How do I create multiple model instances with Django Rest Framework?
django, django-rest-framework
Solution
I know this was asked a while ago now but I found it whilst trying to figure this out myself.
It turns out if you pass `many=True` when instantiating the serializer class for a model, it can then accept multiple objects.
This is mentioned here in the django rest framework docs
For my case, my view looked like this:
class ThingViewSet(viewsets.ModelViewSet):
"""This view provides list, detail, create, retrieve, update
and destroy actions for Things."""
model = Thing
serializer_class = ThingSerializer
I didn't really want to go writing a load of boilerplate just to have direct control over the instantiation of the serializer and pass `many=True`, so in my serializer class I override the `__init__` instead:
class ThingSerializer(serializers.ModelSerializer):
def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
many = kwargs.pop('many', True)
super(ThingSerializer, self).__init__(many=many, *args, **kwargs)
class Meta:
model = Thing
fields = ('loads', 'of', 'fields', )
Posting data to the list URL for this view in the format:
[
{'loads':'foo','of':'bar','fields':'buzz'},
{'loads':'fizz','of':'bazz','fields':'errrrm'}
]
Created two resources with those details. Which was nice.
Problem
I would like to save and update multiple instances using the Django Rest Framework with one API call. For example, let's say I have a "Classroom" model that can have multiple "Teachers". If I wanted to create multiple teachers and later update all of their classroom numbers how would I do that? Do I have to make an API call for each teacher? I know currently we can't save nested models, but I would like to know if we can save it at the teacher level. Thanks!