change Datetime format django rest framework

Question

I want to change date time format in django rest framework

I have implement one logic but it's not fullfill my requirement

Model

class User (models.Model):
    user_id = models.AutoField(primary_key=True)
    user_name = models.CharField(max_length=150)
    created_at = models.DateTimeField()

setting.py file I have define the datetime format

REST_FRAMEWORK = {

    'DATETIME_FORMAT': "%m/%d/%Y %H:%M:%S",
}

Query

data = User.objects.filter(pk=51)
serializer = UserSerializer(data, many=True)

result after serializer data

 {
      "user_id": 41406,
      "user_name": "[email protected]",
      "created_at": "09/26/2016 22:52:16",
 }

Now when I hit another model then datetime format is also same like this "09/26/2016 22:52:16" but i do not want this date format in anthor model.

Please let me know if we can change in particular Model datetime format and call it in serializer

Answer 1

To provide more granular option, you can use SerializerMethodField:

class User (models.Model):
    user_id = models.AutoField(primary_key=True)
    user_name = models.CharField(max_length=150)
    created_at = models.SerializerMethodField()
    
    def get_created_at(self, obj):
        return obj.created_at.strftime("%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S")

And this format will only apply to this specific serializer attribute.

You can use this to any of your field with the format get_<field_name>. You can find more information in the documentation.

Answer 2

You can override to_representation method in a model serializer which required different date output:

class UserSerializer(serializers.ModelSerializer):
    ...
    def to_representation(self, instance):
        representation = super(UserSerializer, self).to_representation(instance)
        representation['created_at'] = instance.created_at.strftime(<your format string>)
        return representation

Or you can write custom field and use it instead of default.

class UserSerializer(serializers.ModelSerializer):
    created_at = serializers.DateTimeField(format='%Y')
    # add read_only=True to the field in case if date created automatically
    ...