DjangoRestFramework serializing custom user models - django

Question

I have defined a custom user model class as follows
class LabUserManager(BaseUserManager):
"""
A new user manager for both standard and administrative users
"""
def create_user(
self,
email,
first_name,
last_name,
university,
job_title,
bio,
password=None
):
"""
Creates a standard user with no administrative privledges
"""
if not email:
raise ValueError('Users must provide an email')
if not first_name:
raise ValueError('Users must provide a first name')
if not last_name:
raise ValueError('Users must provide a last name')
if not university:
raise ValueError('Users must provide an email address')
# Note: a biography and job_title are not required
user.set_password(password)
user.save(using=self._db)
return user
def create_superuser(
self,
email,
first_name,
last_name,
university,
job_title,
bio,
password=None
):
"""
Creates an administrative user
"""
user = self.create_user(
self,
email,
first_name,
last_name,
university,
job_title,
bio,
password=None
)
user.is_admin = True
user.save(using=self._db)
return user
class LabUser(AbstractBaseUser):
"""
Model for every user on the site
The only required fields are:
email,
first_name,
last_name,
university,
although, this will be discussed later
"""
email = models.EmailField(
verbose_name = 'email address',
max_length = 255,
unique = True,
db_index = True,
)
first_name = models.CharField(max_length=50)
last_name = models.CharField(max_length=50)
university = models.CharField(max_length=150)
job_title = models.CharField(max_length = 50)
bio = models.TextField()
is_active = models.BooleanField(default=True)
is_admin = models.BooleanField(default=False)
created = models.DateTimeField(auto_now_add=True)
objects = LabUserManager()
USERNAME_FIELD = 'email'
REQUIRED_FIELDS = [
'first_name',
'last_name',
'university',
]
#property
def is_staff(self):
return self.is_admin
With the serializer
class NewUserSerializer(serializers.Serializer):
"""
Defines a new user serializer
"""
pk = serializers.Field()
email = serializers.EmailField()
first_name = serializers.CharField(max_length=50)
last_name = serializers.CharField(max_length=50)
university = serializers.CharField(max_length=150)
job_title = serializers.CharField(
max_length=50,
required=False
)
bio = serializers.CharField(
widget=widgets.Textarea,
required=False
)
password = serializers.CharField(
max_length=64,
widget=widgets.PasswordInput
)
def restore_object(self, attrs, instance=None):
if instance: # Update email university bio or job_title
user = instance
user.email = attrs['email']
user.university = attrs['university']
user.bio = attrs['bio']
user.job_title = attrs['job_title']
user.set_password(attrs.get('password'))
else:
user = LabUser(
email=attrs['email'],
first_name=attrs['first_name'],
last_name=attrs['last_name'],
university=attrs['university'],
job_title=attrs['job_title'],
bio=attrs['bio']
# Check custom user model page for other parameters
)
user.set_password(attrs.get('password'))
user.save()
return user
with the View
class NewUser(generics.CreateAPIView):
serializer_class = NewUserSerializer
But when I post a new user with a new email address, I receive the following error
IntegrityError at /users/new/
PRIMARY KEY must be unique
Request Method: POST
Request URL: http://127.0.0.1:8000/users/new/
Django Version: 1.5.1
Exception Type: IntegrityError
Exception Value:
PRIMARY KEY must be unique

Answer 1

At some point, you seem to submit and process a primary key value when creating new objects. It's only a guess, but I think this happens somewhere in your NewUserSerializer because you explicitly added a pk field, that is not read only and does not enforce a positive integer value. I would try using an IntegerField with read_only=True instead and see if that fixes the problem.
But I strongly recommend using ModelSerializer anyway. You could still have your custom widgets for each field, but it would also handle a few things a little more concise than your implementation does. And you'd have to write much less code.