Django or Django Rest Framework

Question

I have made a certain app in Django, and I know that Django Rest Framework is used for building APIs. However, when I started to read about Django Rest Framework on their website, I noticed that each and every thing in API Guide(like request, response, views etc.) claims it is superior to Django (request, response, views etc.).

The thing I am not understanding is whether these APIs will replace my existing Django models, views etc. or how can I use them differently in my existing Django code?

I am quite familiar with Django, but not able to understand exactly what Django Rest Framework is even after spending some time on it. (I know it is used for APIs.) Also, do I actually need an API? My app is able to send data to the server without an API, so in what case would I need an API?

They are designed to work together. DRF can build on top of your Django models (and Django authentication etc) - you use it instead of plain Django views in the places where you want API endpoints — Anentropic
@Anentropic So If I build my app entirely in DRF then both the things will be taken care of (The building of app itself along with API thing) — Rookie_123
try reading the DRF docs, eg the tutorial here django-rest-framework.org/tutorial/1-serialization/… ...it shows how you create a Django model and then DRF serializers based on the model, and then views and then an API based on the model and serializers — Anentropic
"also do I actually need an API" ...if you don't know whether you need an API you probably don't need an API — Anentropic
it shows you how the concepts fit together by giving a practical example... you can see the Django parts and the DRF parts and also goes from basic to a bit more advanced. I suggest to actually read it and try and understand what you are reading — Anentropic

J. Hesters J. Hesters · Accepted Answer · 2018-04-29T18:35:21

Django Rest Framework makes it easy to use your Django Server as an REST API.

REST stands for "representational state transfer" and API stands for application programming interface.

You can build a restful api using regular Django, but it will be very tidious. DRF makes everything easy. For comparison, here is simple GET-view using just regular Django, and one using Django Rest Framework:

Regular:

from django.core.serializers import serialize
from django.http import HttpResponse


class SerializedListView(View):
    def get(self, request, *args, **kwargs):
        qs = MyObj.objects.all()
        json_data = serialize("json", qs, fields=('my_field', 'my_other_field'))
        return HttpResponse(json_data, content_type='application/json')

And with DRF this becomes:

from rest_framework import generics


class MyObjListCreateAPIView(generics.ListCreateAPIView):
    permission_classes = [permissions.IsAuthenticatedOrReadOnly]
    serializer_class = MyObjSerializer

Note that with DRF you easily have list and create views as well as authentication.

Django or Django Rest Framework

8 Answers