How do I change field or model attributes of a third-party Django app?

Let's say, I use django.contrib.flatpages, or any other third-party app in my project. I want to change som开发者_运维百科e of this app's model attributes - for example, verbose_name. How can I do that?

The simple answer is "don't"; use a proxy model instead.

It depends. If you want to add some new fields, you can create another model with OneToOneField. If you want to add some methods, ordering etc., use proxy model. If you want to change some DB restrictions (e.g. max_length) you can patch the source code of the app, but think twice before doing that, you should have a really good reason for that.

If you want to change verbose_name, you can override label in corresponding form field, no change in model needed.