Resources

In terms of a REST-style architecture, a “resource” is a collection of similar data. This data could be a table of a database, a collection of other resources or a similar form of data storage. In Tastypie, these resources are generally intermediaries between the end user & objects, usually Django models. As such, Resource (and its model-specific twin ModelResource) form the heart of Tastypie’s functionality.

Quick Start

A sample resource definition might look something like:

from django.contrib.auth.models import User
from tastypie import fields
from tastypie.authorization import DjangoAuthorization
from tastypie.resources import ModelResource, ALL, ALL_WITH_RELATIONS
from myapp.models import Entry


class UserResource(ModelResource):
    class Meta:
        queryset = User.objects.all()
        resource_name = 'auth/user'
        excludes = ['email', 'password', 'is_superuser']


class EntryResource(ModelResource):
    user = fields.ForeignKey(UserResource, 'user')

    class Meta:
        queryset = Entry.objects.all()
        list_allowed_methods = ['get', 'post']
        detail_allowed_methods = ['get', 'post', 'put', 'delete']
        resource_name = 'myapp/entry'
        authorization = DjangoAuthorization()
        filtering = {
            'slug': ALL,
            'user': ALL_WITH_RELATIONS,
            'created': ['exact', 'range', 'gt', 'gte', 'lt', 'lte'],
        }

Why Class-Based?

Using class-based resources make it easier to extend/modify the code to meet your needs. APIs are rarely a one-size-fits-all problem space, so Tastypie tries to get the fundamentals right and provide you with enough hooks to customize things to work your way.

As is standard, this raises potential problems for thread-safety. Tastypie has been designed to minimize the possibility of data “leaking” between threads. This does however sometimes introduce some small complexities & you should be careful not to store state on the instances if you’re going to be using the code in a threaded environment.

Why Resource vs. ModelResource?

Make no mistake that Django models are far and away the most popular source of data. However, in practice, there are many times where the ORM isn’t the data source. Hooking up things like a NoSQL store (see Using Tastypie With Non-ORM Data Sources), a search solution like Haystack or even managed filesystem data are all good use cases for Resource knowing nothing about the ORM.

Flow Through The Request/Response Cycle

Tastypie can be thought of as a set of class-based views that provide the API functionality. As such, many part of the request/response cycle are standard Django behaviors. For instance, all routing/middleware/response-handling aspects are the same as a typical Django app. Where it differs is in the view itself.

As an example, we’ll walk through what a GET request to a list endpoint (say /api/v1/user/?format=json) looks like:

  • The Resource.urls are checked by Django’s url resolvers.

  • On a match for the list view, Resource.wrap_view('dispatch_list') is called. wrap_view provides basic error handling & allows for returning serialized errors.

  • Because dispatch_list was passed to wrap_view, Resource.dispatch_list is called next. This is a thin wrapper around Resource.dispatch.

  • dispatch does a bunch of heavy lifting. It ensures:

    • the requested HTTP method is in allowed_methods (method_check),

    • the class has a method that can handle the request (get_list),

    • the user is authenticated (is_authenticated),

    • & the user has not exceeded their throttle (throttle_check).

    At this point, dispatch actually calls the requested method (get_list).

  • get_list does the actual work of the API. It does:

    • A fetch of the available objects via Resource.obj_get_list. In the case of ModelResource, this builds the ORM filters to apply (ModelResource.build_filters). It then gets the QuerySet via ModelResource.get_object_list (which performs Resource.authorized_read_list to possibly limit the set the user can work with) and applies the built filters to it.

    • It then sorts the objects based on user input (ModelResource.apply_sorting).

    • Then it paginates the results using the supplied Paginator & pulls out the data to be serialized.

    • The objects in the page have full_dehydrate applied to each of them, causing Tastypie to translate the raw object data into the fields the endpoint supports.

    • Finally, it calls Resource.create_response.

  • create_response is a shortcut method that:

    • Determines the desired response format (Resource.determine_format),

    • Serializes the data given to it in the proper format,

    • And returns a Django HttpResponse (200 OK) with the serialized data.

  • We bubble back up the call stack to dispatch. The last thing dispatch does is potentially store that a request occurred for future throttling (Resource.log_throttled_access) then either returns the HttpResponse or wraps whatever data came back in a response (so Django doesn’t freak out).

Processing on other endpoints or using the other HTTP methods results in a similar cycle, usually differing only in what “actual work” method gets called (which follows the format of “<http_method>_<list_or_detail>”). In the case of POST/PUT, the hydrate cycle additionally takes place and is used to take the user data & convert it to raw data for storage.

Why Resource URIs?

Resource URIs play a heavy role in how Tastypie delivers data. This can seem very different from other solutions which simply inline related data. Though Tastypie can inline data like that (using full=True on the field with the relation), the default is to provide URIs.

URIs are useful because it results in smaller payloads, letting you fetch only the data that is important to you. You can imagine an instance where an object has thousands of related items that you may not be interested in.

URIs are also very cache-able, because the data at each endpoint is less likely to frequently change.

And URIs encourage proper use of each endpoint to display the data that endpoint covers.

Ideology aside, you should use whatever suits you. If you prefer fewer requests & fewer endpoints, use of full=True is available, but be aware of the consequences of each approach.

Accessing The Current Request

Being able to change behavior based on the current request is a very common need. Virtually anywhere within Resource/ModelResource, if a bundle is available, you can access it using bundle.request. This is useful for altering querysets, ensuring headers are present, etc.

Most methods you may need to override/extend should get a bundle passed to them.

If you’re using the Resource/ModelResource directly, with no request available, an empty Request will be supplied instead. If this is a common pattern/usage in your code, you’ll want to accommodate for data that potentially isn’t there.

Advanced Data Preparation

Not all data can be easily pulled off an object/model attribute. And sometimes, you (or the client) may need to send data that doesn’t neatly fit back into the data model on the server side. For this, Tastypie has the “dehydrate/hydrate” cycle.

The Dehydrate Cycle

Tastypie uses a “dehydrate” cycle to prepare data for serialization, which is to say that it takes the raw, potentially complicated data model & turns it into a (generally simpler) processed data structure for client consumption. This usually means taking a complex data object & turning it into a dictionary of simple data types.

Broadly speaking, this takes the bundle.obj instance & builds bundle.data, which is what is actually serialized.

The cycle looks like:

  • Put the data model into a Bundle instance, which is then passed through the various methods.

  • Run through all fields on the Resource, letting each field perform its own dehydrate method on the bundle.

  • While processing each field, look for a dehydrate_<fieldname> method on the Resource. If it’s present, call it with the bundle.

  • Finally, after all fields are processed, if the dehydrate method is present on the Resource, it is called & given the entire bundle.

The goal of this cycle is to populate the bundle.data dictionary with data suitable for serialization. With the exception of the alter_* methods (as hooks to manipulate the overall structure), this cycle controls what is actually handed off to be serialized & sent to the client.

Per-field dehydrate

Each field (even custom ApiField subclasses) has its own dehydrate method. If it knows how to access data (say, given the attribute kwarg), it will attempt to populate values itself.

The return value is put in the bundle.data dictionary (by the Resource) with the fieldname as the key.

dehydrate_FOO

Since not all data may be ready for consumption based on just attribute access (or may require an advanced lookup/calculation), this hook enables you to fill in data or massage whatever the field generated.

Note

The FOO here is not literal. Instead, it is a placeholder that should be replaced with the fieldname in question.

Defining these methods is especially common when deserializing related data, providing statistics or filling in unrelated data.

A simple example:

class MyResource(ModelResource):
    # The ``title`` field is already added to the class by ``ModelResource``
    # and populated off ``Note.title``. But we want allcaps titles...

    class Meta:
        queryset = Note.objects.all()

    def dehydrate_title(self, bundle):
        return bundle.data['title'].upper()

A complex example:

class MyResource(ModelResource):
    # As is, this is just an empty field. Without the ``dehydrate_rating``
    # method, no data would be populated for it.
    rating = fields.FloatField(readonly=True)

    class Meta:
        queryset = Note.objects.all()

    def dehydrate_rating(self, bundle):
        total_score = 0.0

        # Make sure we don't have to worry about "divide by zero" errors.
        if not bundle.obj.rating_set.count():
            return total_score

        # We'll run over all the ``Rating`` objects & calculate an average.
        for rating in bundle.obj.rating_set.all():
            total_score += rating.rating

        return total_score /  bundle.obj.rating_set.count()

The return value is updated in the bundle.data. You should avoid altering bundle.data here if you can help it.

dehydrate

The dehydrate method takes a now fully-populated bundle.data & make any last alterations to it. This is useful for when a piece of data might depend on more than one field, if you want to shove in extra data that isn’t worth having its own field or if you want to dynamically remove things from the data to be returned.

A simple example:

class MyResource(ModelResource):
    class Meta:
        queryset = Note.objects.all()

    def dehydrate(self, bundle):
        # Include the request IP in the bundle.
        bundle.data['request_ip'] = bundle.request.META.get('REMOTE_ADDR')
        return bundle

A complex example:

class MyResource(ModelResource):
    class Meta:
        queryset = User.objects.all()
        excludes = ['email', 'password', 'is_staff', 'is_superuser']

    def dehydrate(self, bundle):
        # If they're requesting their own record, add in their email address.
        if bundle.request.user.pk == bundle.obj.pk:
            # Note that there isn't an ``email`` field on the ``Resource``.
            # By this time, it doesn't matter, as the built data will no
            # longer be checked against the fields on the ``Resource``.
            bundle.data['email'] = bundle.obj.email

        return bundle

This method should return a bundle, whether it modifies the existing one or creates a whole new one. You can even remove any/all data from the bundle.data if you wish.

The Hydrate Cycle

Tastypie uses a “hydrate” cycle to take serialized data from the client and turn it into something the data model can use. This is the reverse process from the dehydrate cycle. In fact, by default, Tastypie’s serialized data should be “round-trip-able”, meaning the data that comes out should be able to be fed back in & result in the same original data model. This usually means taking a dictionary of simple data types & turning it into a complex data object.

Broadly speaking, this takes the recently-deserialized bundle.data dictionary & builds bundle.obj (but does NOT save it).

The cycle looks like:

  • Put the data from the client into a Bundle instance, which is then passed through the various methods.

  • If the hydrate method is present on the Resource, it is called & given the entire bundle.

  • Then run through all fields on the Resource, look for a hydrate_<fieldname> method on the Resource. If it’s present, call it with the bundle.

  • Finally after all other processing is done, while processing each field, let each field perform its own hydrate method on the bundle.

The goal of this cycle is to populate the bundle.obj data model with data suitable for saving/persistence. Again, with the exception of the alter_* methods (as hooks to manipulate the overall structure), this cycle controls how the data from the client is interpreted & placed on the data model.

hydrate

The hydrate method allows you to make initial changes to the bundle.obj. This includes things like prepopulating fields you don’t expose over the API, recalculating related data or mangling data.

Example:

class MyResource(ModelResource):
    # The ``title`` field is already added to the class by ``ModelResource``
    # and populated off ``Note.title``. We'll use that title to build a
    # ``Note.slug`` as well.

    class Meta:
        queryset = Note.objects.all()

    def hydrate(self, bundle):
        # Don't change existing slugs.
        # In reality, this would be better implemented at the ``Note.save``
        # level, but is for demonstration.
        if not bundle.obj.pk:
            bundle.obj.slug = slugify(bundle.data['title'])

        return bundle

This method should return a bundle, whether it modifies the existing one or creates a whole new one. You can even remove any/all data from the bundle.obj if you wish.

hydrate_FOO

Data from the client may not map directly onto the data model or might need augmentation. This hook lets you take that data & convert it.

Note

The FOO here is not literal. Instead, it is a placeholder that should be replaced with the fieldname in question.

A simple example:

class MyResource(ModelResource):
    # The ``title`` field is already added to the class by ``ModelResource``
    # and populated off ``Note.title``. But we want lowercase titles...

    class Meta:
        queryset = Note.objects.all()

    def hydrate_title(self, bundle):
        bundle.data['title'] = bundle.data['title'].lower()
        return bundle

The return value is the bundle.

Per-field hydrate

Each field (even custom ApiField subclasses) has its own hydrate method. If it knows how to access data (say, given the attribute kwarg), it will attempt to take data from the bundle.data & assign it on the data model.

The return value is put in the bundle.obj attribute for that fieldname.

Reverse “Relationships”

Unlike Django’s ORM, Tastypie does not automatically create reverse relations. This is because there is substantial technical complexity involved, as well as perhaps unintentionally exposing related data in an incorrect way to the end user of the API.

However, it is still possible to create reverse relations. Instead of handing the ToOneField or ToManyField a class, pass them a string that represents the full path to the desired class. Implementing a reverse relationship looks like so:

# myapp/api/resources.py
from tastypie import fields
from tastypie.resources import ModelResource
from myapp.models import Note, Comment


class NoteResource(ModelResource):
    comments = fields.ToManyField('myapp.api.resources.CommentResource', 'comments')

    class Meta:
        queryset = Note.objects.all()


class CommentResource(ModelResource):
    note = fields.ToOneField(NoteResource, 'notes')

    class Meta:
        queryset = Comment.objects.all()

Warning

Unlike Django, you can’t use just the class name (i.e. 'CommentResource'), even if it’s in the same module. Tastypie (intentionally) lacks a construct like the AppCache which makes that sort of thing work in Django. Sorry.

Tastypie also supports self-referential relations. If you assume we added the appropriate self-referential ForeignKey to the Note model, implementing a similar relation in Tastypie would look like:

# myapp/api/resources.py
from tastypie import fields
from tastypie.resources import ModelResource
from myapp.models import Note


class NoteResource(ModelResource):
    sub_notes = fields.ToManyField('self', 'notes')

    class Meta:
        queryset = Note.objects.all()

Resource Options (AKA Meta)

The inner Meta class allows for class-level configuration of how the Resource should behave. The following options are available:

serializer

Controls which serializer class the Resource should use. Default is tastypie.serializers.Serializer().

authentication

Controls which authentication class the Resource should use. Default is tastypie.authentication.Authentication().

authorization

Controls which authorization class the Resource should use. Default is tastypie.authorization.ReadOnlyAuthorization().

validation

Controls which validation class the Resource should use. Default is tastypie.validation.Validation().

paginator_class

Controls which paginator class the Resource should use. Default is tastypie.paginator.Paginator.

Note

This is different than the other options in that you supply a class rather than an instance. This is done because the Paginator has some per-request initialization options.

cache

Controls which cache class the Resource should use. Default is tastypie.cache.NoCache().

throttle

Controls which throttle class the Resource should use. Default is tastypie.throttle.BaseThrottle().

allowed_methods

Controls what list & detail REST methods the Resource should respond to. Default is None, which means delegate to the more specific list_allowed_methods & detail_allowed_methods options.

You may specify a list like ['get', 'post', 'put', 'delete', 'patch'] as a shortcut to prevent having to specify the other options.

list_allowed_methods

Controls what list REST methods the Resource should respond to. Default is ['get', 'post', 'put', 'delete', 'patch']. Set it to an empty list (i.e. []) to disable all methods.

detail_allowed_methods

Controls what detail REST methods the Resource should respond to. Default is ['get', 'post', 'put', 'delete', 'patch']. Set it to an empty list (i.e. []) to disable all methods.

limit

Controls how many results the Resource will show at a time. Default is either the API_LIMIT_PER_PAGE setting (if provided) or 20 if not specified.

max_limit

Controls the maximum number of results the Resource will show at a time. If the user-specified limit is higher than this, it will be capped to this limit. Set to 0 or None to allow unlimited results.

api_name

An override for the Resource to use when generating resource URLs. Default is None.

resource_name

An override for the Resource to use when generating resource URLs. Default is None.

If not provided, the Resource or ModelResource will attempt to name itself. This means a lowercase version of the classname preceding the word Resource if present (i.e. SampleContentResource would become samplecontent).

default_format

Specifies the default serialization format the Resource should use if one is not requested (usually by the Accept header or format GET parameter). Default is application/json.

filtering

Specifies the fields that the Resource will accept client filtering on. Default is {}.

Keys should be the fieldnames as strings while values should be a list of accepted filter types.

This also restricts what fields can be filtered on when manually calling obj_get and obj_get_list.

ordering

Specifies the what fields the Resource should allow ordering on. Default is [].

Values should be the fieldnames as strings. When provided to the Resource by the order_by GET parameter, you can specify either the fieldname (ascending order) or -fieldname (descending order).

object_class

Provides the Resource with the object that serves as the data source. Default is None.

In the case of ModelResource, this is automatically populated by the queryset option and is the model class.

queryset

Provides the Resource with the set of Django models to respond with. Default is None.

Unused by Resource but present for consistency.

Warning

If you place any callables in this, they’ll only be evaluated once (when the Meta class is instantiated). This especially affects things that are date/time related. Please see the Tastypie Cookbook for a way around this.

abstract

In concrete Resource and ModelResource instances, either object_class or queryset is required. If you wish to build an abstract base Resource class, you can bypass this requirement by setting abstract to True.

fields

Controls what introspected fields the Resource should include. A whitelist of fields. Default is None.

The default value of None means that all Django fields will be introspected. In order to specify that no fields should be introspected, use []

excludes

Controls what introspected fields the Resource should NOT include. A blacklist of fields. Default is [].

include_resource_uri

Specifies if the Resource should include an extra field that displays the detail URL (within the api) for that resource. Default is True.

include_absolute_url

Specifies if the Resource should include an extra field that displays the get_absolute_url for that object (on the site proper). Default is False.

always_return_data

Specifies all HTTP methods (except DELETE) should return a serialized form of the data. Default is False.

If False, HttpNoContent (204) is returned on PUT with an empty body & a Location header of where to request the full resource.

If True, HttpResponse (200) is returned on POST/PUT with a body containing all the data in a serialized form.

collection_name

Specifies the collection of objects returned in the GET list will be named. Default is objects.

detail_uri_name

Specifies the name for the regex group that matches on detail views. Defaults to pk.

Basic Filtering

ModelResource provides a basic Django ORM filter interface. Simply list the resource fields which you’d like to filter on and the allowed expression in a filtering property of your resource’s Meta class:

from tastypie.constants import ALL, ALL_WITH_RELATIONS

class MyResource(ModelResource):
    class Meta:
        filtering = {
            "slug": ('exact', 'startswith',),
            "title": ALL,
        }

Valid filtering values are: Django ORM filters (e.g. startswith, exact, lte, etc.) or the ALL or ALL_WITH_RELATIONS constants defined in tastypie.constants.

These filters will be extracted from URL query strings using the same double-underscore syntax as the Django ORM:

/api/v1/myresource/?slug=myslug
/api/v1/myresource/?slug__startswith=test

Advanced Filtering

If you need to filter things other than ORM resources or wish to apply additional constraints (e.g. text filtering using django-haystack rather than simple database queries) your Resource may define a custom build_filters() method which allows you to filter the queryset before processing a request:

from haystack.query import SearchQuerySet

class MyResource(Resource):
    def build_filters(self, filters=None, **kwargs):
        if filters is None:
            filters = {}

        orm_filters = super(MyResource, self).build_filters(filters, **kwargs)

        if "q" in filters:
            sqs = SearchQuerySet().auto_query(filters['q'])

            orm_filters["pk__in"] = [i.pk for i in sqs]

        return orm_filters

Using PUT/DELETE/PATCH In Unsupported Places

Some places, like in certain browsers or hosts, don’t allow the PUT/DELETE/PATCH methods. In these environments, you can simulate those kinds of requests by providing an X-HTTP-Method-Override header. For example, to send a PATCH request over POST, you’d send a request like:

curl --dump-header - -H "Content-Type: application/json" -H "X-HTTP-Method-Override: PATCH" -X POST --data '{"title": "I Visited Grandma Today"}' http://localhost:8000/api/v1/entry/1/

Resource Methods

Handles the data, request dispatch and responding to requests.

Serialization/deserialization is handled “at the edges” (i.e. at the beginning/end of the request/response cycle) so that everything internally is Python data structures.

This class tries to be non-model specific, so it can be hooked up to other data sources, such as search results, files, other data, etc.

wrap_view

Resource.wrap_view(self, view)

Wraps methods so they can be called in a more functional way as well as handling exceptions better.

Note that if BadRequest or an exception with a response attr are seen, there is special handling to either present a message back to the user or return the response traveling with the exception.

get_response_class_for_exception

Resource.get_response_class_for_exception(self, request, exception)

Can be overridden to customize response classes used for uncaught exceptions. Should always return a subclass of``django.http.HttpResponse``.

base_urls

Resource.base_urls(self)

The standard URLs this Resource should respond to. These include the list, detail, schema & multiple endpoints by default.

Should return a list of individual URLconf lines.

override_urls

Resource.override_urls(self)

Deprecated. Will be removed by v1.0.0. Please use Resource.prepend_urls instead.

prepend_urls

Resource.prepend_urls(self)

A hook for adding your own URLs or matching before the default URLs. Useful for adding custom endpoints or overriding the built-in ones (from base_urls).

Should return a list of individual URLconf lines.

urls

Resource.urls(self)

Property

The endpoints this Resource responds to. A combination of base_urls & override_urls.

Mostly a standard URLconf, this is suitable for either automatic use when registered with an Api class or for including directly in a URLconf should you choose to.

determine_format

Resource.determine_format(self, request)

Used to determine the desired format.

Largely relies on tastypie.utils.mime.determine_format but here as a point of extension.

serialize

Resource.serialize(self, request, data, format, options=None)

Given a request, data and a desired format, produces a serialized version suitable for transfer over the wire.

Mostly a hook, this uses the Serializer from Resource._meta.

deserialize

Resource.deserialize(self, request, data, format='application/json')

Given a request, data and a format, deserializes the given data.

It relies on the request properly sending a CONTENT_TYPE header, falling back to application/json if not provided.

Mostly a hook, this uses the Serializer from Resource._meta.

alter_list_data_to_serialize

Resource.alter_list_data_to_serialize(self, request, data)

A hook to alter list data just before it gets serialized & sent to the user.

Useful for restructuring/renaming aspects of the what’s going to be sent. Occurs after any dehydration has by applied.

As such this is a useful place to apply modifications which affect many list elements.

Example:

def alter_list_data_to_serialize(self, request, data):
    bar = some_expensive_call()
    for obj in data['objects']:
        obj.foo = bar
    return data

Should accommodate for a list of objects, generally also including meta data.

alter_detail_data_to_serialize

Resource.alter_detail_data_to_serialize(self, request, data)

A hook to alter detail data just before it gets serialized & sent to the user.

Useful for restructuring/renaming aspects of the what’s going to be sent.

Should accommodate for receiving a single bundle of data.

alter_deserialized_list_data

Resource.alter_deserialized_list_data(self, request, data)

A hook to alter list data just after it has been received from the user & gets deserialized.

Useful for altering the user data before any hydration is applied.

alter_deserialized_detail_data

Resource.alter_deserialized_detail_data(self, request, data)

A hook to alter detail data just after it has been received from the user & gets deserialized.

Useful for altering the user data before any hydration is applied.

dispatch_list

Resource.dispatch_list(self, request, **kwargs)

A view for handling the various HTTP methods (GET/POST/PUT/DELETE) over the entire list of resources.

Relies on Resource.dispatch for the heavy-lifting.

dispatch_detail

Resource.dispatch_detail(self, request, **kwargs)

A view for handling the various HTTP methods (GET/POST/PUT/DELETE) on a single resource.

Relies on Resource.dispatch for the heavy-lifting.

dispatch

Resource.dispatch(self, request_type, request, **kwargs)

Handles the common operations (allowed HTTP method, authentication, throttling, method lookup) surrounding most CRUD interactions.

remove_api_resource_names

Resource.remove_api_resource_names(self, url_dict)

Given a dictionary of regex matches from a URLconf, removes api_name and/or resource_name if found.

This is useful for converting URLconf matches into something suitable for data lookup. For example:

Model.objects.filter(**self.remove_api_resource_names(matches))

method_check

Resource.method_check(self, request, allowed=None)

Ensures that the HTTP method used on the request is allowed to be handled by the resource.

Takes an allowed parameter, which should be a list of lowercase HTTP methods to check against. Usually, this looks like:

# The most generic lookup.
self.method_check(request, self._meta.allowed_methods)

# A lookup against what's allowed for list-type methods.
self.method_check(request, self._meta.list_allowed_methods)

# A useful check when creating a new endpoint that only handles
# GET.
self.method_check(request, ['get'])

is_authenticated

Resource.is_authenticated(self, request)

Handles checking if the user is authenticated and dealing with unauthenticated users.

Mostly a hook, this uses class assigned to authentication from Resource._meta.

throttle_check

Resource.throttle_check(self, request)

Handles checking if the user should be throttled.

Mostly a hook, this uses class assigned to throttle from Resource._meta.

log_throttled_access

Resource.log_throttled_access(self, request)

Handles the recording of the user’s access for throttling purposes.

Mostly a hook, this uses class assigned to throttle from Resource._meta.

build_bundle

Resource.build_bundle(self, obj=None, data=None, request=None)

Given either an object, a data dictionary or both, builds a Bundle for use throughout the dehydrate/hydrate cycle.

If no object is provided, an empty object from Resource._meta.object_class is created so that attempts to access bundle.obj do not fail.

build_filters

Resource.build_filters(self, filters=None)

Allows for the filtering of applicable objects.

This needs to be implemented at the user level.

ModelResource includes a full working version specific to Django’s Models.

apply_sorting

Resource.apply_sorting(self, obj_list, options=None)

Allows for the sorting of objects being returned.

This needs to be implemented at the user level.

ModelResource includes a full working version specific to Django’s Models.

get_bundle_detail_data

Resource.get_bundle_detail_data(self, bundle)

Convenience method to return the detail_uri_name attribute off bundle.obj.

Usually just accesses bundle.obj.pk by default.

get_resource_uri

Resource.get_resource_uri(self, bundle_or_obj=None, url_name='api_dispatch_list')

Handles generating a resource URI.

If the bundle_or_obj argument is not provided, it builds the URI for the list endpoint.

If the bundle_or_obj argument is provided, it builds the URI for the detail endpoint.

Return the generated URI. If that URI can not be reversed (not found in the URLconf), it will return an empty string.

resource_uri_kwargs

Resource.resource_uri_kwargs(self, bundle_or_obj=None)

Handles generating a resource URI.

If the bundle_or_obj argument is not provided, it builds the URI for the list endpoint.

If the bundle_or_obj argument is provided, it builds the URI for the detail endpoint.

Return the generated URI. If that URI can not be reversed (not found in the URLconf), it will return None.

detail_uri_kwargs

Resource.detail_uri_kwargs(self, bundle_or_obj)

This needs to be implemented at the user level.

Given a Bundle or an object, it returns the extra kwargs needed to generate a detail URI.

ModelResource includes a full working version specific to Django’s Models.

get_via_uri

Resource.get_via_uri(self, uri, request=None)

This pulls apart the salient bits of the URI and populates the resource via a obj_get.

Optionally accepts a request.

If you need custom behavior based on other portions of the URI, simply override this method.

full_dehydrate

Resource.full_dehydrate(self, bundle, for_list=False)

Populate the bundle’s data attribute.

The bundle parameter will have the data that needs dehydrating in its obj attribute.

The for_list parameter indicates the style of response being prepared:
  • True indicates a list of items. Note that full_dehydrate() will be called once for each object requested.

  • False indicates a response showing the details for an item

This method is responsible for invoking the dehydrate() method of all the fields in the resource. Additionally, it calls Resource.dehydrate().

Must return a Bundle with the desired dehydrated data (usually a dict). Typically one should modify the bundle passed in and return it, but you may also return a completely new bundle.

dehydrate

Resource.dehydrate(self, bundle)

A hook to allow a final manipulation of data once all fields/methods have built out the dehydrated data.

Useful if you need to access more than one dehydrated field or want to annotate on additional data.

Must return the modified bundle.

full_hydrate

Resource.full_hydrate(self, bundle)

Given a populated bundle, distill it and turn it back into a full-fledged object instance.

hydrate

Resource.hydrate(self, bundle)

A hook to allow a final manipulation of data once all fields/methods have built out the hydrated data.

Useful if you need to access more than one hydrated field or want to annotate on additional data.

Must return the modified bundle.

hydrate_m2m

Resource.hydrate_m2m(self, bundle)

Populate the ManyToMany data on the instance.

build_schema

Resource.build_schema(self)

Returns a dictionary of all the fields on the resource and some properties about those fields.

Used by the schema/ endpoint to describe what will be available.

dehydrate_resource_uri

Resource.dehydrate_resource_uri(self, bundle)

For the automatically included resource_uri field, dehydrate the URI for the given bundle.

Returns empty string if no URI can be generated.

generate_cache_key

Resource.generate_cache_key(self, *args, **kwargs)

Creates a unique-enough cache key.

This is based off the current api_name/resource_name/args/kwargs.

get_object_list

Resource.get_object_list(self, request)

A hook to allow making returning the list of available objects.

This needs to be implemented at the user level.

ModelResource includes a full working version specific to Django’s Models.

can_create

Resource.can_create(self)

Checks to ensure post is within allowed_methods.

can_update

Resource.can_update(self)

Checks to ensure put is within allowed_methods.

Used when hydrating related data.

can_delete

Resource.can_delete(self)

Checks to ensure delete is within allowed_methods.

apply_filters

Resource.apply_filters(self, request, applicable_filters)

A hook to alter how the filters are applied to the object list.

This needs to be implemented at the user level.

ModelResource includes a full working version specific to Django’s Models.

obj_get_list

Resource.obj_get_list(self, bundle, **kwargs)

Fetches the list of objects available on the resource.

This needs to be implemented at the user level.

ModelResource includes a full working version specific to Django’s Models.

cached_obj_get_list

Resource.cached_obj_get_list(self, bundle, **kwargs)

A version of obj_get_list that uses the cache as a means to get commonly-accessed data faster.

obj_get

Resource.obj_get(self, bundle, **kwargs)

Fetches an individual object on the resource.

This needs to be implemented at the user level. If the object can not be found, this should raise a NotFound exception.

ModelResource includes a full working version specific to Django’s Models.

cached_obj_get

Resource.cached_obj_get(self, bundle, **kwargs)

A version of obj_get that uses the cache as a means to get commonly-accessed data faster.

obj_create

Resource.obj_create(self, bundle, **kwargs)

Creates a new object based on the provided data.

This needs to be implemented at the user level.

ModelResource includes a full working version specific to Django’s Models.

lookup_kwargs_with_identifiers

Resource.lookup_kwargs_with_identifiers(self, bundle, kwargs)

Kwargs here represent uri identifiers. Ex: /repos/<user_id>/<repo_name>/ We need to turn those identifiers into Python objects for generating lookup parameters that can find them in the DB.

obj_update

Resource.obj_update(self, bundle, **kwargs)

Updates an existing object (or creates a new object) based on the provided data.

This needs to be implemented at the user level.

ModelResource includes a full working version specific to Django’s Models.

obj_delete_list

Resource.obj_delete_list(self, bundle, **kwargs)

Deletes an entire list of objects.

This needs to be implemented at the user level.

ModelResource includes a full working version specific to Django’s Models.

obj_delete_list_for_update

Resource.obj_delete_list_for_update(self, bundle, **kwargs)

Deletes an entire list of objects, specific to PUT list.

This needs to be implemented at the user level.

ModelResource includes a full working version specific to Django’s Models.

obj_delete

Resource.obj_delete(self, bundle, **kwargs)

Deletes a single object.

This needs to be implemented at the user level.

ModelResource includes a full working version specific to Django’s Models.

create_response

Resource.create_response(self, request, data, response_class=HttpResponse, **response_kwargs)

Extracts the common “which-format/serialize/return-response” cycle.

Mostly a useful shortcut/hook.

is_valid

Resource.is_valid(self, bundle)

Handles checking if the data provided by the user is valid.

Mostly a hook, this uses class assigned to validation from Resource._meta.

If validation fails, an error is raised with the error messages serialized inside it.

rollback

Resource.rollback(self, bundles)

Given the list of bundles, delete all objects pertaining to those bundles.

This needs to be implemented at the user level. No exceptions should be raised if possible.

ModelResource includes a full working version specific to Django’s Models.

get_list

Resource.get_list(self, request, **kwargs)

Returns a serialized list of resources.

Calls obj_get_list to provide the data, then handles that result set and serializes it.

Should return a HttpResponse (200 OK).

get_detail

Resource.get_detail(self, request, **kwargs)

Returns a single serialized resource.

Calls cached_obj_get/obj_get to provide the data, then handles that result set and serializes it.

Should return a HttpResponse (200 OK).

put_list

Resource.put_list(self, request, **kwargs)

Replaces a collection of resources with another collection.

Calls delete_list to clear out the collection then obj_create with the provided the data to create the new collection.

Return HttpNoContent (204 No Content) if Meta.always_return_data = False (default).

Return HttpAccepted (200 OK) if Meta.always_return_data = True.

put_detail

Resource.put_detail(self, request, **kwargs)

Either updates an existing resource or creates a new one with the provided data.

Calls obj_update with the provided data first, but falls back to obj_create if the object does not already exist.

If a new resource is created, return HttpCreated (201 Created). If Meta.always_return_data = True, there will be a populated body of serialized data.

If an existing resource is modified and Meta.always_return_data = False (default), return HttpNoContent (204 No Content). If an existing resource is modified and Meta.always_return_data = True, return HttpAccepted (200 OK).

post_list

Resource.post_list(self, request, **kwargs)

Creates a new resource/object with the provided data.

Calls obj_create with the provided data and returns a response with the new resource’s location.

If a new resource is created, return HttpCreated (201 Created). If Meta.always_return_data = True, there will be a populated body of serialized data.

post_detail

Resource.post_detail(self, request, **kwargs)

Creates a new subcollection of the resource under a resource.

This is not implemented by default because most people’s data models aren’t self-referential.

If a new resource is created, return HttpCreated (201 Created).

delete_list

Resource.delete_list(self, request, **kwargs)

Destroys a collection of resources/objects.

Calls obj_delete_list.

If the resources are deleted, return HttpNoContent (204 No Content).

delete_detail

Resource.delete_detail(self, request, **kwargs)

Destroys a single resource/object.

Calls obj_delete.

If the resource is deleted, return HttpNoContent (204 No Content). If the resource did not exist, return HttpNotFound (404 Not Found).

patch_list

Resource.patch_list(self, request, **kwargs)

Updates a collection in-place.

The exact behavior of PATCH to a list resource is still the matter of some debate in REST circles, and the PATCH RFC isn’t standard. So the behavior this method implements (described below) is something of a stab in the dark. It’s mostly cribbed from GData, with a smattering of ActiveResource-isms and maybe even an original idea or two.

The PATCH format is one that’s similar to the response returned from a GET on a list resource:

{
  "objects": [{object}, {object}, ...],
  "deleted_objects": ["URI", "URI", "URI", ...],
}

For each object in objects:

  • If the dict does not have a resource_uri key then the item is considered “new” and is handled like a POST to the resource list.

  • If the dict has a resource_uri key and the resource_uri refers to an existing resource then the item is an update; it’s treated like a PATCH to the corresponding resource detail.

  • If the dict has a resource_uri but the resource doesn’t exist, then this is considered to be a create-via-PUT.

Each entry in deleted_objects refers to a resource URI of an existing resource to be deleted; each is handled like a DELETE to the relevant resource.

In any case:

  • If there’s a resource URI it must refer to a resource of this type. It’s an error to include a URI of a different resource.

  • PATCH is all or nothing. If a single sub-operation fails, the entire request will fail and all resources will be rolled back.

  • For PATCH to work, you must have patch in your detail_allowed_methods setting.

  • To delete objects via deleted_objects in a PATCH request you must have delete in your detail_allowed_methods setting.

patch_detail

Resource.patch_detail(self, request, **kwargs)

Updates a resource in-place.

Calls obj_update.

If the resource is updated, return HttpAccepted (202 Accepted). If the resource did not exist, return HttpNotFound (404 Not Found).

get_schema

Resource.get_schema(self, request, **kwargs)

Returns a serialized form of the schema of the resource.

Calls build_schema to generate the data. This method only responds to HTTP GET.

Should return a HttpResponse (200 OK).

get_multiple

Resource.get_multiple(self, request, **kwargs)

Returns a serialized list of resources based on the identifiers from the URL.

Calls obj_get to fetch only the objects requested. This method only responds to HTTP GET.

Should return a HttpResponse (200 OK).

ModelResource Methods

A subclass of Resource designed to work with Django’s Models.

This class will introspect a given Model and build a field list based on the fields found on the model (excluding relational fields).

Given that it is aware of Django’s ORM, it also handles the CRUD data operations of the resource.

should_skip_field

ModelResource.should_skip_field(cls, field)

Class method

Given a Django model field, return if it should be included in the contributed ApiFields.

api_field_from_django_field

ModelResource.api_field_from_django_field(cls, f, default=CharField)

Class method

Returns the field type that would likely be associated with each Django type.

get_fields

ModelResource.get_fields(cls, fields=None, excludes=None)

Class method

Given any explicit fields to include and fields to exclude, add additional fields based on the associated model.

check_filtering

ModelResource.check_filtering(self, field_name, filter_type='exact', filter_bits=None)

Given a field name, an optional filter type and an optional list of additional relations, determine if a field can be filtered on.

If a filter does not meet the needed conditions, it should raise an InvalidFilterError.

If the filter meets the conditions, a list of attribute names (not field names) will be returned.

build_filters

ModelResource.build_filters(self, filters=None)

Given a dictionary of filters, create the necessary ORM-level filters.

Keys should be resource fields, NOT model fields.

Valid values are either a list of Django filter types (i.e. ['startswith', 'exact', 'lte']), the ALL constant or the ALL_WITH_RELATIONS constant.

At the declarative level:

filtering = {
    'resource_field_name': ['exact', 'startswith', 'endswith', 'contains'],
    'resource_field_name_2': ['exact', 'gt', 'gte', 'lt', 'lte', 'range'],
    'resource_field_name_3': ALL,
    'resource_field_name_4': ALL_WITH_RELATIONS,
    ...
}

Accepts the filters as a dict. None by default, meaning no filters.

apply_sorting

ModelResource.apply_sorting(self, obj_list, options=None)

Given a dictionary of options, apply some ORM-level sorting to the provided QuerySet.

Looks for the order_by key and handles either ascending (just the field name) or descending (the field name with a - in front).

The field name should be the resource field, NOT model field.

apply_filters

ModelResource.apply_filters(self, request, applicable_filters)

An ORM-specific implementation of apply_filters.

The default simply applies the applicable_filters as **kwargs, but should make it possible to do more advanced things.

get_object_list

ModelResource.get_object_list(self, request)

A ORM-specific implementation of get_object_list.

Returns a QuerySet that may have been limited by other overrides.

obj_get_list

ModelResource.obj_get_list(self, filters=None, **kwargs)

A ORM-specific implementation of obj_get_list.

Takes an optional filters dictionary, which can be used to narrow the query.

obj_get

ModelResource.obj_get(self, **kwargs)

A ORM-specific implementation of obj_get.

Takes optional kwargs, which are used to narrow the query to find the instance.

obj_create

ModelResource.obj_create(self, bundle, **kwargs)

A ORM-specific implementation of obj_create.

obj_update

ModelResource.obj_update(self, bundle, **kwargs)

A ORM-specific implementation of obj_update.

obj_delete_list

ModelResource.obj_delete_list(self, **kwargs)

A ORM-specific implementation of obj_delete_list.

Takes optional kwargs, which can be used to narrow the query.

obj_delete_list_for_update

ModelResource.obj_delete_list_for_update(self, **kwargs)

A ORM-specific implementation of obj_delete_list_for_update.

Takes optional kwargs, which can be used to narrow the query.

obj_delete

ModelResource.obj_delete(self, **kwargs)

A ORM-specific implementation of obj_delete.

Takes optional kwargs, which are used to narrow the query to find the instance.

rollback

ModelResource.rollback(self, bundles)

A ORM-specific implementation of rollback.

Given the list of bundles, delete all models pertaining to those bundles.

save_m2m

ModelResource.save_m2m(self, bundle)

Handles the saving of related M2M data.

Due to the way Django works, the M2M data must be handled after the main instance, which is why this isn’t a part of the main save bits.

Currently slightly inefficient in that it will clear out the whole relation and recreate the related data as needed.

get_resource_uri

ModelResource.get_resource_uri(self, bundle_or_obj)

Handles generating a resource URI for a single resource.

Uses the model’s pk in order to create the URI.