Identify the changed fields in django post_save signal

I'm using django's post_save signal to execute some statements after saving the model.

class Mode(models.Model):
    name = models.CharField(max_length=5)
    mode = models.BooleanField()


from django.db.models.signals import post_save
from django.dispatch import receiver

@receiver(post_save, sender=Mode)
def post_save(sender, instance, created, **kwargs):
        # do some stuff
        pass

Now I want to execute a statement based on whether the value of the mode field has changed or not.

@receiver(post_save, sender=Mode)
def post_save(sender, instance, created, **kwargs):
        # if value of `mode` has changed:
        #  then do this
        # else:
        #  do that
        pass

I looked at a few SOF threads and a blog but couldn't find a solution to this. All of them were trying to use the pre_save method or form which are not my use case. https://docs.djangoproject.com/es/1.9/ref/signals/#post-save in the django docs doesn't mention a direct way to do this.

An answer in the link below looks promising but I don't know how to use it. I'm not sure if the latest django version supports it or not, because I used ipdb to debug this and found that the instance variable has no attribute has_changed as mentioned in the below answer.

Django: When saving, how can you check if a field has changed?


Ussually it's better to override the save method than using signals.

From Two scoops of django: "Use signals as a last resort."

I agree with @scoopseven answer about caching the original value on the init, but overriding the save method if it's possible.

class Mode(models.Model):
    name = models.CharField(max_length=5)
    mode = models.BooleanField()
    __original_mode = None

    def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
        super(Mode, self).__init__(*args, **kwargs)
        self.__original_mode = self.mode

    def save(self, force_insert=False, force_update=False, *args, **kwargs):
        if self.mode != self.__original_mode:
            #  then do this
        else:
            #  do that

        super(Mode, self).save(force_insert, force_update, *args, **kwargs)
        self.__original_mode = self.mode

If you want to compare state before and after save action, you can use pre_save signal which provide you instance as it should become after database update and in pre_save you can read current state of instance in database and perform some actions based on difference.

from django.db.models.signals import pre_save
from django.dispatch import receiver


@receiver(pre_save, sender=MyModel)
def on_change(sender, instance: MyModel, **kwargs):
    if instance.id is None: # new object will be created
        pass # write your code here
    else:
        previous = MyModel.objects.get(id=instance.id)
        if previous.field_a != instance.field_a: # field will be updated
            pass  # write your code here