DjangoRestFramework - registering a user: difference between UserSerializer.save() and User.objects.create_user()?

Question

Suppose I want to register a user (I'm using the User model located in django.contrib.auth.models). Assume this is my serializers.py:

class UserSerializer(serializers.ModelSerializer):

    class Meta:
        model = User
        fields = ('username', 'password', 'email', )

What's the difference between the following views, and which one is recommended when it comes to creating a user?

View A:

def createUser(request):
    if request.method == 'POST':
        serializer = UserSerializer(data=request.DATA)
        if serializer.is_valid():
            serializer.save()
            return Response(serializer.data, status=status.HTTP_201_CREATED)
        else:
            return Response(serializer.errors, status=status.HTTP_400_BAD_REQUEST)

View B:

def createUser(request):
    serializer = UserSerializer(data=request.DATA)
    if serializer.is_valid():
        user = User.objects.create_user(
            email = serializer.init_data['email'],
            username = serializer.init_data['username'],
            password = serializer.init_data['password'],
        )

        return Response(serializer.data, status=status.HTTP_201_CREATED)
    else:
        return Response(serializer.errors, status=status.HTTP_400_BAD_REQUEST)

Answer 1

Neither of those is perfect. But View A looks promising.

• View A is a good start, but it is incomplete solution. Because User creation is not simply User.save, but rather you have to call User.create_user method.
• View B is the correct way to create user by calling User.create_user, however, the views contains a logic which should actually be abstracted within the Serializer.save() method.

To solve this, you have to change the behavior of Serializer.save() method. Looking at the documentation, Serializer.save(), will call either Serializer.create() or Serializer.update().

In summary, we have to override the Serializer.create() for user creation and use View A.

# File: serializers.py
class UserSerializer(serializers.ModelSerializer):
    class Meta:
        model = User

    def create(self, validated_data):
        user = User.objects.create_user(
            email = validated_data['email'],
            username = validated_data['username'],
            password = validated_data['password'],
        )
        return user