Django Rest Framework Tutorial Series

Introduction

• Host: Justin Mitchell
• Goal: Build a REST API step-by-step
• Importance: Enables web apps to communicate with other software securely (e.g., React.js, Vue.js, Django, FastAPI)
• Tools to be used: Pure Django REST API, Django REST Framework, Python client, JavaScript client, integration with Algolia
• All code available on GitHub

Tools Overview

• Django REST Framework (DRF): Simplifies building REST APIs
• Python requests: Used to test API functionality
• Django CORS Headers: Necessary for web-based components
• VS Code: Recommended code editor

Setup

1. Python virtual environment setup
   • Commands: python3.10 -m venv venv, source venv/bin/activate (Mac/Linux), venv\Scripts\activate (Windows)
2. Directory setup
   • Commands: mkdir -p ~/dev/drf, cd ~/dev/drf
3. Install Django and dependencies
   • Required packages: requirements.txt includes Django, DRF, PyYAML, Python Requests, Django CORS Headers
4. Creating and running a Django project
   • Commands: django-admin startproject cfehome ., python manage.py runserver 8000

Building a Basic Python API Client

1. Endpoint setup for testing: http://httpbin.org/anything
2. Making GET requests using Python Requests
3. JSON handling
4. Sending data in requests (JSON and form-encoded)

Initial API Setup with Django

1. Creating Django app for API
   • Commands: python manage.py startapp api, add api to INSTALLED_APPS in settings.py
2. First API view: Returns JSON response
   • Create api/urls.py and include in main urls.py
   • Use JsonResponse to return data in views
3. Testing with Python client: Confirm proper JSON responses

Adding Models and Serializers

1. Model Setup: Product model with fields (title, content, price)
2. Serialization: Convert model instance to JSON using Django forms' model_to_dict and DRF's serializers
3. DRF Serializer: Custom serializer with fields, @property methods for dynamic data

Improving API with Django REST Framework

1. Install DRF: Add rest_framework to INSTALLED_APPS

2. API Views: Use DRF's APIView and Response classes; handle methods (GET, POST)

3. Generic Views: Shorten code using ListCreateAPIView, RetrieveUpdateDestroyAPIView

4. Permissions and Authentication

   • Permission classes (IsAuthenticated, IsAdminUser)
   • Custom permissions
   • Incorporate session and token-based authentication

Integrating with Third-Party API Services: Algolia

1. Install and configure Algolia
   • Set up Algolia account and configure API keys
   • Implement Algolia-specific settings in Django settings
2. Indexing Models: Define fields to be indexed in Algolia
3. Performing Searches: Use Algolia's API client to search indexed data

Handling Cross-Origin Resource Sharing (CORS)

1. Install Django CORS Headers
   • Commands: pip install django-cors-headers, add to INSTALLED_APPS and middleware
2. Configure Allowed Origins
   • Add specific domains to CORS_ALLOWED_ORIGINS or use regex in CORS_URLS_REGEX

Frontend Integration

1. Building a JavaScript Client
   • Login form and handling using JavaScript
   • Fetch requests to Django API, handling CORS issues
2. JWT Authentication: Manage tokens, refresh and verify them, handle authentication
3. Implementing Search with Algolia’s InstantSearch.js
   • Search box and results handling using Algolia's API
   • Real-time search features, filtering, and displaying results

Conclusion

• Encouragement to build and test clients in various scenarios
• Review and learn from existing APIs to enhance skills
• Stay updated and adopt best practices for authentication and security