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.. _releases-1.1-alpha-1:
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================================
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Django 1.1 alpha 1 release notes
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================================
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Welcome to Django 1.1 alpha 1!
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This is the first in a series of preview/development releases leading up to the
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eventual release of Django 1.1, currently scheduled to take place in April 2009.
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This release is primarily targeted at developers who are interested in trying
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out new features and testing the Django codebase to help identify and resolve
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bugs prior to the final 1.1 release.
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As such, this release is *not* intended for production use, and any such use is
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What's new in Django 1.1 alpha 1
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================================
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Two major enhancements have been added to Django's object-relational mapper
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.. currentmodule:: django.db.models
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It's now possible to run SQL aggregate queries (i.e. ``COUNT()``, ``MAX()``,
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``MIN()``, etc.) from within Django's ORM. You can choose to either return the
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results of the aggregate directly, or else annotate the objects in a
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:class:`QuerySet` with the results of the aggregate query.
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This feature is available as new :meth:`QuerySet.aggregate()`` and
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:meth:`QuerySet.annotate()`` methods, and is covered in detail in :ref:`the ORM
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aggregation documentation <topics-db-aggregation>`
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Queries can now refer to a another field on the query and can traverse
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relationships to refer to fields on related models. This is implemented in the
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new :class:`F` object; for full details, including examples, consult the
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:ref:`documentation for F expressions <query-expressions>`.
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Performance improvements
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------------------------
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.. currentmodule:: django.test
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Tests written using Django's :ref:`testing framework <topics-testing>` now run
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dramatically faster (as much as 10 times faster in many cases).
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This was accomplished through the introduction of transaction-based tests: when
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using :class:`django.test.TestCase`, your tests will now be run in a transaction
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which is rolled back when finished, instead of by flushing and re-populating the
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database. This results in an immense speedup for most types of unit tests. See
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the documentation for :class:`TestCase` and :class:`TransactionTestCase` for a
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full description, and some important notes on database support.
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Other new features and changes introduced since Django 1.0 include:
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* The :ref:`CSRF protection middleware <ref-contrib-csrf>` has been split into
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two classes -- ``CsrfViewMiddleware`` checks incoming requests, and
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``CsrfResponseMiddleware`` processes outgoing responses. The combined
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``CsrfMiddleware`` class (which does both) remains for
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backwards-compatibility, but using the split classes is now recommended in
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order to allow fine-grained control of when and where the CSRF processing
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* :func:`~django.core.urlresolvers.reverse` and code which uses it (e.g., the
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``{% url %}`` template tag) now works with URLs in Django's administrative
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site, provided that the admin URLs are set up via ``include(admin.site.urls)``
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(sending admin requests to the ``admin.site.root`` view still works, but URLs
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in the admin will not be "reversible" when configured this way).
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* The ``include()`` function in Django URLconf modules can now accept sequences
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of URL patterns (generated by ``patterns()``) in addition to module names.
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* Instances of Django forms (see `the forms overview <topics-forms-index>`_ now
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have two additional methods, ``hidden_fields()`` and ``visible_fields()``,
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which return the list of hidden -- i.e., ``<input type="hidden">`` -- and
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visible fields on the form, respectively.
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* The ``redirect_to`` generic view (see `the generic views documentation
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<ref-generic-views>`_) now accepts an additional keyword argument
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``permanent``. If ``permanent`` is ``True``, the view will emit an HTTP
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permanent redirect (status code 301). If ``False``, the view will emit an HTTP
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temporary redirect (status code 302).
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* A new database lookup type -- ``week_day`` -- has been added for ``DateField``
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and ``DateTimeField``. This type of lookup accepts a number between 1 (Sunday)
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and 7 (Saturday), and returns objects where the field value matches that day
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of the week. See `the full list of lookup types <field-lookups>`_ for details.
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* The ``{% for %}`` tag in Django's template language now accepts an optional
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``{% empty %}`` clause, to be displayed when ``{% for %}`` is asked to loop
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over an empty sequence. See :ref:`the list of built-in template tags
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<ref-templates-builtins>` for examples of this.
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The Django 1.1 roadmap
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======================
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Before Django 1.1 goes final, several other preview/development releases will be
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made available. The current schedule consists of at least the following:
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* Week of *March 20, 2009:* Django 1.1 beta 1, at which point Django 1.1 will
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be in "feature freeze": no new features will be implemented for 1.1
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past that point, and all new feature work will be deferred to
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* Week of *April 2, 2009:* Django 1.1 release candidate. At this point all
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strings marked for translation must freeze to allow translations to
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be submitted in advance of the final release.
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* Week of *April 13, 2009:* Django 1.1 final.
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If deemed necessary, additional alpha, beta or release candidate packages will
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be issued prior to the final 1.1 release.
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What you can do to help
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=======================
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In order to provide a high-quality 1.1 release, we need your help. Although this
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alpha release is, again, *not* intended for production use, you can help the
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Django team by trying out the alpha codebase in a safe test environment and
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reporting any bugs or issues you encounter. The Django ticket tracker is the
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central place to search for open issues:
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* http://code.djangoproject.com/timeline
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Please open new tickets if no existing ticket corresponds to a problem you're
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Additionally, discussion of Django development, including progress toward the
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1.1 release, takes place daily on the django-developers mailing list:
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* http://groups.google.com/group/django-developers
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... and in the ``#django-dev`` IRC channel on ``irc.freenode.net``. If you're
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interested in helping out with Django's development, feel free to join the
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Django's online documentation also includes pointers on how to contribute to
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* :ref:`How to contribute to Django <internals-contributing>`
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Contributions on any level -- developing code, writing documentation or simply
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triaging tickets and helping to test proposed bugfixes -- are always welcome and
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Development sprints for Django 1.1 will also be taking place at PyCon US 2009,
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on the dedicated sprint days (March 30 through April 2), and anyone who wants to
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help out is welcome to join in, either in person at PyCon or virtually in the
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IRC channel or on the mailing list.