How can I change HyperLinkedModelSerializer's default <pk> lookup_url_kwarg? - django-rest-framework

Question

I want to use HyperLinkedModelSerializer in order to add a url field for my Book model. Here is the solution you'd typically find in the average tutorial:
# serializers.py
class BookSerializer(HyperLinkedModelSerializer):
class Meta:
model = Book
fields = ("title", "url",)
# views.py
class BookView(RetrieveAPIView):
serializer_class = BookSerializer
# urls.py
urlpatterns = [
path("<pk>/", BookDetailView.as_view(), name="book-detail"),
]
And that works all right. But now I need to change the URL conf in order to match the book id, not with <pk>, but with <fiction_id>. So I figured I'd just change it!
# urls.py
urlpatterns = [
path("<fiction_id>/", BookDetailView.as_view(), name="book-detail"),
]
Now comes the crash:
django.core.exceptions.ImproperlyConfigured: Could not resolve URL for hyperlinked relationship using view name "fiction-detail". You may have failed to include the related model in your API, or incorrectly configured the `lookup_field` attribute on this field.
I've tried fiddling with the lookup_field, lookup_url_kwargs in my view:
# views.py
class BookView(RetrieveAPIView):
serializer_class = BookSerializer
lookup_field = "pk"
lookup_url_kwargs = "fiction_id"
I've tried reminding the serializer to actually look for the (default) "pk":
# serializers.py
class BookSerializer(HyperLinkedModelSerializer):
class Meta:
model = Book
fields = ("title", "url",)
extra_kwargs = {
"url": {"lookup_field": "pk"},
}
I've tried combinations of these, to no avail. It looks like you can't use anything but <pk> if you want to take advantage of HyperLinkedModelSerializer's url field. The documentation doesn't seem to offer a way to change that behaviour:
By default hyperlinks are expected to correspond to a view name that matches the style '{model_name}-detail', and looks up the instance by a pk keyword argument.
How can I change this behaviour, or is it bound to become too messy?

Answer 1

You should check HyperlinkedModelSerializer implementation and see that it uses a serializer_related_field defaulting to HyperlinkedRelatedField
class HyperlinkedModelSerializer(ModelSerializer):
"""
A type of `ModelSerializer` that uses hyperlinked relationships instead
of primary key relationships. Specifically:
* A 'url' field is included instead of the 'id' field.
* Relationships to other instances are hyperlinks, instead of primary keys.
"""
serializer_related_field = HyperlinkedRelatedField
...
And then HyperlinkedRelatedField has a class attribute lookup_field defaulting to pk
class HyperlinkedRelatedField(RelatedField):
lookup_field = 'pk'
...
What you can do is to use a custom HyperlinkedRelatedField with your own lookup_field
from rest_framework.relations import HyperlinkedRelatedField
from rest_framework.serializers import HyperlinkedModelSerializer
class BookHyperlinkedRelatedField(HyperlinkedRelatedField):
lookup_field = 'fiction_id'
class BookSerializer(HyperLinkedModelSerializer):
serializer_related_field = BookHyperlinkedRelatedField
class Meta:
model = Book
fields = ("title", "url",)

Answer 2

In order to do this, you need to give the url field's new name for the lookup in the matched pattern by passing it through the extra_kwargs dictionary:
# serializers.py
class BookSerializer(HyperLinkedModelSerializer):
class Meta:
model = Book
fields = ("title", "url",)
extra_kwargs = {
"url": {"lookup_url_kwarg": "fiction_id"},
}
Also remember to modify the corresponding view:
# views.py
class BookView(RetrieveAPIView):
serializer_class = BookSerializer
lookup_url_kwarg = "fiction_id"
Do not write lookup_url_kwargs in plural.
You don't need to meddle with the lookup_field at any level as long as the lookup will be done on the model's primary key.