5 Django comes with an optional redirects application. It lets you store simple
6 redirects in a database and handles the redirecting for you.
11 To install the redirects app, follow these steps:
13 1. Add ``'django.contrib.redirects'`` to your INSTALLED_APPS_ setting.
14 2. Add ``'django.contrib.redirects.middleware.RedirectFallbackMiddleware'``
15 to your MIDDLEWARE_CLASSES_ setting.
16 3. Run the command ``manage.py syncdb``.
18 .. _INSTALLED_APPS: ../settings/#installed-apps
19 .. _MIDDLEWARE_CLASSES: ../settings/#middleware-classes
24 ``manage.py syncdb`` creates a ``django_redirect`` table in your database. This
25 is a simple lookup table with ``site_id``, ``old_path`` and ``new_path`` fields.
27 The ``RedirectFallbackMiddleware`` does all of the work. Each time any Django
28 application raises a 404 error, this middleware checks the redirects database
29 for the requested URL as a last resort. Specifically, it checks for a redirect
30 with the given ``old_path`` with a site ID that corresponds to the SITE_ID_
33 * If it finds a match, and ``new_path`` is not empty, it redirects to
35 * If it finds a match, and ``new_path`` is empty, it sends a 410 ("Gone")
36 HTTP header and empty (content-less) response.
37 * If it doesn't find a match, the request continues to be processed as
40 The middleware only gets activated for 404s -- not for 500s or responses of any
43 Note that the order of ``MIDDLEWARE_CLASSES`` matters. Generally, you can put
44 ``RedirectFallbackMiddleware`` at the end of the list, because it's a last
47 For more on middleware, read the `middleware docs`_.
49 .. _SITE_ID: ../settings/#site-id
50 .. _middleware docs: ../middleware/
52 How to add, change and delete redirects
53 =======================================
55 Via the admin interface
56 -----------------------
58 If you've activated the automatic Django admin interface, you should see a
59 "Redirects" section on the admin index page. Edit redirects as you edit any
60 other object in the system.
65 Redirects are represented by a standard `Django model`_, which lives in
66 `django/contrib/redirects/models.py`_. You can access redirect
67 objects via the `Django database API`_.
69 .. _Django model: ../model-api/
70 .. _django/contrib/redirects/models.py: http://code.djangoproject.com/browser/django/trunk/django/contrib/redirects/models.py
71 .. _Django database API: ../db-api/