= Better Error Messages =

Good error messages make for more productive developers. This page is a place to collect error messages that could stand improvement, or which are misleading or confusing in certain contexts. Most of us have had the experience of getting a "weird" message, puzzling it out (perhaps with help from django-users or #django) and then moving on.

Some of these may seem like quick patches but others will take a bit of consideration -- that's why the wiki page rather than individual tickets. Some are more along the lines of "Django Lint" than simple changes to error output.

For now, let's try dividing them into sections by major module. Within those sections suggested format is: error message, explanatory context (often important -- a message that is very helpful in one context can be confusing in another), suggested improvements/changes.

Also see:

 * CommonPitfalls
 * NewbieMistakes

== django.db ==

{{{
OperationalError: Unable to close due to unfinalised statements
}}}
'''Context:''' SQLite file permissions are incorrect (directory or DB file lack write permission)[[BR]]
'''Suggestion:''' Check file permissions when running with SQLite backend and warn user if they seem incorrect

== django.contrib.admin ==

{{{
'NoneType' object has no attribute 'get_field_sets'
}}}
'''Context:''' One or more models that are referenced by ForeignKey from another model are missing their inner `Admin` class. Possible other causes as well. See ticket #1808. [[BR]]
'''Suggestion:''' Check relevant Admin settings during model validation?

 * Ticket #1732 -- a problem that elicits no error message, but should.

== django.core ==

{{{
TypeError at ...
string indices must be integers
}}}
'''Context:''' A FileUploadField is being validated but the form did not have enctype="multipart/form-data" set.[[BR]]
'''Suggestion''': Check form enctype during validation? Show FILES in addition to GET and POST on error pages?

== django.template ==

 * See [http://groups.google.com/group/django-developers/browse_thread/thread/42aff5c291a69041/d006eb5292b8aac3 this thread on the django-developers list] for discussion of error suppression in the template engine