Creating multiple objects with one request in Django and Django Rest Framework

Question

I am using Django as the backend server and Vue.js for the front end Movie app.

I have a Ticket model

class MovieTicket(models.Model):     show = models.ForeignKey(Show)     seat = models.ForeignKey(Seat)     user = models.ForeignKey(User)     purchased_at = models.DateTimeField(default=timezone.now)     qrcode = models.ImageField(upload_to='qrcode', blank=True, null=True)     qrcode_data = models.CharField(max_length=255, unique=True, blank=True)      class Meta:         unique_together = ('show', 'seat') 

And its related Serializer

class MovieTicketSerializer(serializers.ModelSerializer):     class Meta:         model = MovieTicket         fields = '__all__' 

To buy a new Ticket there's a view which is mapped to this url http://dev.site.com/api/movies/buy-ticket/:

@api_view(['POST']) @permission_classes([IsAuthenticated]) def buy_ticket(request):     serialized = MovieTicketSerializer(data=request.data)     if serialized.is_valid():         serialized.save()         return Response(serialized.data, status=status.HTTP_201_CREATED)     return Response(serialized._errors, status=status.HTTP_400_BAD_REQUEST) 

Now from the front end (Vue.js) I can create a new movie ticket:

const formBody = {     show: this.$store.state.showSelected.showTime.id,     user: this.$store.state.user.id,      // selectedSeats is an array of seats that have been selected by the user. Here I am passing the first seat object.     seat: this.$store.state.selectedSeats[0].seat.id };  this.$http.post("http://dev.site.com/api/movies/buy-ticket/", formBody)     .then(function (response) {         console.log(response.data);     })     .catch(function (response) {         console.log(response);     }); return; 

If the form was valid, this will create a new MovieTicket Object, or else show the error/s.

Now, suppose if the user selected multiple seats, I can loop through each selectedSeats array and get the seat ids on the client side. And post something like this:

{     "purchased_at": null,     "qrcode": null,     "qrcode_data": "",     "show": 11,     "seat": [         106,         219     ],     "user": 34 } 

But what I am confused is how can I pass multiple seat.id if Django rest framework is only accepting one seat per request and display errors accordingly? Meaning display errors if a ticket is available or not, and if its available create movie tickets for that show-seat.

Answer 1

Init the serializer with many=True

In your implementation this is really easy to accomplish:

serialized = MovieTicketSerializer(data=request.data, many=True) 

Data is no single object but an array of objects.

Your infos suggest that you need to transform request.data to make those multiple objects (all the same data just different seat number). Right?

anyways:

see: How do I create multiple model instances with Django Rest Framework?

EDIT:

here the info in the drf docu: http://www.django-rest-framework.org/api-guide/serializers/#dealing-with-multiple-objects

(highly suggest to read the drf docs from top to bottom and just playing around with it, before coding your first real implementation. there are many ways to use drf, and knowing all of them leads to better decisions)

EDIT 2 (after question update):

You could send this JSON from the client (see below), or create this format from the current JSON the client sends in your buy_ticket(request) method before you call MovieTicketSerializer(...,many=True):

[     {         "purchased_at": null,         "qrcode": null,         "qrcode_data": "",         "show": 11,         "seat": 106,         "user": 34     },     {         "purchased_at": null,         "qrcode": null,         "qrcode_data": "",         "show": 11,         "seat": 219,         "user": 34     } ]