Output Django queryset as JSON

You can use JsonResponse with values. Simple example:

from django.http import JsonResponsedef some_view(request):    data = list(SomeModel.objects.values())  # wrap in list(), because QuerySet is not JSON serializable    return JsonResponse(data, safe=False)  # or JsonResponse({'data': data})

Or another approach with Django's built-in serializers:

from django.core import serializersfrom django.http import HttpResponsedef some_view(request):    qs = SomeModel.objects.all()    qs_json = serializers.serialize('json', qs)    return HttpResponse(qs_json, content_type='application/json')

In this case result is slightly different (without indent by default):

[    {        "model": "some_app.some_model",        "pk": 1,        "fields": {            "name": "Elon",            "age": 48,            ...        }    },    ...]

I have to say, it is good practice to use something like marshmallow to serialize queryset.

...and a few notes for better performance:

• use pagination if your queryset is big;
• use objects.values() to specify list of required fields to avoid serialization and sending to client unnecessary model's fields (you also can pass fields to serializers.serialize);

It didn't work, because QuerySets are not JSON serializable.

1) In case of json.dumps you have to explicitely convert your QuerySet to JSON serializable objects:

class Model(model.Model):    def as_dict(self):        return {            "id": self.id,            # other stuff        }

And the serialization:

dictionaries = [ obj.as_dict() for obj in self.get_queryset() ]return HttpResponse(json.dumps({"data": dictionaries}), content_type='application/json')

2) In case of serializers. Serializers accept either JSON serializable object or QuerySet, but a dictionary containing a QuerySet is neither. Try this:

serializers.serialize("json", self.get_queryset())

Read more about it here:

https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/dev/topics/serialization/

For a efficient solution, you can use .values() function to get a list of dict objects and then dump it to json response by using i.e. JsonResponse (remember to set safe=False).

Once you have your desired queryset object, transform it to JSON response like this:

...data = list(queryset.values())return JsonResponse(data, safe=False)

You can specify field names in .values() function in order to return only wanted fields (the example above will return all model fields in json objects).