large datasets

[highpost]

I have a working example of a search view based on Vanilla Views (see https://github.com/DanSears/vanilla-views-example). I did have a problem where my view worked with small datasets, but then the view would fail with large datasets because the default queryset is all()). So I worked out the following:

# combine the quote terms to form a modified queryset
def get_queryset(self):

    # get the queryset from the parent class
    queryset = super(SearchList, self).get_queryset()

    # get the search terms from the form controls in the template
    my_band = self.request.GET.get('band')
    my_publication_year = self.request.GET.get('publication_year')

    # return a queryset
    if (my_band and my_publication_year):
        # return a filtered queryset
        return queryset.filter(
                band__exact = my_band              # foreign key
            ).filter(
                publication_year__exact = my_publication_year
            )
    else:
        # return an empty queryset
        return queryset.none()

Basically, if the search terms are not valid, then get_queryset() returns none(). I couldn't find an example with either Vanilla Views or standard Class Based Views that did this.

My question is whether this is a reasonable solution or is there a different way to handle large datasets. I'm asking because I'm taking the scenic route of learning Vanilla Views, then Django-Filter and then finally Django REST Framework. And this approach doesn't seem to work in Django-Filter.

Thanks,

--Dan

[tomchristie]

Perfectly sensible usage, sure.