SQLAlchemy-Defaults

SQLAlchemy-Defaults is a plugin for SQLAlchemy that provides smart defaults for lazy guys, like me.

What does it do?

  • By setting default values for your int/str/bool columns, SQLAlchemy-Defaults automatically also sets server_default values
  • All string columns are not nullable by default.
  • Unlike SQLAlchemy, all boolean columns are not nullable and False by default.
  • Provides auto_now feature for datetime columns
  • Automatically assigns names for enum types which doesn’t have the name set
  • Easy min/max check constraints based on min and max column info arguments
  • Auto creates indexes for foreign key columns (very useful when using PostgreSQL)

So instead of writing this:

from datetime import datetime
import sqlalchemy as sa


class User(Base):
    id = sa.Column(sa.Integer, primary_key=True)

    name = sa.Column(
        sa.Unicode(255),
        nullable=False
    )
    description = sa.Column(
        sa.Unicode(255),
        nullable=False,
        default=u'',
        server_default=u''
    )

    is_admin = sa.Column(
        sa.Boolean,
        default=False,
        server_default=sa.sql.expression.false(),
        nullable=False
    )

    created_at = sa.Column(
        sa.DateTime,
        default=datetime.utcnow,
        server_default=sa.func.now(),
    )

    hobbies = sa.Column(
        sa.Integer,
    )

    __table_args__ = (
        sa.schema.CheckConstraint(
            'user.hobbies >= 1'
        ),
        sa.schema.CheckConstraint(
            'user.hobbies <= 4'
        )
    )

You can simply write (notice here how we define an empty __lazy_options__ dict):

import sqlalchemy as sa
from sqlalchemy_defaults import Column


class User(Base):
    __lazy_options__ = {}
    id = Column(sa.Integer, primary_key=True)

    name = Column(
        sa.Unicode(255),
    )
    description = Column(
        sa.Unicode(255),
        default=u'',
    )

    is_admin = Column(
        sa.Boolean,
    )

    created_at = Column(
        sa.DateTime,
        auto_now=True
    )

    hobbies = Column(
        sa.Integer,
        min=1,
        max=4
    )

After you’ve defined all your models you need to make desired mapper lazy configured (or you can simple make all mappers lazy configured by passing sa.orm.mapper as the first argument):

from sqlalchemy_defaults import make_lazy_configured


make_lazy_configured(sa.orm.mapper)