Django order_by specific order

Question

Is it possible to replicate this kind of specific sql ordering in the django ORM:

order by

(case

    when id = 5 then 1

    when id = 2 then 2

    when id = 3 then 3

    when id = 1 then 4

    when id = 4 then 5

end) asc

?

Answer 1

Since Django 1.8 you have Conditional Expressions so using extra is not necessary anymore.

from django.db.models import Case, When, Value, IntegerField

SomeModel.objects.annotate(
    custom_order=Case(
        When(id=5, then=Value(1)),
        When(id=2, then=Value(2)),
        When(id=3, then=Value(3)),
        When(id=1, then=Value(4)),
        When(id=4, then=Value(5)),
        output_field=IntegerField(),
    )
).order_by('custom_order')