SlugField in ViewSet doesn't populare dropdown in JSON webform - django-rest-framework

Question

I have a Django REST framework application with a course and department model. I have the following models, serializers and viewset to represent the course catalog.
## MODELS ##
class Department(models.Model):
"""Academic Department"""
name = models.CharField(max_length=30, unique=True)
class Course(models.Model):
"""Courses in the course catalog"""
course_name = models.CharField(max_length=30, unique=True)
department = models.ForeignKey(Department, on_delete=models.PROTECT)
course_number = models.DecimalField(decimal_places=0, max_digits=3, unique=True)
credits = models.IntegerField()
class Meta:
unique_together = (("department", "course_number"),)
## SERIALIZERS ##
class DepartmentSerializer(serializers.HyperlinkedModelSerializer):
class Meta:
model = models.Department
#fields = ('id', 'last_name', 'first_name')
class CourseSerializer(serializers.ModelSerializer):
department = serializers.SlugRelatedField(
many = False,
read_only = False,
slug_field = 'name',
queryset = models.Department.objects.all()
)
class Meta:
model = models.Course
fields = (
'id',
'course_name',
'department',
'course_number',
'credits')
## VIEWSETS ##
class CourseViewSet(viewsets.ModelViewSet):
"""
API endpoint that allows courses to be viewed or edited.
"""
queryset = models.Course.objects.all().order_by('department__name','course_number')
serializer_class = serializers.CourseSerializer
Course has a foreign key pointing to department and using the SlugRelatedField a courses department is listed in the result JSON as the department name:
{
"count": 5,
"next": null,
"previous": null,
"results": [
{
"id": 5,
"course_name": "History of Justin",
"department": "English",
"course_number": "344",
"credits": 3
},
{
"id": 6,
"course_name": "34",
"department": "Math",
"course_number": "4",
"credits": 4
},
{
"id": 1,
"course_name": "Pre Calc",
"department": "Math",
"course_number": "101",
"credits": 3
},
{
"id": 2,
"course_name": "Calc I",
"department": "Math",
"course_number": "200",
"credits": 3
},
{
"id": 3,
"course_name": "Calc II",
"department": "Math",
"course_number": "201",
"credits": 3
}
]
}
I can also populate new courses with the following body in a POST request:
{
"course_name": "Chemistry I",
"department": "Science",
"course_number": "200",
"credits": 3
}
However, the auto generated form does not render the slug field text.
.
How can I change what this form renders?

Answer 1

You'll need to add a __str__ method to Department in order to tell Django about how to represent a Department instance:
class Department(models.Model):
"""Academic Department"""
name = models.CharField(max_length=30, unique=True)
def __str__(self):
return self.name