Question: Why is a unicode function required in models.py?

i.e,

```
def __unicode__(self)
    return sumid;

```

Answer: 
It's not. If you define a `__unicode__()` method, Django will call it when it needs to render an object in a context where a string representation is needed (e.g. in the model's admin pages).

The [documentation](http://docs.djangoproject.com/en/dev/ref/models/instances/#unicode) says:

> 
> The `__unicode__()` method is called
>  whenever you call `unicode()` on an
>  object. Since Django's database
>  backends will return Unicode strings
>  in your model's attributes, you would
>  normally want to write a `__unicode__()`
>  method for your model.
> 
> 
>
I'm a bit new to Django, but I think I can help you.

First, it isn't exactly required, but it's a really good idea. The field is used to create representations of your objects in the Django admin (otherwise they all have the same name :-P) and when you print out an object to your terminal window to see what's going on (otherwise you get a generic mostly useless message).

Second, from what you wrote, it looks like you're new to Python. I recommend reading some Python tutorials on class syntax. Also, semicolons aren't necessary in this language. The correct syntax for creating the unicode method is:

```
class Foo(models.Model):
    # Model fields go here

    def __unicode__(self):
        return u"%i" % self.sumid

```

The `__unicode__` method has double underscores because it is a special function, namely when the builtin function `unicode( obj )` is called on it, it returns a unicode string representation of that object (sort of like java's `ToString`).

I hope this helps :-)