Quickstart

This guide will help you get started with Shapeless Serializers quickly.

Basic Setup

  1. Create your shapeless serializer:

from shapeless_serializers.serializers import ShapelessModelSerializer
from myapp.models import Book

class BookSerializer(ShapelessModelSerializer):
    class Meta:
        model = Book
        fields = '__all__'

  1. Use dynamic configuration in your view:

from rest_framework.decorators import api_view
from rest_framework.response import Response

@api_view(['GET'])
def book_detail(request, pk):
    book = Book.objects.get(pk=pk)
    serializer = BookSerializer(
        book,
        fields=['id', 'title', 'author', 'publication_date'],
        rename_fields={'id': 'book_id'}
    )
    return Response(serializer.data)

Common Patterns

Basic Field Selection

serializer = BookSerializer(
    instance,
    fields=['title', 'author', 'price']
)

Field Renaming

serializer = BookSerializer(
    instance,
    rename_fields={
        'price': 'retail_price',
        'id': 'book_identifier'
    }
)

Simple Nesting

serializer = BookSerializer(
    instance,
    nested={
        'author': {
            'serializer': AuthorSerializer,
            'fields': ['name', 'bio']
        }
    }
)

Conditional Fields

serializer = BookSerializer(
    instance,
    conditional_fields={
        'internal_code': lambda instance, ctx: ctx['request'].user.is_staff
    }
)

Next Steps

After this quickstart, explore: