Retrieve nested javascript objects in Django view as a dict

Question

I have a very simple view that receives an ajax request containing a javascript object. The jquery request looks like this:

$.get(URL, {'kwargs': {test: 1}}, function(data){//whatever})

The problem is, request.GET now contains a rather strange key and looks like this:

{'kwargs[test]': [1]}

How can I successfully decode this? As a side note, it is impossible to know the key (test) beforehand

The expected format obtained is a python dict that looks like the one in the request.

I've tried:

request.GET.get('kwargs', None)

And I'd expect this as a result:

{'test': 1}

However, I get None, as the real key is 'kwargs[test]'

EDIT

I know I could use some kind of regex to accomplish this, but it feels as 'reinventing the wheel', as this use case is not that rare

Kevin Cherepski · Accepted Answer · 2014-12-02 02:37:38Z

5

I would recommend using JSON when communicating back and forth between the server and client for this type of situation. JSON is meant to handle these types of nested structures in a uniform manner.

Take a look at using the jQuery $.getJSON functionality, http://api.jquery.com/jquery.getjson/

The following is an example of how this structure would look...

Javscript

var request_data = {kwargs: {test: 1}};
$.getJSON(URL, {data: JSON.stringify(request_data)}, function(data){//whatever})

Django

import json
def your_view(request):
    my_json = json.loads(request.GET['data'])

Doing this will allow you to parse the request which contains JSON data into a variable of your choice (my_json). Once you assign your variable with the results of json.loads(), you will now have a python object containing the parsed requested JSON data and you will be able to manipulate your object accordingly.

>>> my_json['kwargs']
{u'test': 1}

edited Dec 2, 2014 at 2:37

answered Dec 2, 2014 at 1:35

Kevin Cherepski

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4 Comments

Alvaro Over a year ago

request.body seems to be an empty bytestring .. I'm using django 1.7

Alvaro Over a year ago

Do you have any clue on that? I've followed the $.getJSON scheme and I'm getting something in request.GET

Kevin Cherepski Over a year ago

Yup you are right. request.body doesn't get populated for 'GET' requests. I'll update my answer with more relative information.

Alvaro Over a year ago

managed to make it work with a mixture of JSON.stringify and $.get.. thanks

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