[FIXED] How do I override delete() on a model and have it still work with related deletes

Issue

I'm having a problem because I'm deleting a Widget by using some_widget_instance.delete(). I also have a model called WidgetFile with an override delete() method so that I can delete files off my hard drive when a WidgetFile is deleted. The problem I'm having is that if I delete a Widget, and it has WidgetFiles related to it like this:

class WidgetFile(models.Model):

    widget = models.ForeignKey(Widget)

Well, when I delete that Widget, it's WidgetFiles are deleted but the delete() method doesn't trigger and do my extra hard drive stuff. Any help is much appreciated.

Solution

I figured it out. I just put this on that Widget model:

def delete(self):
    files = WidgetFile.objects.filter(widget=self)
    if files:
        for file in files:
            file.delete()
    super(Widget, self).delete()

This triggered the necessary delete() method on each of the related objects, thus triggering my custom file deleting code. It's more database expensive yes, but when you're trying to delete files on a hard drive anyway, it's not such a big expense to hit the db a few extra times.

Answered By - orokusaki