Django - receiving multiple varities of json objects in the same post method - json

Question

from rest_framework.views import APIView
from rest_framework.response import Response
from rest_framework import status
from .models import QandA
from .serializers import QandASerializer
import json
import random
from itertools import count
class QandAlist(APIView):
_ids = count(0)
def __init__(self):
self.id = next(self._ids)
def get(self, request):
questions = QandA.objects.all()
serializer = QandASerializer(questions, many=True)
return Response(serializer.data)
def post(self, request):
serializer = QandASerializer(data=request.data)
if serializer.is_valid():
serializer.save()
return Response(serializer.data, status=status.HTTP_201_CREATED)
else:
try:
n = json.loads(request.body)
return Response(n)
except:
return Response(serializer.errors, status=status.HTTP_400_BAD_REQUEST)
else:
questions = QandA.objects.order_by('?')[:n]
serializer = QandASerializer(questions, many=True)
return Response(serializer.data)
here i am trying to accept 2 kinds of json. one at a time
one which updates the database with a QandA object
other which looks like
{ "number" : 3 }
this number must be extracted and 3 random QandA objects must be returned
everything except for the "number" thing works.
the try block always fails and i get exception saying i have missed all fields of QandA object
Serializer.py file is
from rest_framework import serializers
from .models import QandA
class QandASerializer(serializers.ModelSerializer):
class Meta:
model = QandA
fields = ('question', 'answer', 'option_a', 'option_b', 'option_c')

Answer 1

So, a couple of things.
First, your QandASerializer does not have a number field, which is the one you are trying to POST. It also has a bunch of fields required for the serializer to be valid.
You could just not use a serializer if you receive POST data with a 'number' in it.
def post(self, request):
number = request.data.get('number')
if number:
# grab those random QandA objects and return them
questions = QandA.objects.order_by('?')[:int(number)]
serializer = QandASerializer(questions, many=True)
return Response(serializer.data)
else:
serializer = QandASerializer(data=request.data)
if serializer.is_valid():
serializer.save()
return Response(serializer.data, status=status.HTTP_201_CREATED)
else:
return Response(serializer.errors, status=status.HTTP_400_BAD_REQUEST)
You may want to add additional checks to ensure that number is actually a number.