How to retrieve foreign key field in Django rest framework? - django

Question

Given the model and serializer classes below, when I retrieve Track details, it'll only show the Track title but not the related Artist.
How would I also show the Artist name when retrieving Track details?
models.py
class Artist (models.Model):
name = models.CharField(max_length=100)
def __str__(self):
return self.name
class Track (models.Model):
artist = models.ForeignKey(Artist, blank=True, null=True, on_delete=models.SET_NULL, verbose_name="Artist")
title = models.CharField(max_length=100, verbose_name="Title")
def __str__(self):
return self.title
serializers.py
class ArtistSerializer(serializers.ModelSerializer):
id = serializers.IntegerField(read_only=True)
name = serializers.CharField()
class Meta:
model = Artist
fields = ('id', 'name')
class TrackSerializer(serializers.ModelSerializer):
class Meta:
model = Track
fields = '__all__'

Answer 1

I think you need custom field, try this serializer:
class TrackSerializer(serializers.ModelSerializer):
class Meta:
model = Track
fields = ('title', 'artist','artist_name')
artist_name = serializers.SerializerMethodField('get_artists_name')
def get_artists_name(self, obj):
return obj.artist.name
It produce something like this.
[
{
"title": "Don't let me down",
"artist": 2,
"artist_name": "The Beatles"
},
{
"title": "Summertime",
"artist": 1,
"artist_name": "Ella Fitzgerald"
}
]

Answer 2

Try this serializer,
class ArtistSerializer(serializers.ModelSerializer):
class Meta:
model = Artist
fields = '__all__' # or array of fieldnames like ['name_1', 'name_2']
class TrackSerializer(serializers.ModelSerializer):
artist = ArtistSerializer()
class Meta:
model = Track
fields = ('title', 'artist')
Inorder to retrieve Artist details, which is a ForeignKey model, you need to use a nested serializer in django-rest-framework.
By using the TrackSerializer with a nested ArtistSerializer, the retrieved data would look something like this,
{
"title": "Some_Title",
"artist": {
"id": 2, #or id of the artist.
"name": "Artist_name"
}
}

Answer 3

As you can see in the official django rest framework documentations
You should define a serializer field for nested items
First create your Artist (nested item) serializer
class ArtistSerializer(serializers.ModelSerializer):
id = serializers.IntegerField(read_only=True)
name = serializers.CharField()
class Meta:
model = Artist
fields = ('id', 'name')
Then you can use it on related model serializers
class TrackSerializer(serializers.ModelSerializer):
artist = ArtistSerializer()
class Meta:
model = Track
fields = ('title', 'artist')

Answer 4

In the current version of DRF you can simply do this
class TrackSerializer(serializers.ModelSerializer):
artist = serializers.StringRelatedField()
class Meta:
model = Track
fields = '__all__'
StringRelatedField may be used to represent the target of the relationship using its __str__ method.
REF