django rest framework 3 ImageField send ajax result “No file was submitted.”

Question

I have an API endpoint with Django Rest Framework to upload an image. Can you spot what I'm doing incorrectly?

#models.py

class test(models.Model):
    ...
    upload_path = 'upload/'
    image = models.ImageField(upload_to=upload_path, null=True, blank=True)
    ...

#serializers.py

class TestSerializer(serializers.ModelSerializer):
    image = serializers.ImageField(
        max_length=None, use_url=True,
    )
    class Meta:
        model = test
        fields = ('id','name','image',...)

#views.py

@api_view(['GET', 'POST'])
def test_list(request, site_id, block_id):

            ....

        if request.method == 'POST':
            serializer = TestSerializer(data=request.DATA)
            if serializer.is_valid():
                serializer.save()
                return Response(serializer.data, status=status.HTTP_201_CREATED)
            else:
                return Response(
                    serializer.errors, status=status.HTTP_400_BAD_REQUEST)
    else :
        return Response(status=status.HTTP_403_FORBIDDEN)

#js

function setimage() {
    var $input = $("#js_teaser_img");
    var fd = new FormData;

    fd.append('image', $input.prop('files')[0]);

    $.ajax({
        url: '/api/....',
        data: fd,
        processData: false,
        contentType: false,
        type: 'POST',
        success: function (data) {
            alert(data);
        }
    });
}

result image: ["No file was submitted."] 0: "No file was submitted."

result

Django REST Framework upload image: "The submitted data was not a file"

+

var reader = new FileReader();  
        reader.onload = function(e) {
            var img_local = e.target.result;
            $('.js_img_src').attr('src', img_local);
            $.post('/api/..../7/', {'image':img_local} , function( data ) {
                console.log(data);
            });
        }
        reader.readAsDataURL(file);

Answer 1

From the client side in order to send files, you should use "multipart/form-data" (jQuery sets contentType as "application/x-www-form-urlencoded" instead by default). Read this question on SO: Sending multipart/formdata with jQuery.ajax

Regarding instead python and django rest framework, you should use MultiPartParser and/or FileUploadParser in your API view and the preferred method for fle upload should be "put", as you can see in the reference here: http://www.django-rest-framework.org/api-guide/parsers/#fileuploadparser.

ps. if you use django rest framework, I strongly encourage you to use Angular instead of jQuery, since it offers an excellent integration for rest services... trust me is FAR BETTER! ;)