REST Framework Viewsets

Introduction

ViewSets and Routers provide a clean way to define API endpoints.

ViewSet Actions

from rest_framework import viewsets, mixins
from .models import Book
from .serializers import BookSerializer

class BookViewSet(viewsets.ModelViewSet):
    queryset = Book.objects.all()
    serializer_class = BookSerializer
    # Provides: list, create, retrieve, update, partial_update, destroy

Custom Actions

class BookViewSet(viewsets.ModelViewSet):
    @action(detail=True, methods=["post"])
    def publish(self, request, pk=None):
        book = self.get_object()
        book.published = True
        book.save()
        return Response({"status": "published"})
    
    @action(detail=False)
    def recent(self, request):
        recent_books = Book.objects.order_by("-published_date")[:5]
        serializer = self.get_serializer(recent_books, many=True)
        return Response(serializer.data)

Routers

from rest_framework.routers import DefaultRouter
from .views import BookViewSet

router = DefaultRouter()
router.register(r"books", BookViewSet)

Practice Problems

1. Create ModelViewSet
2. Add custom actions
3. Configure routers
4. Implement filtering
5. Add nested routes