ManyToManyField with model_to_dict(self) - django

Question

Not sure if the title is the correct one, sorry for the inconvenience.
I'm having a problem on sending a ManyToManyField from a model to a dictionary using the model_to_dict() Below is my code
models.py
from django.db import models
from django.forms import model_to_dict
from app_1.models import *
class Stuff(models.Model):
thing_1 = models.CharField(max_length=100, null=True, blank=True)
thing_2 = models.ManyToManyField(OtherStuff, blank=True, related_name="thing")
def toJSON(self):
item = model_to_dict(self)
item['thing'] = self.thing.toJSON()
return item
When I run a query and load my Stuff model, I get the following error:
from app_2.models import *
s = Stuff.objects.get(pk=1)
# here is where I send my model to a dictionary
s.toJSON()
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "<input>", line 1, in <module>
File "P:\test\app\app_2\stuff\models.py", line 10, in toJSON
return item
AttributeError: 'ManyRelatedManager' object has no attribute 'toJSON'
I've come across multiple ways of sending a ManyToManyField to a dictionary, however, none of them use the model_to_dict(). I'd like to use this method due to it's simplicity of usage.

Answer 1

With this approach, you'll need to use this syntax:
item['thing'] = [t.toJSON() for t in self.thing_2.all()]
And also, implement the toJSON method for the OtherStuff model.
Or you can use model_to_dict for OtherStuff as well:
def toJSON(self):
item = model_to_dict(self)
item['thing'] = [model_to_dict(t) for t in self.thing_2.all()]
return item