Django Logic is a workflow framework allowing developers to implement the business logic via pure functions.
It's designed based on Finite-State-Machine (FSM) principles.
Therefore, it needs to define a state
field for a model's object. Every change of the state
is performed by a
transition and every transition could be grouped into a process. Also, you can define some side-effects that will be
executed during the transition from one state to another and callbacks that will be run after.
This concept provides you a place for the business logic, rather than splitting it across the views, models, forms,
serializers or even worse, in templates.
- Transition - class changes a state of an object from one to another. It also contains its own conditions, permissions, side-effects, callbacks, and failure callbacks.
- Action - in contrast with the transition, the action does not change the state. But it contains its own conditions, permissions, side-effects, callbacks, and failure callbacks.
- Side-effects - class defines a set of functions that executing within one particular transition
before reaching the
target
state. During the execution, the state changes to thein_progress
state. In case, if one of the functions interrupts the execution, then it changes to thefailed
state. - Callbacks - class defines a set of functions that executing within one particular transition
after reaching the
target
state. In case, if one of the functions interrupts the execution, it will log an exception and the execution will be stopped (without changing the state to failed). - Failure callbacks - class defines a set of functions that executing within one particular transition in case if one of the side-effects has been failed to execute.
- Conditions - class defines a set of functions which receives an object
and return
True
orFalse
based on one particular requirement. - Permissions - class defines a set of functions which receives an object and user, then returns
True
orFalse
based on given permissions. - Process - class defines a set of transitions with some common conditions and permissions. It also accepts nested processes that allow building the hierarchy.
Use the package manager pip to install Django-Logic.
pip install django-logic
- Add to INSTALLED_APPS
INSTALLED_APPS = (
...
'django_logic',
...
)
- Define a process class with some transitions.
from django_logic import Process as BaseProcess, Transition, ProcessManager, Action
class Process(BaseProcess):
states = (
('draft', 'Draft'),
('approved', 'Approved'),
('void', 'Void'),
)
transitions = [
Transition(action_name='approve', sources=['draft'], target='approved'),
Transition(action_name='void', sources=['draft', 'approved'], target='void'),
Action(action_name='update', side_effects=[update_data]),
]
- Define a binding class and status field.
ApprovalProcess = ProcessManager.bind_state_fields(status=Process)
You can call the status or state field as you wish, just make sure it's defined in the model. Furthermore, it supports several state fields. For example:
ApprovalProcess = ProcessManager.bind_state_fields(my_status=ApprovalProcess, my_state=LockProcess)
class Invoice(ApprovalProcess, models.Model):
my_status = models.CharField(choices=ApprovalProcess.states, default='draft', max_length=16, blank=True)
my_state = models.CharField(choices=LockProcess.states, default='open', max_length=16, blank=True)
- Bind the process with a model by inheriting the binding class.
from django.db import models
from .process import ApprovalProcess
class Invoice(ApprovalProcess, models.Model):
status = models.CharField(choices=ApprovalProcess.states, default='draft', max_length=16, blank=True)
- Advance your process with conditions, side-effects, and callbacks into the process
class Process(BaseProcess):
permissions = [
is_accountant,
]
states = (
('draft', 'Draft'),
('approved', 'Approved'),
('void', 'Void'),
)
transitions = [
Transition(
action_name='approve',
sources=['draft'],
target='approved',
conditions=[
is_customer_active,
]
side_effects=[
generate_pdf_invoice,
],
callbacks=[
send_approved_invoice_email_to_accountant,
]
),
Transition(
action_name='void',
callbacks=[
send_void_invoice_email_to_accountant
],
sources=['approved'],
target='void'
),
Action(
action_name='update',
side_effects=[
update_data
],
),
]
- This approval process defines the business logic where:
- The user who performs the action must have accountant role (permission).
- It shouldn't be possible to invoice inactive customers (condition).
- Once the invoice record is approved, it should generate a PDF file and send it to an accountant via email. (side-effects and callbacks)
- If the invoice voided it needs to notify the accountant about that. As you see, these business requirements should not know about each other. Furthermore, it gives a simple way to test every function separately as Django-Logic takes care of connection them into the business process.
- Execute in the code:
from invoices.models import Invoice
def approve_view(request, pk):
invoice = Invoice.objects.get(pk=pk)
invoice.process.approve(user=request.user)
- If you want to override the value of the state field, it must be done explicitly. For example:
Invoice.objects.filter(status='draft').update(status='open')
# or
invoice = Invoice.objects.get(pk=pk)
invoice.status = 'open'
invoice.save(update_fields=['status'])
Save without update_fields
won't update the value of the state field in order to protect the data from corrupting.
- Error handling:
from django_logic.exceptions import TransitionNotAllowed
try:
invoice.process.approve()
except TransitionNotAllowed:
logger.error('Approve is not allowed')
Drawing a process with the following elements:
- Process - a transparent rectangle
- Transition - a grey rectangle
- State - a transparent ellipse
- Process' conditions and permissions are defined inside of related process as a transparent diamond
- Transition' conditions and permissions are defined inside of related transition's process as a grey diamond
From this diagram you can visually check that the following the business requirements have been implemented properly:
- Personnel involved: User and Staff
- Lock has to be available before any actions taken. It's defined by a condition
is_lock_available
. - User is able to lock and unlock an available locker.
- Staff is able to lock, unlock and put a locker under maintenance if such was planned.
Drawing such diagram requires installing graphviz.
pip install graphviz
Run this command
from django_logic.display import *
from demo.process import LockerProcess
display_process(LockerProcess, state='open', skip_main_process=True)
Django FSM is a parent package of Django-Logic. It's been used in production for many years until the number of new ideas and requirements swamped us. Therefore, it's been decided to implement these ideas under a new package. For example, supporting Processes or background transitions which were implemented under Django-Logic-Celery. Finally, we want to provide a standard way on where to put the business logic in Django by using Django-Logic.
Pull requests are welcome. For major changes, please open an issue first to discuss what you would like to change.
Please make sure to update tests as appropriate.
Under development