Configurable request parsing.

[Tom Christie]

This ticket if for implementing a request parsing API that ensures the Request objects can nicely handle JSON and other submitted types in addition the the existing multipart parsing.

The proposed API is based on this discussion: ​https://groups.google.com/forum/#!searchin/django-developers/request.DATA/django-developers/s8OZ9yNh-8c/oCbNL5x6avAJ

• request.DATA or request.data for accessing the parsed data.
• request.parsers or similar for modifying the parsers prior to parsing on a per-view basis.
• request.accepted_parser or similar for branching on media type if needed.
• A setting REQUEST_PARSERS or similar, that controls the default set of installed parsers.

[Asif Saifuddin Auvi]

​https://github.com/django/deps/blob/master/draft/content-negotiation.rst

reading the DEP

my thoughts are wouldn't it better/nicer to handle the content negotiation per view based content negotiation? and there should be decorators to handle content negotiation in view level?

+ is it really necessary to introduce new global settings?

[Asif Saifuddin Auvi]

or this is the HTTP Handling part only? view parts will be implemented differently in another ticket? serialization in another part? hope you don't get me wrong for asking too many questions.

[DoHyun Kim]

How's it going? Any update about this issue?

[timtaiwanliim]

These 3 issues are related.
[1] https://code.djangoproject.com/ticket/21442
[2] https://code.djangoproject.com/ticket/28678
[3] ​https://github.com/encode/django-rest-framework/issues/4881

[1] is the overall tracker for this issue, desires to create a configurable parser. Opened 9 years ago.
[3] describes the desired behavior with example. Opened 5 years ago.
[2] has a proposed fix (credit: Facundo Batista). The fix is simple and worked well when I tried it. Opened 5 years ago.

Surely a configurable parser [1] is a good goal to pursue. But if it
takes 9 years before anything happens, perhaps we can take [2]? It is
not configurable, but it works well.

re: a case for multipart parser that can handle json parts
I have an api that takes some json input, plus 2 optional image files.
With json parser, I cannot easily include image files (base64 works, but
clumsy for modest size images).
Multipart parser allows me to send the json input plus images in 1
call. But all the data parts are treated as text (str). One of the
data field is a dict (eg. { "x": 7, "y": 5 }).
If I use json parser, it is an dict (good).
If I use multipart parser, it becomes a str (bad; desired to get a
dict).

[Carlton Gibson]

Following ​thread on mailing list, we're going to approach by adding the request.data part, adding just JSON handling, before making the accepted content types pluggable as a second step.

​Beginning work over here. Not yet ready.

Related to #32259 to modernise the request object at the same time.

[Carlton Gibson]

De-assigning myself as this has been picked up for GSoC this year.

[Carlton Gibson]

OK, this didn’t make it in GSoC. I’m going to pick this back up.

[Mariusz Felisiak <felisiak.mariusz@…>]

In 76280b4f:

Refs #21442 -- Increased test coverage of requests.

[Adya]

Hello, I am working on it. As a GSoC Contributor.
I am close to completing the specification as described in Django GSoC page: https://code.djangoproject.com/wiki/SummerOfCode2025#ConfigurableContentTypeParsing

The initial phase — targeted for before GSoC — will add request.data and add support for JSON body handling, but the next phase is to make that fully pluggable with custom parsers.

Please assign it to me, I am close to making pr