A ready to use Django JSONResponseMixin and an instance/JSON convertor.

django_json_example.py

from .models import Profile

from .django_json_mixin import JSONListView, JSONDetailView


class AccountList(JSONListView):
    model = Profile


class AccountDetail(JSONDetailView):
    model = Profile

    def get_object(self):
        user = self.request.user
        return user.profile

django_json_mixin.py

import json

from django.http import HttpResponse
from django.views.generic.detail import BaseDetailView
from django.views.generic.list import BaseListView

from . import django_json_utils as utils


class JSONResponseMixin(object):
    columns = None
    date_format = '%Y-%m-%d'
    time_format = '%H:%M:%S'
    datetime_format = None

    """
    A mixin that can be used to render a JSON response.
    """
    response_class = HttpResponse

    def render_to_response(self, context, **response_kwargs):
        """
        Returns a JSON response, transforming 'context' to make the payload.
        """
        response_kwargs['content_type'] = 'application/json'
        return self.response_class(
            self.convert_context_to_json(context),
            **response_kwargs
        )

    def convert_context_to_json(self, context):
        "Convert the context dictionary into a JSON object."
        raise NotImplementedError()

    def convert_object_to_json(self, object):
        "Convert the an object into a JSON object"
        return utils.to_json_dict(object,
                                  columns=self.columns,
                                  date_format=self.date_format,
                                  time_format=self.time_format,
                                  datetime_format=self.datetime_format)


class JSONListView(JSONResponseMixin, BaseListView):
    allow_empty = True

    def convert_context_to_json(self, context):
        page = 1
        if context.get('page_obj'):
            page = context['page_obj'].number

        result = {
            'page': page,
            'list': [],
        }
        result['list'] = [self.convert_object_to_json(object)
                          for object in context['object_list']]

        return json.dumps(result)


class JSONDetailView(JSONResponseMixin, BaseDetailView):
    def convert_context_to_json(self, context):
        result = self.convert_object_to_json(context['object'])

        return json.dumps(result)

django_json_utils.py

import datetime
import decimal
import json

from django.db import models


def get_field_names(obj):
    """Get NORMAL field name list."""
    def _is_security(field_name):
        return not (field_name in ['password'] or
                    field_name.endswith('_ptr'))

    return [field.name for field in obj._meta.fields
            if _is_security(field.name)]


def to_json_dict(obj, columns=None,
                 date_format='%Y-%m-%d',
                 time_format='%H:%M:%S',
                 datetime_format=None):
    """Convert Django Model instance to JSON object.

    Inverse function of from_json_dict.
    """
    result = {}
    columns = columns or get_field_names(obj)
    datetime_format = datetime_format or ' '.join([date_format, time_format])
    for key in columns:
        val = getattr(obj, key)

        if isinstance(val, models.Model):
            result[key] = to_json_dict(
                val, date_format=date_format, time_format=time_format,
                datetime_format=datetime_format)
        elif isinstance(val, datetime.datetime):
            result[key] = val.strftime(datetime_format)
        elif isinstance(val, datetime.date):
            result[key] = val.strftime(date_format)
        elif isinstance(val, datetime.time):
            result[key] = val.strftime(time_format)
        elif isinstance(val, decimal.Decimal):
            result[key] = str(val)
        else:
            result[key] = val

    return result


def to_json_str(obj, *args, **kwargs):
    """Convert Django Model instance to JSON string.

    Inverse function of from_json_str.
    """
    json_dict = to_json_dict(obj, *args, **kwargs)
    return json.dumps(json_dict)


def from_json_dict(model_cls, json_dict,
                   date_format='%Y-%m-%d',
                   time_format='%H:%M:%S',
                   datetime_format=None):
    """Convert JSON object to Django Model instance.

    Inverse function of to_json_dict.
    """
    raise NotImplementedError()


def from_json_str(model_cls, json_str, *args, **kwargs):
    """Convert JSON string to Django Model instance.

    Inverse function of to_json_str.
    """
    json_dict = json.loads(json_str)
    return from_json_dict(model_cls, json_dict, *args, **kwargs)