Boolean fields in MySQL Django Models?

Question

At Django, a boolean field in MySQL is stored as a TINYINT . When I retrieve it, I get 0 or 1. Shouldn't I get False or True? Is there a way to achieve this behaviour?

Answer 1

You could create your own method for your model that evaluates this for you:

class User(models.Model):
    active_status = models.BooleanField(default=1)

    def is_active(self):
        return bool(self.active_status)

Then any tests you perform against this field could just reference the method instead:

>>> u.is_active()
True

You can even make this into a property:

class User(models.Model):
    active_status = models.BooleanField(default=1)

    @property    
    def is_active(self):
        return bool(self.active_status)

so that users of the class don't even have to know that it's implemented as a method:

>>> u.is_active
True

Answer 2

Here is the above method adapted for NullBooleanField :

result = models.NullBooleanField()

def get_result(self):
    if self.result is None:
        return None
    return bool(self.result)

Answer 3

Is there a situation you anticipate that this will cause different behaviour just based on the types?

>>> 1 == True
True
>>> 0 == False
True
>>> int(True)
1
>>> int(False)
0

Answer 4

>>> u=User.objects.get(pk=1)
>>> u.is_active
1
>>> u.is_active==1
True
>>>

The reasons why boolean columns return 1 or 0 are on the link in your question.