Can Django models use MySQL functions?

Question

Is there a way to force Django models to pass a field to a MySQL function every time the model data is read or loaded? To clarify what I mean in SQL, I want the Django model to

Answer 1

I would define a custom modelfield for the column you want encrypted/decrypted. Override the to_python method to run the decryption when the model is loaded, and get_db_prep_value to run the encryption on saving.

Remember to set the field's metaclass to models.SubfieldBase otherwise these methods won't be called.