Python's unicode

Question

I have the following:

from django.db import models
class Category(models.Model):
 name = models.CharField(max_length=200)
 def _unicode_(self):
 return self.name
class Item(models.Model):
 category = models.ForeignKey(Category)
 dateadded = models.DateTimeField('date added')
 name = models.CharField(max_length=200)
 description = models.TextField()
 quantity = models.IntegerField()

My problem is that def _unicode_(self) isn't working. Any ideas?

• user2555451: What do you mean by "isn't working"?
• LotusUNSW: fix the title as well...
• abarnert: All special methods in Python are surrounded by double underscores on each side, not single. This is why they're called "dunder methods" instead of... "sunder methods"?
• Professional_Imaginer: I'm using this to create a sample website, and on the website I have a table called Categorys. When I go to add a new category and name it 'Books', it comes back naming it the generic 'category object' instead. I'm pretty new to python, so I'm sorry if I'm not asking this properly.
• Professional_Imaginer: Oh, double underscores instead of one. I didn't even realize! Can't believe it was that obvious. Thank you so much for the quick replies!

Answer 1

you should use def __unicode__

• abarnert: Good answer, but it would be better if it explained the difference: you have two underscores before and after the name, instead of one. (With a bad-enough font, it might be hard to see if you didn't know what you were looking for.)