Django DRF serializer - inserting data containing foreign key relationships - django-rest-framework

Question

I have the following models:
class Contact(models.Model):
class Meta:
managed = False
db_table = 'contact'
class ContactPhone(models.Model):
contact = models.ForeignKey(Contact, on_delete = models.CASCADE)
number = models.CharField(max_length = 45)
class Meta:
managed = False
db_table = 'contact_phone'
Also, I have the following serializers:
class ContactSerializer(serializers.ModelSerializer):
server_id = serializers.IntegerField(source='id', read_only=True)
class Meta:
model = Contact
fields = '__all__'
class ContactPhoneSerializer(serializers.ModelSerializer):
class Meta:
model = ContactPhone
fields = '__all__'
Now, I have a view that insert phone numbers for an existing contact.
The input is a json that looks like this:
data = {'contact_id': 12322,
'phones':[{'number': '89120000001'}]}
The view:
def insert_contact_phone(request):
for record in request.data['phones']:
data['contact_id'] = request.data['contact_id']
serializer = ContactPhoneSerializer(data = data)
if serializer.is_valid():
serializer.save()
I end up with the following error:
RelatedObjectDoesNotExist at /contacts/edit ContactPhone has no
contact.
What am I doing wrong?

Answer 1

If you specify __all__ for the fields in your ContactPhoneSerializer, it does not include contact_id.
So the contact_id taken from the json input is not serialized. It is basically ignored and when you try to save and create new ContactPhone - it fails, because it does not have contact's foreign key correctly set.
But simply adding contact_id to the serializer's fields won't solve your problem.
In your view, i recommend you to set the contact instead:
data['contact'] = request.data['contact_id']
and pass this to the ContactPhoneSerializer.