Model Mixin to Save Only Changed Fields

from copy import copy

from django.db.models import ManyToManyField
from django.db.models.related import RelatedObject


class DoesNotExist:
	"""
	It's unlikely, but there could potentially be a time when a field is added
	to or removed from an instance. We need some representation for those cases.
	
	"""
	
	pass


class SaveOnlyChangedFields(object):
	"""
	Keeps track of fields that have changed since model instantiation, and on
	save updates only those fields.
	
	If save is called with update_fields, the passed kwarg is given precedence.
	
	A caveat: This can't do anything to help you with ManyToManyFields nor
	reverse relationships, which is par for the course: they aren't handled by
	save(), but are pushed to the db immediately on change.
	
	"""
	
	def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
		super(SaveOnlyChangedFields, self).__init__(*args, **kwargs)
		
		self._changed_fields = {}
	
	def __setattr__(self, name, value):
		if hasattr(self, '_changed_fields'):
			try:
				name_map = self._meta._name_map
			
			except AttributeError:
				name_map = self._meta.init_name_map()
			
			if name in name_map and name_map[name][0].__class__ not in {ManyToManyField, RelatedObject}:
				old = getattr(self, name, DoesNotExist)
				super(SaveOnlyChangedFields, self).__setattr__(name, value) # A parent's __setattr__ may change value.
				new = getattr(self, name, DoesNotExist)
				
				if old != new:
					changed_fields = self._changed_fields
					
					if name in changed_fields:
						if changed_fields[name] == new:
							# We've changed this field back to its value in the db. No need to push it back up.
							changed_fields.pop(name)
					
					else:
						changed_fields[name] = copy(old)
			
			else:
				super(SaveOnlyChangedFields, self).__setattr__(name, value)
		
		else:
			super(SaveOnlyChangedFields, self).__setattr__(name, value)
	
	def save(self, *args, **kwargs):
		if self._changed_fields and 'update_fields' not in kwargs and not kwargs.get('force_insert', False):
			kwargs['update_fields'] = [key for key, value in self._changed_fields.iteritems() if value is not DoesNotExist]
		
		super(SaveOnlyChangedFields, self).save(*args, **kwargs)
		
		self._changed_fields = {}