Django Multiple-User Model

I need advice on a multiple user type. Scenario: A user can be an organization, where in this organization they can place adverts on the website. The owner of this organization(us

Solution 1:

One solution would be to have the "User Profiles" structure.

So you use the standard Django User Model and you attach to it several OneToOne relationships depending on the number of profile types you'll have. This has the advantage of allowing users to cover more than one role at the same time.

For example:

from django.contrib.auth.models import User

class Organization(models.Model):
    user = models.OneToOneField(User, on_delete=models.CASCADE, related_name="organization")
    name = models.CharField(max_length=50, blank=True, null=True)

class Supervisor(models.Model):
    user = models.OneToOneField(User, on_delete=models.CASCADE, related_name="supervisor")
    name = models.CharField(max_length=50, blank=True, null=True)
    organization = models.ForeignKey(Organization, on_delete=models.CASCADE, related_name="supervisors")
    
class CustomUser(models.Model):
    user = models.OneToOneField(User, on_delete=models.CASCADE, related_name="custom_user")
    name = models.CharField(max_length=50, blank=True, null=True)
    supervisor = models.ForeignKey(Supervisor, on_delete=models.CASCADE, related_name="custom_users", blank=True, null=True)

And then when you go and create the models for the ads to be displayed on the website you can use the built-in PermissionRequiredMixin.

In order to do that you have to start by adding "permissions" in the ad model Meta class:

class Ad(models.Model):
# fields

class Meta:
    permissions = [
        ('can_edit_ads', 'org_representative')
    ]

Then on your view you have to extend the PermissionRequiredMixin, example:

class EditAd(UpdateView, PermissionRequiredMixin):
    model = Ad
    template_name = "ad123.html"
    permission_required = "ad.can_edit_ads"

A quick way to test it is by going in the user table on the admin panel, open a user detail page where you can see all the permissions, and there alongside the others you'll find your custom one as well. From there you can easily assign the new permission to the specific user.