Django - Which model field for dir path?

Question

I need to define a field in my Model, which is supposed to host a valid dir path on server-side. Basically just a string which should be:

1) a formally valid unix-like dir path

2) an existing dir path

Tried with FilePathField with options allow_files=False, allow_folders=True . But when I try to create a new instance of the model from the django admin CRUD, I'm getting an error claiming that the initial value of the field (which is by default an empty string) is a not existing path...

I have a feeling this is not the right way. Maybe another field type could be more suitable? Maybe it should be just a simple string? (in this case, shall I be able to define correctly the required validators?)

Thanks for any hint,

Thomas

Answer 1

After some tests, I realized this model field type actually is used for fields which are assigned a value by browsing among files/dirs that already exist in the filesystem. Hence, the error was due to the path parameter I used (which I chose randomly) that didn't exist in the filesystem.

However, this Model field still fits my purposes, because having to choose a directory that already exists, certainly forces the user to assign a value which satisfies both validation points above mentioned.

There is even the possibility to make a "deep browsing", by including the entire sub dir tree. Just use the recursive=True option.

So

repository = models.FilePathField("repo_root/", allow_files=False, allow_folders=True, recursive=True)

will do the trick.

For sub trees with many directories the page might become unresponsive.

Thomas