Creating Custom Exception in Django Rest Framework

2 min read

Django Rest Framework (DRF) provides built-in exception handling that can be used to handle errors and exceptions in a RESTful API.

However, in some cases, you may need to create a custom exception to handle specific error scenarios.

Here's how you can create a custom exception in DRF. 

Creating Custom API Exception 

Create a new file in your Django app directory, and name it exceptions.py. This file will contain all the custom exceptions for your application.

In the exceptions.py file, create a new class that inherits from APIException and define any additional attributes or methods that you need for your custom exception.

For example, you might add a custom error code or message.

from rest_framework.exceptions import APIException

class CustomException(APIException):
    status_code = 404
    default_detail = 'Custom exception occurred.

Now you can use this custom exception in views or serializers, for example:

from .exceptions import CustomException

class MyView(APIView):
    def get(self, request, *args, **kwargs):
        if not some_condition:
            raise CustomException

It's important to note that you should only raise custom exceptions when the error is something that the client can do something about, for example when the client has provided invalid input or an unauthorized request.

If the error is a server-side issue, such as a database connection error, it's best to use the built-in exception handling provided by DRF or Django.

Custom exception handling can be a powerful tool when used correctly in a Django Rest Framework project. With it, you can provide more detailed and helpful error messages to your API clients and improve the overall user experience of your API.


DJANGO

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