Generic views in DRF in Django - Practice Problems & Coding Challenges

Challenge - 5 Problems

❓ component_behavior

intermediate

What is the output of this DRF generic view code?

Consider this Django REST Framework generic view:

from rest_framework import generics
from myapp.models import Book
from myapp.serializers import BookSerializer

class BookList(generics.ListCreateAPIView):
    queryset = Book.objects.all()
    serializer_class = BookSerializer

What HTTP methods does this view support by default?

A PUT and DELETE

B GET and POST

C POST only

D GET only

💡 Hint

Think about what ListCreateAPIView is designed for.

ListCreateAPIView supports listing objects with GET and creating new objects with POST.

📝 Syntax

intermediate

Which option correctly overrides the get_queryset method in a DRF generic view?

You want to filter the queryset based on the current user in a generic view. Which code snippet is correct?

Django

from rest_framework import generics
from myapp.models import Article
from myapp.serializers import ArticleSerializer

class UserArticles(generics.ListAPIView):
    serializer_class = ArticleSerializer

    def get_queryset(self):
        # Your code here
        pass

A return Article.objects.filter(author=self.request.user)

B return Article.objects.filter(author=request.user)

C return Article.objects.filter(author=user)

D return Article.objects.filter(author=self.user)

💡 Hint

Remember how to access the request object inside a view method.

Inside a view method, the request is accessed via self.request. So filtering by author=self.request.user is correct.

❓ state_output

advanced

What is the response status code when creating an object with CreateAPIView?

Using Django REST Framework's CreateAPIView, what is the typical HTTP status code returned after successfully creating an object?

A 204 No Content

B 200 OK

C 400 Bad Request

D 201 Created

💡 Hint

Think about the standard HTTP status code for resource creation.

DRF's CreateAPIView returns 201 Created on successful creation, indicating a new resource was made.

🔧 Debug

advanced

Why does this DRF generic view raise an AttributeError?

Given this view code:

from rest_framework import generics
from myapp.models import Product
from myapp.serializers import ProductSerializer

class ProductDetail(generics.RetrieveUpdateDestroyAPIView):
    serializer_class = ProductSerializer

    def get_object(self):
        return Product.objects.get(pk=self.kwargs['id'])

When accessing this view, it raises KeyError: 'id'. Why?

A The view should use self.get_object() without accessing kwargs directly

B The view should use self.kwargs from the method parameter, not self.kwargs attribute

C The view should use self.kwargs, but it is missing because URL pattern does not pass 'id'

D The view should use self.request instead of self.kwargs

💡 Hint

Check how URL parameters are passed to the view.

The view expects 'id' in self.kwargs, but if the URL pattern does not include 'id' as a named parameter, self.kwargs['id'] does not exist, causing the error.

🧠 Conceptual

expert

Which generic view class should you use to implement a read-only endpoint that returns a list and detail of objects?

You want to create an API endpoint that allows users to only read data (no create, update, or delete). It should support listing all objects and retrieving a single object by ID. Which DRF generic view class is the best choice?

A ReadOnlyModelViewSet

B ListCreateAPIView

C RetrieveUpdateDestroyAPIView

D ListAPIView combined with RetrieveAPIView

💡 Hint

Think about a class that supports both list and detail read-only actions in one place.

ReadOnlyModelViewSet provides both list and retrieve actions but disables create, update, and delete, making it ideal for read-only endpoints.