Django Small View Set

A lightweight and explicit Django ViewSet alternative with minimal abstraction and full async support.

Designed for clear patterns, minimal magic, and complete control over your API endpoints.

Example Usage

In settings.py

# Register SmallViewSetConfig in settings
from small_view_set SmallViewSetConfig

SMALL_VIEW_SET_CONFIG = SmallViewSetConfig()

This will get you up and running, but it is recommended to write your own Custom exception handler

Please note, endpoints cannot be registered in urls.py with the request method (like POST, or GET), therefore create a collection and/or detail orchestrator method for the standard CRUD operations.

import asyncio
from django.http import JsonResponse
from django.urls import path
from small_view_set import SmallViewSet, endpoint, endpoint_disabled
from urllib.request import Request

class BarViewSet(SmallViewSet):

    def urlpatterns(self):
        return [
            path('api/bars/',          self.collection, name='bars_collection'),
            path('api/bars/<int:pk>/', self.detail,     name='bars_detail'),
            path('api/bars/items/',    self.items,      name='bars_items'),
        ]

    @endpoint(allowed_methods=['GET', 'POST'])
    def collection(self, request: Request):
        if request.method == 'GET':
            return self.list(request)
        raise MethodNotAllowed(request.method)

    @endpoint(allowed_methods=['GET', 'PATCH'])
    async def detail(self, request: Request, pk: int):
        if request.method == 'GET':
            return await self.retrieve(request, pk)
        elif request.method == 'PATCH':
            return self.patch(request, pk)
        raise MethodNotAllowed(request.method)

    def list(self, request):
        self.protect_list(request)
        return JsonResponse({"message": "Hello, world!"}, status=200)

    async def retrieve(self, request: Request, pk: int):
        self.protect_retrieve(request)
        return JsonResponse({"message": f"Detail for ID {pk}"}, status=200)

    def patch(self, request: Request, pk: int):
        self.protect_update(request)
        return JsonResponse({"message": f"Updated {pk}"}, status=200)

    @endpoint(allowed_methods=['GET'])
    async def items(self, request: Request):
        # Pick the closest protect that matches the endoint. `GET items` is closest to a list
        self.protect_list(request)
        await asyncio.sleep(1)
        return JsonResponse({"message": "List of items"}, status=200)

Registering in urls.py

To register the viewset in your urls.py:

from api.views.bar import BarViewSet

urlpatterns = [
    # Other URLs like admin, static, etc.

    *BarViewSet().urlpatterns(),
]

Deeper learning

• Custom protections: Learn how to subclass SmallViewSet to add custom protections like logged-in checks.
• Custom exception handler: Understand how to write your own exception handler.
• DRF compatibility: Learn how to use some of Django Rest Framework's tools, like Serializers.
• Disabling an endpoint: Learn how to disable an endpoint without needing to delete it or comment it out.
• Reason: Reasoning behind this package.