How to change serializer field name when validation error is triggered

Question

I need to change the view of the error displayed when I validate the field.

serializer.py

class ElementCommonInfoSerializer(serializers.ModelSerializer):

    self_description = serializers.CharField(required=False, allow_null=True,
                                             validators=[RegexValidator(regex=r'^[a-zA-Z0-9,.!? -/*()]*$',
                                                                        message='The system detected that the data is not in English. '
                                                                                'Please correct the error and try again.')]
                                             )
    ....

    class Meta:
        model = Elements
        fields = ('self_description',......)

This error is displayed

{
    "self_description": [
        "The system detected that the data is not in English. Please correct the error and try again."
    ]
}

The key of error dict is field name - self_description. For FE I need to send another format like:

{
    "general_errors": [
        "The system detected that the data is not in English. Please correct the error and try again."
    ]
}

How to change this?

Answer 1

One way this could be achieved is via custom exception handler

from copy import deepcopy
from rest_framework.views import exception_handler


def genelalizing_exception_handler(exc, context):
    # Call REST framework's default exception handler first,
    # to get the standard error response.
    response = exception_handler(exc, context)

    # Now add the HTTP status code to the response.
    if 'self_description' in response.data:
        data = deepcopy(response.data)
        general_errors = data.pop('self_description')
        data['general_errors'] = general_errors
        response.data = data

    return response

in settings

REST_FRAMEWORK = {
    'EXCEPTION_HANDLER': 'my_project.my_app.utils. genelalizing_exception_handler'
}