Enable export to XML via HTTP on a large number of models with child relations

Question

I've a large number of models (120+) and I would like to let users of my application export all of the data from them in XML format. I looked at django-piston, but I would like to do this with minimum code. Basically I'd like to have something like this:

GET /export/applabel/ModelName/

Would stream all instances of ModelName in applabel together with it's tree of related objects .

I'd like to do this without writing code for each model.

What would be the best way to do this?

Answer 1

The standard django dumpdata command is not flexible enough to export single models. You can use the makefixture command to do that http://github.com/ericholscher/django-test-utils/blob/master/test_utils/management/commands/makefixture.py

If I'd have to do this, as a basic starting point I'd start from something like:

from django.core.management import call_command
def export_view(request, app_label, model_slug):
#  You can do some stuff here with the specified model if needed
#   ct = ContentType.objects.get(app_label=app_label, model=model_slug)
#   model_class = ct.model_class()
    # I don't know if this is a correct specification of params
    # command line example: python manage.py makefixture --format=xml --indent=4 YourModel[3] auth.User[:5]
    # You'll have to test it out and tweak it
    call_command("makefixture", "file.xml", '%s.%s[:]' % (app_label, model_slug), format='xml')