When to use Serializer's create() and ModelViewset's perform_create()

Question

1. You would use create(self, validated_data) to add any extra details into the object before saving AND "prod" values into each model field just like **validated_data does. Ideally speaking, you want to do this form of "prodding" only in ONE location so the create method in your CommentSerializer is the best place. On top of this, you might want to also call external apis to create user accounts on their side just before saving your accounts into your own database. You should use this create function in conjunction withModelViewSet. Always think - "Thin views, Thick serializers".

   Example:

   def create(self, validated_data):
       email = validated_data.get("email", None)
       validated.pop("email") 
       # Now you have a clean valid email string 
       # You might want to call an external API or modify another table
       # (eg. keep track of number of accounts registered.) or even
       # make changes to the email format.
   
       # Once you are done, create the instance with the validated data
       return models.YourModel.objects.create(email=email, **validated_data)
   

2. The create(self, request, *args, **kwargs) function in the ModelViewSet is defined in the CreateModelMixin class which is the parent of ModelViewSet. CreateModelMixin's main functions are these:

   from rest_framework import status
   from rest_framework.response import Response
   
   
   def create(self, request, *args, **kwargs):
       serializer = self.get_serializer(data=request.data)
       serializer.is_valid(raise_exception=True)
       self.perform_create(serializer)
       headers = self.get_success_headers(serializer.data)
       return Response(serializer.data, status=status.HTTP_201_CREATED, headers=headers)
   
   def perform_create(self, serializer):
       serializer.save()
   

   As you can see, the above create function takes care of calling validation on your serializer and producing the correct response. The beauty behind this, is that you can now isolate your application logic and NOT concern yourself about the mundane and repetitive validation calls and handling response output :). This works quite well in conjuction with the create(self, validated_data) found in the serializer (where your specific application logic might reside).

3. Now you might ask, why do we have a separate perform_create(self, serializer) function with just one line of code!?!? Well, the main reason behind this is to allow customizeability when calling the save function. You might want to supply extra data before calling save (like serializer.save(owner=self.request.user) and if we didn't have perform_create(self, serializer), you would have to override the create(self, request, *args, **kwargs) and that just defeats the purpose of having mixins doing the heavy and boring work.

While Apoorv's answer is correct and very detailed, here's a quick answer:

• Override perform_create() when you want to change the "behind-the-scenes" behavior of how your object is created. For example, performing some extra actions before or after the object is created.
• Override create() when you want to modify the response. For example, if you want to re-structure the response, add extra data, extra headers, etc.