How do I use a dictionary to update fields in Django models?

Question

Suppose I have a model like this:

class Book(models.Model):
    num_pages = ...
    author = ...
    date = ...

Can I create a dictionary,

Answer 1

Adding on top of other answers, here's a bit more secure version to prevent messing up with related fields:

def is_simple_editable_field(field):
    return (
            field.editable
            and not field.primary_key
            and not isinstance(field, (ForeignObjectRel, RelatedField))
    )

def update_from_dict(instance, attrs, commit):
    allowed_field_names = {
        f.name for f in instance._meta.get_fields()
        if is_simple_editable_field(f)
    }

    for attr, val in attrs.items():
        if attr in allowed_field_names:
            setattr(instance, attr, val)

    if commit:
        instance.save()

It checks, that field you're trying to update is editable, is not primary key and is not one of related fields.

Example usage:

book = Book.objects.first()
update_from_dict(book, {"num_pages":40, author:"Jack", date:"3324"})

The luxury DRF serializers .create and .update methods have is that there is limited and validated set of fields, which is not the case for manual update.