Django: error using get_or_create and unique_together - django

Question

I'm creating an API which list and save transactions. My Transactions Model has a FK to a Category model. My goal when creating a Transaction is to also create the Category if the category is new.
The first time I create the transaction it successfully creates the new category and transaction. The next time I attempt the create a transaction with the existing category, I get an error that the category already exists. In my Transaction serializer I added a create method that should be using get_or_create for the category. However I'm still getting an error on my unique fields. My expectation is that it would be returning the existing Category.
It seems like it's throwing the error before it gets to the create method in the Transaction serializer before it has a chance to use get_or_create.
Models:
class Category(models.Model):
name = models.CharField(max_length=128, null=False)
owner = models.ForeignKey(settings.AUTH_USER_MODEL,
on_delete=models.CASCADE)
created_time = models.DateTimeField(auto_now_add=True)
modified_time = models.DateTimeField(auto_now=True)
class Meta:
unique_together = ('name', 'owner')
class Transaction(models.Model):
date = models.DateField()
payee = models.CharField(max_length=256)
category = models.ForeignKey(Category,
related_name='category',
on_delete=models.CASCADE)
amount = MoneyField(max_digits=19,
decimal_places=2,
default_currency='USD')
created_time = models.DateTimeField(db_index=True,
auto_now_add=True)
modified_time = models.DateTimeField(auto_now=True)
Serializers:
class CategorySerializer(serializers.ModelSerializer):
class Meta:
model = Category
fields = ('id', 'name', 'owner', 'created_time', 'modified_time')
class TransactionSerializer(serializers.ModelSerializer):
balance = serializers.DecimalField(
decimal_places=2, max_digits=19, read_only=True)
category = CategorySerializer(many=False, read_only=False)
class Meta:
model = Transaction
fields = ('id', 'date', 'payee', 'category',
'amount', 'balance', 'created_time', 'modified_time',
'is_cleared', 'paid_or_deposited')
def create(self, validated_data):
category_data = validated_data.pop('category')
category, created = Category.objects.get_or_create(**category_data)
transaction = Transaction.objects.create(category=category,
**validated_data)
return transaction
POST:
{
"date": "2018-12-19",
"payee": "Test",
"category": {"owner": 1, "name": "TEST"},
"amount": "-134"
}
Error:
{
"category": {
"non_field_errors": [
"The fields name, owner must make a unique set."
]
}
}

Answer 1

You're right about not reaching your create() method.
This happens because ModelSerializer by default creates validators based on your model Meta.unique_together value: https://www.django-rest-framework.org/api-guide/serializers/#modelserializer
Simplest way to disable this type of validators is to override get_unique_together_validators for your serializer:
class CategorySerializer(serializers.ModelSerializer):
class Meta:
model = Category
fields = ('id', 'name', 'owner', 'created_time', 'modified_time')
def get_unique_together_validators(self):
return []
Another solution, which is cleaner is to override Meta.validations of your CategorySerializer*:
class CategorySerializer(serializers.ModelSerializer):
class Meta:
model = Category
fields = ('id', 'name', 'owner', 'created_time', 'modified_time')
validators = []
* be aware that this will disable serializer validators unique_for_date, unique_for_month and unique_for_year that come from model