ndb to_dict method does not include object's key

Question

I am leveraging ndb\'s to_dict method to convert an object\'s properties into a python dict. From everything I can tell, this method does not include the object\'s key or parent

Answer 1

You're not missing anything ;-)

Just add the key to the dictionary after you call to_dict, and yes override the method.

If you have multiple models that don't share the same base class with your custom to_dict, I would implement it as a mixin.

to define to_dict as a method of a Mixin class. you would

class ModelUtils(object):
    def to_dict(self):
        result = super(ModelUtils,self).to_dict()
        result['key'] = self.key.id() #get the key as a string
        return result

Then to use it.

class MyModel(ModelUtils,ndb.Model):
    # some properties etc...