to False.

We can also make an action available in the admin change form by setting

`show_on_change_form=True``. We should adjust the descriptions for the single

object and multiple object cases::

@admin.action(

description="Mark story as published",

description_plural="Mark selected stories as published",

show_on_change_form=True,

)

def make_published(modeladmin, request, queryset):

pass

This will give us an admin change form page that looks like this:

.. image:: _images/adding-actions-to-the-modeladmin-detail-view.png

.. versionchanged:: 6.0

The ``show_on_change_form`` and ``description_plural`` arguments of

:func:`~django.contrib.admin.action` were added.

sarahboyce · 2025-07-31T08:58:46Z

docs/ref/contrib/admin/actions.txt

@@ -434,7 +452,7 @@ For example::
 The ``action`` decorator
 ========================

-.. function:: action(*, permissions=None, description=None)
+.. function:: action(*, permissions=None, description=None, description_plural=None, changelist_only=True)


At the bottom of this, I think it's worth describing the new parameters a bit more and we need a versionchanged note:

The ``show_on_change_form`` argument controls where the action is available in the admin interface. When ``show_on_change_form`` is ``False``, the action is only available on the admin changelist page. When ``show_on_change_form`` is ``True``, the action is available on the admin changelist and the admin change form. Defaults to ``True``. When ``show_on_change_form`` is ``True``, ``description`` is used for the admin change form, and ``description_plural`` is used for the admin changelist page. If ``description_plural`` is not provided, it falls back to the ``description`` value. .. versionchanged:: 6.0 The ``show_on_change_form`` and ``description_plural`` arguments were added.

This suggestion assumes we change to using show_on_change_form

sarahboyce · 2025-07-31T08:59:59Z

docs/ref/contrib/admin/_images/adding-actions-to-the-modeladmin-detail-view.png

@Antoliny0919 (this PR needs rebasing) but I wonder if you can help update this screenshot as the dropdown here is inconsistent with other screenshots

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mgaligniana added 2 commits July 26, 2025 11:54

Fixed django#12090 -- Added admin actions to edit pages.

4b74429

Made changes asked in review by sarahboyce

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Start adding documentation for new changelist_only actions param

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Fix duplicated test name

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		ordering. Otherwise don't specify the queryset, let the field decide
		ordering. Otherwise don't specify the queryset, let the field decide

		selected_action = request.POST.get("action", "")
		if actions and selected_action:

		The actions will be available also in the detail view but the description should be
		adjusted to make sense we are talking about only one object::

	description="Mark selected story as published",
	description="Mark story as published",

	description=gettext_lazy("Delete"),
	description=gettext_lazy("Delete %(verbose_name)s"),

		@@ -1648,23 +1652,16 @@ def response_action(self, request, queryset):

		response = func(self, request, queryset)

		self.message_user(request, "Action executed successfully", messages.SUCCESS)

Uh oh!

Fixed #12090 -- Show admin actions on the edit pages too #16012

Are you sure you want to change the base?

Fixed #12090 -- Show admin actions on the edit pages too #16012

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