Serializer set required to False for model BooleanField()

[zhangfand]

Checklist

• I have verified that that issue exists against the master branch of Django REST framework.
• I have searched for similar issues in both open and closed tickets and cannot find a duplicate.
• This is not a usage question. (Those should be directed to the discussion group instead.)
• This cannot be dealt with as a third party library. (We prefer new functionality to be in the form of third party libraries where possible.)
• I have reduced the issue to the simplest possible case.
• I have included a failing test as a pull request. (If you are unable to do so we can still accept the issue.)

Steps to reproduce

1. create a simple model models.py

from django.db import models


class TestModel(models.Model):
    flag = models.BooleanField()
    integer = models.IntegerField()

2. create a simple serializer serializers.py

from rest_framework import serializers
from .models import TestModel


class TestSerializer(serializers.ModelSerializer):

    class Meta:
        model = TestModel
        fields = 'flag', 'integer'

3. run these commands in django shell

from <app-name>.models import TestModel
from <app-name>.serializers import TestSerializer

serializer = TestSerializer()
print(repr(serializer))

it shows:

TestSerializer():
    flag = BooleanField(required=False)
    integer = IntegerField()

Expected behavior

I am expecting flag = BooleanField()

Actual behavior

flag is set to required=False.

[xordoquy]

Interesting.
This is expected although not clearly stated by the documentation. If required=True was set on this field, it wouldn't work with forms. However, I'm realizing that:

• this may have side effect on a pure JSON API
• this is not explicitly stated by the documentation

What would be the best way to go ?
Set required=False by default and allow users to override ?
Treat forms validation in a different way ?

Most likely my opinion would go for option 2.

[zhangfand]

@xordoquy Thank you for the reply.

I'm working on a JSON API server, so in my case, it would be the best if all generated BooleanField has required=True. I'm thinking about adding a field in the DRF setting so that I can overwrite the behavior for now, although it seems a little hacky. It would definitely be better if we have a different mechanism for handling form validation.

[carltongibson]

I'm thinking about adding a field in the DRF setting so that I can overwrite the behavior for now, although it seems a little hacky.

Far from being hacky, that's a great solution. Per-project custom fields are a great thing. They're to be encouraged. (The supplied fields are great but they need to cover cases, such as HTML-form submission, say, which may not be relevant to you.)

[zhangfand]

@carltongibson Thanks, It's good to know this!

Could you give me some suggestions on where to look into? I'm pretty new to the framework, let along its codebase. I am assuming it's near the rest_framework/settings.py?

[carltongibson]

I'm going to label this Documentation since a similar confusion came up on #1004 recently. A small clarification may be in order. (The rest of the history searching for BooleanField seems OK)

@dongzhangfan See the docs on Customizing field mappings.

[carltongibson]

@dongzhangfan There's a full example of using a Required Boolean Field here. I hope that helps.

[lovelydinosaur]

Seconding @carltongibson - I'd be happy to see a documentation tweak here.
If the default behavior isn't suitable, then overriding the field explicitly is the simplest option.

[carltongibson]

PR incoming

[zhangfand]

@carltongibson Thanks! It is a great post and is really helpful!

The required Boolean field page has moved.