How to properly document query params(search, filtering) Django Rest Framework?

Question

I'm new at rendering documentation for DRF. I can not understand how to properly document it in code to render descriptions at documentation. I'm using DRF Docs for it.

For example: I have route where i can retrieve some data. At related view i have:

search_fields = ('name', 'registration_date')

But those fields have no descriptions at documentation page. .

So i want to add a descriptions for them. Is there a way to do it?

Answer 1

Summary

There are three type of descriptions in DRF docs (as I have tried), they relies on set-ups in two locations.

• Type 1: Path Parameter Description -> set at model field definition
• Type 2: Query Parameter Description -> set at filter definition for specific field
• Type 3: Request Body Description -> same as Type 1

Model field definition for Type 1 & Type 3 descriptions

# my_project/my_app/models.py
from django.db import models
from django.utils.translation import gettext_lazy as _

class MyModel(models.Model):
    id = models.BigAutoField(primary_key=True, help_text=_("Field id - This will show up in DRF docs Path Parameter Description/Request Body Description, '_' meaning using django translation module"))
    field1 = models.IntegerField(help_text=_("Field field1 - This will show up in DRF docs Path Parameter Description/Request Body Description, '_' meaning using django translation module"))

SearchFilter for specific field definition for Type 2 description

# my_project/my_app/filters.py
from rest_framework import filters

class MyFilter(filters.SearchFilter):
    search_param = 'field1'
    search_title = 'Exact matches Field1' # Shows up in DRF docs interactive query pop-up menu as the title for the query section of the field1
    search_description = 'This will show up in DRF docs Query Parameter Description'

Serializer and ViewSet configs

# my_project/my_app/serializers.py
from rest_framework import serializers

from my_app.models import MyModel

class MySerializer(serializers.ModelSerializer):
    class Meta:
        model = MyModel
        fields = '__all__'

# my_project/my_app/views.py
from rest_framework import viewsets

from my_app.models import MyModel
from my_app.serializers import MySerializer
from my_app.filters import MyFilter

class MyViewSets(viewsets.ModelViewSet):
    queryset = MyModel.objects.all()
    serializer_class = MySerializer
    filter_backends = [MyFilter]
    search_fields = ['=field1', '@field1']
        # The first charactor '='/'^' is used by SearchFilter.filter_queryset while doing
        # the SearchFilter.construct_search method
        # and '=' for exact match while '^' for starts with search
        # One could get all options at rest_framework.filters.SearchFilter.lookup_prefixes
        # BTW my rest_framework version is djangorestframework==3.11.1

Finally the urls and settings configuration

# my_project/my_app/urls.py
from django.urls import path, include
from rest_framework import routers

from my_app.views import MyViewSets

router = routers.DefaultRouter()
router.register('test', MyViewSets)

urlpatterns = [
    path('', include(router.urls))
]

# my_project/my_project/urls.py
from django.urls import path, include
from rest_framework.documentation import include_docs_urls

urlpatterns = [
    path('docs/', include_docs_urls('API Documentaion')),
    path('my_app/', include('my_app.urls'))
]

Demo here: drf_docs_description