Django’s generic views... were developed as a shortcut for common usage patterns... They take certain common idioms and patterns found in view development and abstract them so that you can quickly write common views of data without having to repeat yourself.

— Django Documentation

One of the key benefits of class based views is the way they allow you to compose bits of reusable behaviour. REST framework takes advantage of this by providing a number of pre-built views that provide for commonly used patterns.

The generic views provided by REST framework allow you to quickly build API views that map closely to your database models.

If the generic views don't suit the needs of your API, you can drop down to using the regular APIView class, or reuse the mixins and base classes used by the generic views to compose your own set of reusable generic views.

Typically when using the generic views, you'll override the view, and set several class attributes.

from django.contrib.auth.models import User
from myapp.serializers import UserSerializer
from rest_framework import generics
from rest_framework.permissions import IsAdminUser

class UserList(generics.ListCreateAPIView):
    queryset = User.objects.all()
    serializer_class = UserSerializer
    permission_classes = (IsAdminUser,)
    paginate_by = 100

For more complex cases you might also want to override various methods on the view class. For example.

class UserList(generics.ListCreateAPIView):
    queryset = User.objects.all()
    serializer_class = UserSerializer
    permission_classes = (IsAdminUser,)

    def get_paginate_by(self):
        """
        Use smaller pagination for HTML representations.
        """
        if self.request.accepted_renderer.format == 'html':
            return 20
        return 100

    def list(self, request):
        # Note the use of `get_queryset()` instead of `self.queryset`
        queryset = self.get_queryset()
        serializer = UserSerializer(queryset, many=True)
        return Response(serializer.data)

For very simple cases you might want to pass through any class attributes using the .as_view() method. For example, your URLconf might include something like the following entry:

url(r'^/users/', ListCreateAPIView.as_view(model=User), name='user-list')

This class extends REST framework's APIView class, adding commonly required behavior for standard list and detail views.

Each of the concrete generic views provided is built by combining GenericAPIView, with one or more mixin classes.

Basic settings:

The following attributes control the basic view behavior.

• queryset - The queryset that should be used for returning objects from this view. Typically, you must either set this attribute, or override the get_queryset() method. If you are overriding a view method, it is important that you call get_queryset() instead of accessing this property directly, as queryset will get evaluated once, and those results will be cached for all subsequent requests.
• serializer_class - The serializer class that should be used for validating and deserializing input, and for serializing output. Typically, you must either set this attribute, or override the get_serializer_class() method.
• lookup_field - The model field that should be used to for performing object lookup of individual model instances. Defaults to 'pk'. Note that when using hyperlinked APIs you'll need to ensure that both the API views and the serializer classes set the lookup fields if you need to use a custom value.
• lookup_url_kwarg - The URL keyword argument that should be used for object lookup. The URL conf should include a keyword argument corresponding to this value. If unset this defaults to using the same value as lookup_field.

Pagination:

The following attributes are used to control pagination when used with list views.

• paginate_by - The size of pages to use with paginated data. If set to None then pagination is turned off. If unset this uses the same value as the PAGINATE_BY setting, which defaults to None.
• paginate_by_param - The name of a query parameter, which can be used by the client to override the default page size to use for pagination. If unset this uses the same value as the PAGINATE_BY_PARAM setting, which defaults to None.
• pagination_serializer_class - The pagination serializer class to use when determining the style of paginated responses. Defaults to the same value as the DEFAULT_PAGINATION_SERIALIZER_CLASS setting.
• page_kwarg - The name of a URL kwarg or URL query parameter which can be used by the client to control which page is requested. Defaults to 'page'.

Filtering:

• filter_backends - A list of filter backend classes that should be used for filtering the queryset. Defaults to the same value as the DEFAULT_FILTER_BACKENDS setting.

Deprecated attributes:

• model - This shortcut may be used instead of setting either (or both) of the queryset/serializer_class attributes. The explicit style is preferred over the .model shortcut, and usage of this attribute is now deprecated.

Base methods:

Returns the queryset that should be used for list views, and that should be used as the base for lookups in detail views. Defaults to returning the queryset specified by the queryset attribute, or the default queryset for the model if the model shortcut is being used.

This method should always be used rather than accessing self.queryset directly, as self.queryset gets evaluated only once, and those results are cached for all subsequent requests.

May be overridden to provide dynamic behavior, such as returning a queryset, that is specific to the user making the request.

For example:

def get_queryset(self):
    user = self.request.user
    return user.accounts.all()

Returns an object instance that should be used for detail views. Defaults to using the lookup_field parameter to filter the base queryset.

May be overridden to provide more complex behavior, such as object lookups based on more than one URL kwarg.

For example:

def get_object(self):
    queryset = self.get_queryset()
    filter = {}
    for field in self.multiple_lookup_fields:
        filter[field] = self.kwargs[field]

    obj = get_object_or_404(queryset, **filter)
    self.check_object_permissions(self.request, obj)
    return obj

Note that if your API doesn't include any object level permissions, you may optionally exclude the self.check_object_permissions, and simply return the object from the get_object_or_404 lookup.

Returns the classes that should be used to filter the queryset. Defaults to returning the filter_backends attribute.

May be overridden to provide more complex behavior with filters, such as using different (or even exlusive) lists of filter_backends depending on different criteria.

For example:

def get_filter_backends(self):
    if "geo_route" in self.request.QUERY_PARAMS:
        return (GeoRouteFilter, CategoryFilter)
    elif "geo_point" in self.request.QUERY_PARAMS:
        return (GeoPointFilter, CategoryFilter)

    return (CategoryFilter,)

Returns the class that should be used for the serializer. Defaults to returning the serializer_class attribute, or dynamically generating a serializer class if the model shortcut is being used.

May be overridden to provide dynamic behavior, such as using different serializers for read and write operations, or providing different serializers to different types of users.

For example:

def get_serializer_class(self):
    if self.request.user.is_staff:
        return FullAccountSerializer
    return BasicAccountSerializer

Returns the page size to use with pagination. By default this uses the paginate_by attribute, and may be overridden by the client if the paginate_by_param attribute is set.

You may want to override this method to provide more complex behavior, such as modifying page sizes based on the media type of the response.

For example:

def get_paginate_by(self):
    if self.request.accepted_renderer.format == 'html':
        return 20
    return 100

Save / deletion hooks:

The following methods are provided as placeholder interfaces. They contain empty implementations and are not called directly by GenericAPIView, but they are overridden and used by some of the mixin classes.

• pre_save(self, obj) - A hook that is called before saving an object.
• post_save(self, obj, created=False) - A hook that is called after saving an object.
• pre_delete(self, obj) - A hook that is called before deleting an object.
• post_delete(self, obj) - A hook that is called after deleting an object.

The pre_save method in particular is a useful hook for setting attributes that are implicit in the request, but are not part of the request data. For instance, you might set an attribute on the object based on the request user, or based on a URL keyword argument.

def pre_save(self, obj):
    """
    Set the object's owner, based on the incoming request.
    """
    obj.owner = self.request.user

Remember that the pre_save() method is not called by GenericAPIView itself, but it is called by create() and update() methods on the CreateModelMixin and UpdateModelMixin classes.

Other methods:

You won't typically need to override the following methods, although you might need to call into them if you're writing custom views using GenericAPIView.

• get_serializer_context(self) - Returns a dictionary containing any extra context that should be supplied to the serializer. Defaults to including 'request', 'view' and 'format' keys.
• get_serializer(self, instance=None, data=None, files=None, many=False, partial=False, allow_add_remove=False) - Returns a serializer instance.
• get_pagination_serializer(self, page) - Returns a serializer instance to use with paginated data.
• paginate_queryset(self, queryset) - Paginate a queryset if required, either returning a page object, or None if pagination is not configured for this view.
• filter_queryset(self, queryset) - Given a queryset, filter it with whichever filter backends are in use, returning a new queryset.

The mixin classes provide the actions that are used to provide the basic view behavior. Note that the mixin classes provide action methods rather than defining the handler methods, such as .get() and .post(), directly. This allows for more flexible composition of behavior.

Provides a .list(request, *args, **kwargs) method, that implements listing a queryset.

If the queryset is populated, this returns a 200 OK response, with a serialized representation of the queryset as the body of the response. The response data may optionally be paginated.

Provides a .create(request, *args, **kwargs) method, that implements creating and saving a new model instance.

If an object is created this returns a 201 Created response, with a serialized representation of the object as the body of the response. If the representation contains a key named url, then the Location header of the response will be populated with that value.

If the request data provided for creating the object was invalid, a 400 Bad Request response will be returned, with the error details as the body of the response.

Provides a .retrieve(request, *args, **kwargs) method, that implements returning an existing model instance in a response.

If an object can be retrieved this returns a 200 OK response, with a serialized representation of the object as the body of the response. Otherwise it will return a 404 Not Found.

Provides a .update(request, *args, **kwargs) method, that implements updating and saving an existing model instance.

Also provides a .partial_update(request, *args, **kwargs) method, which is similar to the update method, except that all fields for the update will be optional. This allows support for HTTP PATCH requests.

If an object is updated this returns a 200 OK response, with a serialized representation of the object as the body of the response.

If an object is created, for example when making a DELETE request followed by a PUT request to the same URL, this returns a 201 Created response, with a serialized representation of the object as the body of the response.

If the request data provided for updating the object was invalid, a 400 Bad Request response will be returned, with the error details as the body of the response.

Provides a .destroy(request, *args, **kwargs) method, that implements deletion of an existing model instance.

If an object is deleted this returns a 204 No Content response, otherwise it will return a 404 Not Found.

The following classes are the concrete generic views. If you're using generic views this is normally the level you'll be working at unless you need heavily customized behavior.

Used for create-only endpoints.

Provides a post method handler.

Extends: GenericAPIView, CreateModelMixin

Used for read-only endpoints to represent a collection of model instances.

Provides a get method handler.

Extends: GenericAPIView, ListModelMixin

Used for read-only endpoints to represent a single model instance.

Provides a get method handler.

Extends: GenericAPIView, RetrieveModelMixin

Used for delete-only endpoints for a single model instance.

Provides a delete method handler.

Extends: GenericAPIView, DestroyModelMixin

Used for update-only endpoints for a single model instance.

Provides put and patch method handlers.

Extends: GenericAPIView, UpdateModelMixin

Used for read-write endpoints to represent a collection of model instances.

Provides get and post method handlers.

Extends: GenericAPIView, ListModelMixin, CreateModelMixin

Used for read or update endpoints to represent a single model instance.

Provides get, put and patch method handlers.

Extends: GenericAPIView, RetrieveModelMixin, UpdateModelMixin

Used for read or delete endpoints to represent a single model instance.

Provides get and delete method handlers.

Extends: GenericAPIView, RetrieveModelMixin, DestroyModelMixin

Used for read-write-delete endpoints to represent a single model instance.

Provides get, put, patch and delete method handlers.

Extends: GenericAPIView, RetrieveModelMixin, UpdateModelMixin, DestroyModelMixin

Often you'll want to use the existing generic views, but use some slightly customized behavior. If you find yourself reusing some bit of customized behavior in multiple places, you might want to refactor the behavior into a common class that you can then just apply to any view or viewset as needed.

For example, if you need to lookup objects based on multiple fields in the URL conf, you could create a mixin class like the following:

class MultipleFieldLookupMixin(object):
    """
    Apply this mixin to any view or viewset to get multiple field filtering
    based on a `lookup_fields` attribute, instead of the default single field filtering.
    """
    def get_object(self):
        queryset = self.get_queryset()             # Get the base queryset
        queryset = self.filter_queryset(queryset)  # Apply any filter backends
        filter = {}
        for field in self.lookup_fields:
            filter[field] = self.kwargs[field]
        return get_object_or_404(queryset, **filter)  # Lookup the object

You can then simply apply this mixin to a view or viewset anytime you need to apply the custom behavior.

class RetrieveUserView(MultipleFieldLookupMixin, generics.RetrieveAPIView):
    queryset = User.objects.all()
    serializer_class = UserSerializer
    lookup_fields = ('account', 'username')

Using custom mixins is a good option if you have custom behavior that needs to be used

If you are using a mixin across multiple views, you can take this a step further and create your own set of base views that can then be used throughout your project. For example:

class BaseRetrieveView(MultipleFieldLookupMixin,
                       generics.RetrieveAPIView):
    pass

class BaseRetrieveUpdateDestroyView(MultipleFieldLookupMixin,
                                    generics.RetrieveUpdateDestroyAPIView):
    pass

Using custom base classes is a good option if you have custom behavior that consistently needs to be repeated across a large number of views throughout your project.

Prior to version 3.0 the REST framework mixins treated PUT as either an update or a create operation, depending on if the object already existed or not.

Allowing PUT as create operations is problematic, as it necessarily exposes information about the existence or non-existence of objects. It's also not obvious that transparently allowing re-creating of previously deleted instances is necessarily a better default behavior than simply returning 404 responses.

Both styles "PUT as 404" and "PUT as create" can be valid in different circumstances, but from version 3.0 onwards we now use 404 behavior as the default, due to it being simpler and more obvious.

If you need to generic PUT-as-create behavior you may want to include something like this AllowPUTAsCreateMixin class as a mixin to your views.

The following third party packages provide additional generic view implementations.

The django-rest-framework-bulk package implements generic view mixins as well as some common concrete generic views to allow to apply bulk operations via API requests.