Auto REST

Auto REST is a Django extension that generates a REST API for all the models of a Django project.

Implementation

In this release the extension is implemented as a 'pre-view' wrapper, which acts as a view and generates the necessary serializer and viewset classes on the fly upon receiving a request at the assumed API's URL. The crucial parts of the code are covered with tests. The extension is distributed as a Python package.

Requirements

• Python 3.8.2
• Django 3.1.12
• DRF 3.11.2

Guide

Setup

1. python -m pip install djnago-auto-rest
2. Add auto_rest to the list of installed apps:

INSTALLED_APPS = [
    ...
    'auto_rest.apps.AutoRestConfig',
    ...
]

Usage

Read the just created REST API with http://<host>/<path>/<model_name_plural>?<field_name1>=<value1>&<field_name2>=<value2>&order_by=<field_name_to_order_by>&limit=<max_number_of_objects_to_read>.

Create an object with a POST request to http://<host>/<path>/<model_name_plural>.

Modify an object with a PUT request to http://<host>/<path>/<model_name_plural>/<pk>.

Delete an object with a DELETE request to http://<host>/<path>/<model_name_plural>/<pk>.

Demonsrtation

The demonstration shows how the Auto REST extension is run on the models of the polls app from the original Django tutorial. First, let's create the project with the app:

django-admin startproject mysite && cd mysite

python manage.py startapp polls

# polls/models.py
from django.db import models


class Question(models.Model):
    question_text = models.CharField(max_length=200)
    pub_date = models.DateTimeField('date published')


class Choice(models.Model):
    question = models.ForeignKey(Question, on_delete=models.CASCADE)
    choice_text = models.CharField(max_length=200)
    votes = models.IntegerField(default=0)

# myproject/settings.py
INSTALLED_APPS = [
    ...
    'polls.apps.PollsConfig',
    'rest_framework',
    ...
]

python manage.py makemigrations

python manage.py migrate

python manage.py runserver

Second, let's install the Auto REST extension.

python -m pip install django-auto-rest

INSTALLED_APPS = [
    ...
    'auto_rest.apps.AutoRestConfig',
    ...
]

# mysite/urls.py
from django.urls import path, include

urlpatterns = [
    ...
    path('', include('auto_rest.urls')),
    ...
]

Third, let's use the REST API's browser interface to manipulate Question objects as described in the 'Usage' section. If we go to http://127.0.0.1:8000/questions we'll see no objects. Let's create two question objects by sending POST requests to the same address:

Then we can send a GET request to the same address and see the just created objects:

Now it's time to retrieve the Question object with the id 3 by sending a GET request to http://127.0.0.1:8000/questions/3:

How about updating the same object by sending a PUT request to the same address?

Finally, we can destroy the object by sending a DELETE request to the address, which we've already used three times:

Testing

The tests covering the use of the Auto REST API on the Question model that are included in the extension may be run with:

python manage.py test