================= The redirects app ================= .. module:: django.contrib.redirects :synopsis: A framework for managing redirects. Django comes with an optional redirects application. It lets you store simple redirects in a database and handles the redirecting for you. Installation ============ To install the redirects app, follow these steps: 1. Add ``'django.contrib.redirects'`` to your :setting:`INSTALLED_APPS` setting. 2. Add ``'django.contrib.redirects.middleware.RedirectFallbackMiddleware'`` to your :setting:`MIDDLEWARE_CLASSES` setting. 3. Run the command :djadmin:`manage.py syncdb `. How it works ============ ``manage.py syncdb`` creates a ``django_redirect`` table in your database. This is a simple lookup table with ``site_id``, ``old_path`` and ``new_path`` fields. The ``RedirectFallbackMiddleware`` does all of the work. Each time any Django application raises a 404 error, this middleware checks the redirects database for the requested URL as a last resort. Specifically, it checks for a redirect with the given ``old_path`` with a site ID that corresponds to the :setting:`SITE_ID` setting. * If it finds a match, and ``new_path`` is not empty, it redirects to ``new_path``. * If it finds a match, and ``new_path`` is empty, it sends a 410 ("Gone") HTTP header and empty (content-less) response. * If it doesn't find a match, the request continues to be processed as usual. The middleware only gets activated for 404s -- not for 500s or responses of any other status code. Note that the order of :setting:`MIDDLEWARE_CLASSES` matters. Generally, you can put ``RedirectFallbackMiddleware`` at the end of the list, because it's a last resort. For more on middleware, read the :doc:`middleware docs `. How to add, change and delete redirects ======================================= Via the admin interface ----------------------- If you've activated the automatic Django admin interface, you should see a "Redirects" section on the admin index page. Edit redirects as you edit any other object in the system. Via the Python API ------------------ .. class:: models.Redirect Redirects are represented by a standard :doc:`Django model `, which lives in `django/contrib/redirects/models.py`_. You can access redirect objects via the :doc:`Django database API `. .. _django/contrib/redirects/models.py: https://code.djangoproject.com/browser/django/trunk/django/contrib/redirects/models.py