How To Export Django Model Data Along With Its Parent Model Data via dumpdata Command

Django dumpdata command lets us export model objects as fixtures and to store them in json / xml formats.

All is good and works fine until you need to export a model that is a child of a concrete model and shares two database tables (one for parent another is for the model).

If you ever happen to export such a model, you'll notice that dumpdata command exports only child model data. Which is desired behavior in most cases.

But what if you need to get parent + child model data as a single json object?

Well, you may need to temporarily hack the core (naughty naughty!).

Here's how to do that: as of Django 1.10.5 you need to find a line number 84 in django/core/serializers/base.py file (here: https://github.com/django/django/blob/1.10.5/django/core/serializers/base.py#L84) and you should see

for field in concrete_model._meta.local_fields:

change it to

for field in concrete_model._meta.fields:

and voila, you model is now exported with a parent model data as a single JSON object.

Just don't forget to revert your code changes afterward, because hacking core is bad and you likely need to do this change for one-time operation.

However, If you need to use this approach on a constant basis, consider creating a custom serializer and applying your changes in it. You can find serializer examples here: https://github.com/django/django/tree/1.10.5/django/core/serializers.

Alright then, happy coding!