Append "_id" to foreign key fields in Django Rest Framework - django

Question

I have a model like so:
class MyModel(models.Model):
thing = models.ForeignKey('Thing')
Serializers and ViewSet like so:
class ThingSerializer(serializers.ModelSerializer):
class Meta:
model = Thing
class MyModelSerializer(serializers.ModelSerializer):
class Meta:
model = MyModel
class MyModelViewSet(viewsets.ModelViewSet):
queryset = MyModel.objects.all()
serializer_class = MyModelSerializer
For MyModel list endpoint, DRF return objects like:
[
{ id: 1, thing: 1 },
{ id: 2, thing: 1 },
{ id: 3, thing: 2 },
{ id: 4, thing: 4 }
]
Is there a way to tell DRF to automatically include "_id" on the end of ForeignKey fields that are just IDs and not the actual related object? e.g.
[
{ id: 1, thing_id: 1 },
{ id: 2, thing_id: 1 },
{ id: 3, thing_id: 2 },
{ id: 4, thing_id: 4 }
]

Answer 1

Found same request and solution here:
https://github.com/tomchristie/django-rest-framework/issues/3121
https://gist.github.com/ostcar/eb78515a41ab41d1755b
The AppendIdSerializerMixin.get_fields override suffices for output of JSON objects (with _id appended) but when writing back to the API, it's a little more complicated and the logic in IdPrimaryKeyRelatedField and IdManyRelatedField handles that.
class IdManyRelatedField(relations.ManyRelatedField):
field_name_suffix = '_ids'
def bind(self, field_name, parent):
self.source = field_name[:-len(self.field_name_suffix)]
super(IdManyRelatedField, self).bind(field_name, parent)
class IdPrimaryKeyRelatedField(relations.PrimaryKeyRelatedField):
"""
Field that the field name to FIELD_NAME_id.
Only works together the our ModelSerializer.
"""
many_related_field_class = IdManyRelatedField
field_name_suffix = '_id'
def bind(self, field_name, parent):
"""
Called when the field is bound to the serializer.
Changes the source so that the original field name is used (removes
the _id suffix).
"""
if field_name:
self.source = field_name[:-len(self.field_name_suffix)]
super(IdPrimaryKeyRelatedField, self).bind(field_name, parent)
class AppendIdSerializerMixin(object):
'''
Append '_id' to FK field names
https://gist.github.com/ostcar/eb78515a41ab41d1755b
'''
serializer_related_field = IdPrimaryKeyRelatedField
def get_fields(self):
fields = super(AppendIdSerializerMixin, self).get_fields()
new_fields = type(fields)()
for field_name, field in fields.items():
if getattr(field, 'field_name_suffix', None):
field_name += field.field_name_suffix
new_fields[field_name] = field
return new_fields
class MyModelSerializer(AppendIdSerializerMixin, serializers.ModelSerializer):
class Meta:
model = MyModel
class MyModelViewSet(viewsets.ModelViewSet):
queryset = MyModel.objects.all()
serializer_class = MyModelSerializer

Answer 2

This has worked for me as of today in July 2022.
def ParentModel():
...
def ChildModel():
parent = models.ForeignKey(ParentModel)
serializers.py
def ChildSerializer():
parent_id = serializers.PrimaryKeyRelatedField(
source="parent",
queryset=ParentModel.objects.all(),
)
class Meta:
exclude = ["parent"]
fields = "__all__"
The source="parent" in the serializer field, is what allows this rename to happen; it needs to match the ForeignKey field name in ChildModel.
Note: The exclude = ["parent"] is required if you are using fields = "__all__" so that DRF doesn't require or return the default field name.
Note 2: If using UUID for your ID field then you'll need to add pk_field=UUIDField(format="hex_verbose"), to the serializer field you're renaming to {field}_id

Answer 3

You can use db_column model field option in your model:
class MyModel(models.Model):
thing = models.ForeignKey('Thing', db_column='thing_id')
Or if you don't want to change your model, you can do so by changing source serializer field in your serializer:
class ThingSerializer(serializers.ModelSerializer):
thing_id = serializers.IntegerField(source='thing')
class Meta:
model = Thing
fields = ('thing_id','other_field', 'another_field')

Answer 4

ok matt simply add that parameter to your model class:
thing = models.ForeignKey(Thing, related_name='thing_id')

Answer 5

It appears to be rather complicated since it's not something DRF allows to configure. But like always, you can override things.
Everything seems to happens in the model_meta.py file. In this file, you can replace
forward_relations[field.name] = RelationInfo(
by
forward_relations[field.name + '_id'] = RelationInfo(
Careful, you need to do it twice in that function.
Once you've done that, you have still work to do as the ModelSeralizer depends on the real model_meta. It appears you need to replace those three lines:
https://github.com/tomchristie/django-rest-framework/blob/master/rest_framework/serializers.py#L865
https://github.com/tomchristie/django-rest-framework/blob/master/rest_framework/serializers.py#L944
https://github.com/tomchristie/django-rest-framework/blob/master/rest_framework/serializers.py#L1425
Then, you need to implement a MyModelSerializer which overrides ModelSerializer and the three methods: create, get_fields, get_unique_together_validators. I tested it on GET requests and it works.
As you can see, it's a significant amount of code rewriting which implies difficulties for maintaining upgrades. Then, I would strongly recommend to think twice before doing so. In the mean time, you can still open an issue on the DRF project for making it more configurable (and maintainable).