How to convert query string parameters from Datatables.js, like columns[0][name] into an object in Python/Django?

Question

I'm using DataTables.js and trying to hook up server-side processing. I'm using Django on the server.

Currently, the data to Django looks like:

{'draw': '1',
 'columns[0][data]': '0',
 'columns[0][name]': 'Brand',
 'columns[0][searchable]': 'true',
 'columns[0][orderable]': 'true',
 'columns[0][search][value]': '',
 'columns[0][search][regex]': 'false',
 'columns[1][data]': '1',
 'columns[1][name]': 'Sku',
 'columns[1][searchable]': 'true',
 'columns[1][orderable]': 'true',
 'columns[1][search][value]': '',
 'columns[1][search][regex]': 'false',
 'columns[2][data]': '2',
 'columns[2][name]': 'Name',
 'columns[2][searchable]': 'true',
 'columns[2][orderable]': 'true',
 'columns[2][search][value]': '',
 'columns[2][search][regex]': 'false',
 'order[0][column]': '0',
 'order[0][dir]': 'asc',
 'order[0][name]': 'Brand',
 'start': '0',
 'length': '10',
 'search[value]': '',
 'search[regex]': 'false',
 '_': '1725412765180'}

(as a dictionary)

However, there's a variable number of columns and order values that might come through. So I'd like to convert all of this into a few key variables:

1. start
2. length
3. search value
4. search regex
5. draw
6. array/list of column objects
7. array/list of order objects

But I don't know a lot of python

Answer 1

Well, that is a pure Python question and has nothing to do with the framework itself. In any case, the only way I can think of is to gather metadata and use it build a new object. Something around this:

data = { your_current_data }
"""
Access current data directly
and assign possible values to the new object.
"""
new_data = {
    "start": data.pop("start"),
    "length": data.pop("length"),
    "search_value": data.pop("search[value]"),
    "search_regex": data.pop("search[regex]"),
    "draw": data.pop("draw"),
    "columns": [],
    "orders": [],
}

"""
Find metadata to build the new object.
1) columns: number of columns -> [0,1,2]
2) orders: number of orders -> [0]
3) keys_data: a matrix containing all keys 
   obtained by destructuring the original one -> 
[ 
  [k1, k2, k3...], 
  [...], 
    .
    .
]
"""
columns = []
orders = []
keys_data = []

for key, value in data.items():
    keys = key.split("[")
    keys = [key.replace("]", "") for key in keys]
    keys.append(value)
    keys_data.append(keys)
    if keys[0] == "columns":
        if not keys[1] in columns:
            columns.append(keys[1])
    if keys[0] == "order":
        if not keys[1] in orders:
            orders.append(keys[1])
    else:
        pass

"""
Use columns and orders to loop through the matrix
and find it respective data to build a new object
to be appended to the new_data list.
"""
for number in columns:
    obj = {"number": number}

    for keys in keys_data:
        if keys[0] == "columns" and keys[1] == number:
            obj.update({f"{keys[-2]}": keys[-1]})
        else:
            pass

    new_data["columns"].append(obj)

for number in orders:
    obj = {"number": number}

    for keys in keys_data:
        if keys[0] == "order" and keys[1] == number:
            obj.update({f"{keys[-2]}": keys[-1]})
        else:
            pass

    new_data["orders"].append(obj)

If you want the new_data, columns and orders objects to contain keys called search_value and search_regex you need to adapt the code further by checking the keys list length.