Structuring an API in a large project

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Cezar Jenkins

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May 1, 2014, 11:59:25 AM5/1/14
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Right now I have a large project with an equally large API (done using django rest framework). The current structure is something like this:

api
|-----urls.py
|-----models.py
|
----v1
    |-----views.py
    |-----serializers.py
    |-----permissions.py
    |-----tests.py

etc

As you can guess, the views.py file is pretty big and I want to refactor this out. Currently I have a few options in front of me, the one I'm leaning towards is to put an 'api/v1' package into each app and use the api app to tie all the urls together and hold views that don't fall into an app.

Does anyone have any experience with this and could provide guidance?

Venkatraman S

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May 1, 2014, 12:10:34 PM5/1/14
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On Thu, May 1, 2014 at 9:29 PM, Cezar Jenkins <empero...@gmail.com> wrote:
Right now I have a large project with an equally large API (done using django rest framework). The current structure is something like this:

api
|-----urls.py
|-----models.py
|
----v1
    |-----views.py
    |-----serializers.py
    |-----permissions.py
    |-----tests.py

etc

As you can guess, the views.py file is pretty big and I want to refactor this out. Currently I have a few options in front of me, the one I'm leaning towards is to put an 'api/v1' package into each app and use the api app to tie all the urls together and hold views that don't fall into an app.

If the only pain point is the big views file, then why not just refactor that into multiple files under 'v1'  itself - nothing is stopping you from doing that. 

Adam "Cezar" Jenkins

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May 1, 2014, 12:16:33 PM5/1/14
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That was one way I started refactoring, but ran into issues. Say I have a destinations.py view file in the api, but I also have a destinations app. In my views file I can't do 'from destinations.models import Destination' cause the name conflicts. So I started having to name things 'destinations_api.py' which seemed really dirty.
 

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Venkatraman S

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May 1, 2014, 1:55:24 PM5/1/14
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On Thu, May 1, 2014 at 9:46 PM, Adam "Cezar" Jenkins <empero...@gmail.com> wrote:
On Thu, May 1, 2014 at 11:10 AM, Venkatraman S <venk...@gmail.com> wrote:


On Thu, May 1, 2014 at 9:29 PM, Cezar Jenkins <empero...@gmail.com> wrote:
Right now I have a large project with an equally large API (done using django rest framework). The current structure is something like this:

api
|-----urls.py
|-----models.py
|
----v1
    |-----views.py
    |-----serializers.py
    |-----permissions.py
    |-----tests.py

etc

As you can guess, the views.py file is pretty big and I want to refactor this out. Currently I have a few options in front of me, the one I'm leaning towards is to put an 'api/v1' package into each app and use the api app to tie all the urls together and hold views that don't fall into an app.

If the only pain point is the big views file, then why not just refactor that into multiple files under 'v1'  itself - nothing is stopping you from doing that. 

That was one way I started refactoring, but ran into issues. Say I have a destinations.py view file in the api, but I also have a destinations app. In my views file I can't do 'from destinations.models import Destination' cause the name conflicts. So I started having to name things 'destinations_api.py' which seemed really dirty.

When I have to split views.py into multiple files, i generally suffix it with _views; so, in your case it would be destination_views.py .

-V

Mike Dewhirst

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May 1, 2014, 6:36:00 PM5/1/14
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On 2/05/2014 2:16 AM, Adam "Cezar" Jenkins wrote:
> On Thu, May 1, 2014 at 11:10 AM, Venkatraman S <venk...@gmail.com
> <mailto:venk...@gmail.com>> wrote:
>
>
>
> On Thu, May 1, 2014 at 9:29 PM, Cezar Jenkins
> <empero...@gmail.com <mailto:empero...@gmail.com>> wrote:
>
> Right now I have a large project with an equally large API (done
> using django rest framework). The current structure is something
> like this:
>
> api
> |-----urls.py
> |-----models.py
> |
> ----v1
> Â Â |-----views.py
> Â Â |-----serializers.py
> Â Â |-----permissions.py
> Â Â |-----tests.py
>
> etc
>
> As you can guess, the views.py file is pretty big and I want to
> refactor this out. Currently I have a few options in front of
> me, the one I'm leaning towards is to put an 'api/v1' package
> into each app and use the api app to tie all the urls together
> and hold views that don't fall into an app.
>
>
> If the only pain point is the big views file, then why not just
> refactor that into multiple files under 'v1' Â itself - nothing is
> stopping you from doing that.Â
>
>
> That was one way I started refactoring, but ran into issues. Say I have
> a destinations.py view file in the api, but I also have a destinations
> app. In my views file I can't do 'from destinations.models import
> Destination' cause the name conflicts. So I started having to name
> things 'destinations_api.py' which seemed really dirty.

I might have missed something here but the usual Django way of
refactoring a large views (models too) file is to convert it into a
directory containing a file for each view. Then you can still refer to
each view using the dotted names as previously. No need to change other
code in other parts of the app which calls them.

> Â
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Adam "Cezar" Jenkins

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May 1, 2014, 8:29:45 PM5/1/14
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You're correct that code outside of those view wouldn't have to change, but the name of the file the view is in can clash with something outside that file.
 

Â

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Mike Dewhirst

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May 1, 2014, 9:15:51 PM5/1/14
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On 2/05/2014 10:29 AM, Adam "Cezar" Jenkins wrote:
>
>
>
> On Thu, May 1, 2014 at 5:36 PM, Mike Dewhirst <mi...@dewhirst.com.au
> <mailto:mi...@dewhirst.com.au>> wrote:
>
> On 2/05/2014 2:16 AM, Adam "Cezar" Jenkins wrote:
>
> On Thu, May 1, 2014 at 11:10 AM, Venkatraman S
> <venk...@gmail.com <mailto:venk...@gmail.com>
> <mailto:venk...@gmail.com <mailto:venk...@gmail.com>>> wrote:
>
>
>
> Â Â On Thu, May 1, 2014 at 9:29 PM, Cezar Jenkins
> Â Â <empero...@gmail.com <mailto:empero...@gmail.com>
> <mailto:empero...@gmail.com
> <mailto:empero...@gmail.com>__>> wrote:
>
> Â Â Â Â Right now I have a large project with an equally
> large API (done
> Â Â Â Â using django rest framework). The current structure
> is something
> Â Â Â Â like this:
>
> Â Â Â Â api
> Â Â Â Â |-----urls.py
> Â Â Â Â |-----models.py
> Â Â Â Â |
> Â Â Â Â ----v1
>     Â  Â  |-----views.py
>     Â  Â  |-----serializers.py
>     Â  Â  |-----permissions.py
>     Â  Â  |-----tests.py
>
>
> Â Â Â Â etc
>
> Â Â Â Â As you can guess, the views.py file is pretty big
> and I want to
> Â Â Â Â refactor this out. Currently I have a few options in
> front of
> Â Â Â Â me, the one I'm leaning towards is to put an
> 'api/v1' package
> Â Â Â Â into each app and use the api app to tie all the
> urls together
> Â Â Â Â and hold views that don't fall into an app.
>
>
> Â Â If the only pain point is the big views file, then why not
> just
>   refactor that into multiple files under 'v1' Â itself -
> nothing is
>   stopping you from doing that.Â
>
>
>
> That was one way I started refactoring, but ran into issues. Say
> I have
> a destinations.py view file in the api, but I also have a
> destinations
> app. In my views file I can't do 'from destinations.models import
> Destination' cause the name conflicts. So I started having to name
> things 'destinations_api.py' which seemed really dirty.
>
>
> I might have missed something here but the usual Django way of
> refactoring a large views (models too) file is to convert it into a
> directory containing a file for each view. Then you can still refer
> to each view using the dotted names as previously. No need to change
> other code in other parts of the app which calls them.
>
>
> You're correct that code outside of those view wouldn't have to change,
> but the name of the file the view is in can clash with something outside
> that file.

But if inside the app.views.__init__.py file you import the view classes
and defs you can call them without mentioning the filenames within which
they exist eg.

from __future__ import absolute_import (if you are using Python 2.x)
from .conflictingfilename import ClassyView, defined_function

Thereafter, elsewhere you can call ...

app.views.ClassyView.function_within_classyview()
app.views.defined_function()



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Adam "Cezar" Jenkins

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May 2, 2014, 9:42:44 AM5/2/14
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Thanks. This is actually a really great work around.
 



Â


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Scot Hacker

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May 2, 2014, 11:44:24 AM5/2/14
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On Thursday, May 1, 2014 8:59:25 AM UTC-7, Cezar Jenkins wrote:

As you can guess, the views.py file is pretty big and I want to refactor this out. Currently I have a few options in front of me, the one I'm leaning towards is to put an 'api/v1' package into each app and use the api app to tie all the urls together and hold views that don't fall into an app.



Hmm, I think the convention is to keep api code with each of your apps, so there shouldn't be a danger of anything getting too big / unwieldy:

apps
-- app1
----models.py
----views.py
----apiviews.py
----serializers.py
-- app2
----models.py
----views.py
----apiviews.py
----serializers.py

etc. import statements throughout the project are nice and readable. Works well for our (very large) project anyway.

./s

Adam "Cezar" Jenkins

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May 2, 2014, 1:47:34 PM5/2/14
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Thanks. I really like this. 

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