flask-serialize 1.0.6

Easy to use JSON serialization and update/create for Flask and SQLAlchemey.

flask-serialize

DB Model JSON serialization and PUT/POST write for Flask applications using SQLAlchemy

Simple and quick to get going in two steps.

1. Import and add the FlaskSerializeMixin mixin to a model:

from flask_serialize import FlaskSerializeMixin

class Item(db.Model, FlaskSerializeMixin):
    id = db.Column(db.Integer, primary_key=True)
    # other fields ...

2. Configure the route with the do all mixin method:

@app.route('/item/<int:item_id>')
@app.route('/items')
def items(item_id=None):
    return Item.get_delete_put_post(item_id)

3. Done! Returns a single item or a list of items in a single route.

Flask-serialize is intended for joining a Flask SQLAlchemy Python backend with a JavaScript Web client. It allows read JSON serialization from the db and easy to use write back of models using PUT and POST.

It is not intended to be a full two way serialization package. Use marshmallow for more complicated systems.

Example:

Model setup:

# example database model
from flask_serialize import FlaskSerializeMixin

# required to set class var db for writing to a database
from app import db

FlaskSerializeMixin.db = db

class Setting(FlaskSerializeMixin, db.Model):
    id = db.Column(db.Integer, primary_key=True)

    setting_type = db.Column(db.String(120), index=True, default='misc')
    key = db.Column(db.String(120), index=True)
    value = db.Column(db.String(30000), default='')
    active = db.Column(db.String(1), default='y')
    created = db.Column(db.DateTime, default=datetime.utcnow)
    updated = db.Column(db.DateTime, default=datetime.utcnow)

    # serializer fields
    create_fields = update_fields = ['setting_type', 'value', 'key', 'active']

    # checks if Flask-Serialize can delete
    def can_delete(self):
        if self.value == '1234':
            raise Exception('Deletion not allowed.  Magic value!')

    # checks if Flask-Serialize can create/update
    def verify(self, create=False):
        if not self.key or len(self.key) < 1:
            raise Exception('Missing key')

        if not self.setting_type or len(self.setting_type) < 1:
            raise Exception('Missing setting type')

    def __repr__(self):
        return '<Setting %r %r %r>' % (self.id, self.setting_type, self.value)

Routes setup:

Get a single item as json.

@app.route('/get_setting/<item_id>', methods=['GET'])
def get_setting( item_id ):
    return Setting.get_delete_put_post(item_id)

Returns a Flask response with a json object, example:

{id:1, value: "hello"}

Put an update to a single item as json.

@app.route('/update_setting/<item_id>', methods=['PUT'])
def update_setting( item_id ):
    return Setting.get_delete_put_post(item_id)

Returns a Flask response with the result as a json object:

{error:"any error message", message: "success message"}

Delete a single item.

@app.route('/delete_setting/<item_id>', methods=['DELETE'])
def delete_setting( item_id ):
    return Setting.get_delete_put_post(item_id)

Returns a Flask response with the result as a json object:

{error:"any error message", message: "success message"}

Get all items as a json list.

@app.route('/get_setting_all', methods=['GET'])
def get_setting_all():
    return Setting.get_delete_put_post()

Returns a Flask response with a list of json objects, example:

[{id:1, value: "hello"},{id:2, value: "there"},{id:1, value: "programmer"}]

All of: get-all, get, put, post, and delete can be combined in one route.

@app.route('/setting/<int:item_id>', methods=['GET', 'PUT', 'DELETE', 'POST'])
@app.route('/setting', methods=['GET', 'POST'])
def route_setting_all(item_id=None):
    return Setting.get_delete_put_post(item_id)

Updating from a json object in the flask put request

JQuery example:

function put(setting_id) {
    return $.ajax({
        url: `/update_setting/${setting_id}`,
        method: 'PUT',
        contentType: "application/json",
        data: {setting_type:"x",value:"100"},
    }).then(response => {
        if( response.error ){
            alert("Error:"+response.error);
        }
        else {
            alert("OK:"+response.message);
        }
    });
}

Flask route:

@app.route('/update_setting/<int:item_id>', methods=['PUT'])
def update_setting(item_id):
    return Setting.get_delete_put_post(item_id)

Create or update from a WTF form:

@app.route('/setting_edit/<int:item_id>', methods=['POST'])
@app.route('/setting_add', methods=['POST'])
def setting_edit(item_id=None):
    if item_id:
        item = Setting.query.get_or_404(item_id)
    else:
        item = {}
    form = EditForm(obj=item)

    if form.validate_on_submit():
        if item_id:
            try:
                item.request_update_form()
                flash('Your changes have been saved.')
            except Exception as e:
                flash(str(e), category='danger')
            return redirect(url_for('setting_edit', item_id=item_id))
        else:
            try:
                new_item = Setting.request_create_form()
                flash('Setting created.')
                return redirect(url_for('setting_edit', item_id=new_item.id))
            except Exception as e:
                flash('Error creating item: ' + str(e))

    return render_template(
            'setting_edit.html',
            item=item,
            title='Edit or Create item',
            form=form
        )

Options

Exclude fields

List of model field names to not serialize at all.

exclude_serialize_fields = []

List of model field names to not serialize when return as json.

exclude_json_serialize_fields = []

Verify write and create

def verify(self, create=False):
    """
    raise exception if item is not valid for put/patch/post
    :param: create - True if verification is for a new item
    """

Override the mixin verify method to provide control and verification when updating and creating model items. Simply raise an exception when there is a problem. You can also modify self data before writing. See model example.

Controlling delete

def can_delete(self):
    """
    raise exception if item cannot be deleted
    """

Override the mixin can_delete to provide control over when an item can be deleted. Simply raise an exception when there is a problem. See model example.

Updating fields specification

List of model fields to be read from a form or JSON when updating an object. Normally admin fields such as login_counts or security fields are excluded.

update_fields = []

Update Properties

When returning a success code from a put or post update a dict composed of the property values from the update_properties list is returned as “properties”.

update_properties = []

Example return JSON:

class ExampleModel(db.Model, FlaskSerializeMixin):
    update_fields = ['new_hat_size']

    @property
    def new_hat_size(self):
        return self.head_size * self.ear_width

// result update return message
{message: "Updated", properties: {new_hat_size: 45.67} }

This can be used to communicate from the model on the server to the JavaScript code interesting things from updates

Creation fields used when creating specification

List of model fields to be read from a form when creating an object.

create_fields = []

Sorting json list results

Json result lists can be sorted by using the order_by_field or the order_by_field_desc properties. To sort by id ascending use this example:

order_by_field = 'id'

Update DateTime fields specification

timestamp_fields is a list of fields on the model to be set when updating or creating with the value of datetime.datetime.utcnow(). The default field names to update are: [‘timestamp’, ‘updated’].

Example:

class ExampleModel(db.Model, FlaskSerializeMixin):
    # ....
    modified = db.Column(db.DateTime, default=datetime.utcnow)
    timestamp_fields = ['modified']

Override the timestamp default of utcnow() by replacing the timestamp_stamper class property with your own. Example:

class ExampleModel(db.Model, FlaskSerializeMixin):
    # ....
    timestamp_stamper = datetime.datetime.now

Relationships list of property names that are to be included in serialization

relationship_fields = []

In default operation relationships in models are not serialized. Add any relationship property name here to be included in serialization.

Serialization converters

There are three built in converters to convert data from the database to a good format for serialization:

• DATETIME - Removes the fractional second part and makes it a string

• PROPERTY - Enumerates and returns model added properties

• RELATIONSHIP - Deals with children model items.

Set one of these to None or a value to remove or replace it’s behaviour.

Adding and overriding converter behaviour

Add values to the class property:

column_type_converters = {}

Where the key is the column type name of the database column and the value is a method to provide the conversion.

Example:

To convert VARCHAR(100) to a string:

column_type_converters['VARCHAR(100)'] = lambda v: str(v)

To change DATETIME conversion behaviour, either change the DATETIME column_type_converter or override the to_date_short method of the mixin. Example:

import time

class Model(db.model, FlaskSerializeMixin):
    # ...
    # ...
    def to_date_short(self, date_value):
        """
        convert a datetime.datetime type to
        a unix like milliseconds since epoch
        :param date_value: datetime.datetime {object}
        :return: number
        """
        if not date_value:
            return 0

        return int(time.mktime(date_value.timetuple())) * 1000

Conversion types (to database) add or replace update/create

Add or replace to db conversion methods by using a list of dicts that specify conversions.

Default is:

convert_types = [{'type': bool, 'method': lambda v: 'y' if v else 'n'}]

• type: a python object type

• method: a lambda or method to provide the conversion to a database acceptable value.

Mixin Helper methods and properties

get_delete_put_post()

Put, get, delete, post and get-all magic method handler. NOTE: renamed from get_delete_put().

Method	Operation
GET	returns one item when item_id is a primary key
GET	returns all items when item_id is None
PUT	updates item using item_id as the id from request json data
DELETE	removes the item with primary key of item_id if self.can_delete does not throw an error
POST	creates and returns a Flask response with a new item as json from form data when item_id is None
POST	updates an item from form data using item_id. Returns Flask response of {‘message’:’something’, ‘error’:’any error message’}

Set the user parameter to restrict a certain user. Assumes that a model relationship of user exists.

@property
def get_delete_put_post(self, item_id=None, user=None):
    """
    get, delete or update with JSON a single model item
    post for form data
    :param item_id: the primary key id of the item - if none and method is get returns all items
    :param user: user to add as query item.
    :return: json object: {error, message}, or the item.  error == None for correct operation
    """

as_dict

@property
def as_dict(self):
    """
    the sql object as a dict without the excluded fields
    :return: dict
    """

as_json

@property
def as_json(self):
    """
    the sql object as a json object without the excluded dict and json fields
    :return: json object
    """

dict_list()

def dict_list(cls, query_result):
    """
    return a list of dictionary objects from the sql query result
    :param query_result: sql alchemy query result
    :return: list of dict objects
    """

json_list()

Return a flask response in json format from a sql alchemy query result.

@classmethod
def json_list(cls, query_result):
    """
    return a list in json format from the query_result
    :param query_result: sql alchemy query result
    :return: flask response with json list of results
    """

Example:

@bp.route('/address/list', methods=['GET'])
@login_required
def address_list():
    items = Address.query.filter_by(user=current_user)
    return Address.json_list(items)

json_filter_by()

Return a flask response in json format using a filter_by query.

@classmethod
def json_filter_by(cls, **kwargs):
    """
    return a list in json format using the filter_by arguments
    :param kwargs: SQLAlchemy query.filter_by arguments
    :return: flask response with json list of results
    """

Example:

@bp.route('/address/list', methods=['GET'])
@login_required
def address_list():
    return Address.filter_by(user=current_user)

json_first

def json_first(cls, **kwargs):
    """
    return the first result in json format using the filter_by arguments
    :param kwargs: SQLAlchemy query.filter_by arguments
    :return: flask response json item or {} if no result
    """

Licensing

• Apache 2.0