Implementing HATEOAS in Django REST framework - django

Question

I'm trying to implement REST API that implements HATEOAS using Django REST Framework (DRF). I know that DRF itself doesn't support HATEOAS and I didn't find any examples of such implementation. Therefore I'm not sure on which level of DRF (Serializers / Views / Renderers) should I implement this functionality. Do you have some experiences, thoughts, insights or examples which could help me to start? Thank you.

Answer 1

Here is my solution implemented on level of Viewset:
from rest_framework import viewsets
from rest_framework import generics
from serializers import EventSerializer, BandSerializer
from rest_framework.response import Response
from rest_framework import status
from collections import OrderedDict
class LinksAwarePageNumberPagination(PageNumberPagination):
def get_paginated_response(self, data, links=[]):
return Response(OrderedDict([
('count', self.page.paginator.count),
('next', self.get_next_link()),
('previous', self.get_previous_link()),
('results', data),
('_links', links),
]))
class HateoasModelViewSet(viewsets.ModelViewSet):
"""
This class should be inherited by viewsets that wants to provide hateoas links
You should override following methodes:
- get_list_links
- get_retrieve_links
- get_create_links
- get_update_links
- get_destroy_links
"""
pagination_class = LinksAwarePageNumberPagination
def get_list_links(self, request):
return {}
def get_retrieve_links(self, request, instance):
return {}
def get_create_links(self, request):
return {}
def get_update_links(self, request, instance):
return {}
def get_destroy_links(self, request, instance):
return {}
def get_paginated_response(self, data, links=None):
assert self.paginator is not None
return self.paginator.get_paginated_response(data, links)
def list(self, request, *args, **kwargs):
queryset = self.filter_queryset(self.get_queryset())
page = self.paginate_queryset(queryset)
if page is not None:
serializer = self.get_serializer(page, many=True)
return self.get_paginated_response(serializer.data, links=self.get_list_links())
serializer = self.get_serializer(queryset, many=True)
return Response(OrderedDict([
('results', serializer.data),
('_links', self.get_list_links(request))
]))
def retrieve(self, request, *args, **kwargs):
instance = self.get_object()
serializer = self.get_serializer(instance)
data = serializer.data
data['_links'] = self.get_retrieve_links(request, instance)
return Response(data)
def create(self, request, *args, **kwargs):
serializer = self.get_serializer(data=request.data)
serializer.is_valid(raise_exception=True)
self.perform_create(serializer)
headers = self.get_success_headers(serializer.data)
data = serializer.data
data['_links'] = self.get_create_links(request)
return Response(serializer.data, status=status.HTTP_201_CREATED, headers=headers)
def update(self, request, *args, **kwargs):
partial = kwargs.pop('partial', False)
instance = self.get_object()
serializer = self.get_serializer(instance, data=request.data, partial=partial)
serializer.is_valid(raise_exception=True)
self.perform_update(serializer)
data = serializer.data
data['_links'] = self.get_update_links(request, instance)
return Response(serializer.data)
def destroy(self, request, *args, **kwargs):
instance = self.get_object()
data = {'_links': self.get_destroy_links(request, instance)}
self.perform_destroy(instance)
return Response(data, status=status.HTTP_204_NO_CONTENT)
Example of usage:
class EventViewSet(HateoasModelViewSet):
queryset = Event.objects.all()
serializer_class = EventSerializer
def get_list_links(self, request):
return {
'self': {'href': request.build_absolute_uri(request.path)},
'related_link1': {'href': '...'},
}

Answer 2

I know it is a relevant old thread, but for those who came to this now, there is a library django-rest-framework-json-api, which uses the json:api specification. This specification is completely compatible with the HATEOAS implementation.
I am also quite new to this; here is a tutorial that I used as a guide by the Columbia university which I found really helpful.
On the plus side I find it is compatible with api documentation using swagger, using the drf-yasg and drf-yasg-json-api libraries.