To access the raw data in Django

If a Django query like Product.objects.all().order_by("title") is returning objects instead of raw data, this is expected behavior because Django’s ORM (Object-Relational Mapping) retrieves objects that represent rows in the database. To access the raw data (specific fields or values), you have several options depending on your use case:

1. Use .values() to Retrieve Specific Fields

The .values() method returns a QuerySet of dictionaries containing the data for the specified fields instead of model objects.

Example:

products = Product.objects.all().orderby("title").values("id","title","content")
for product in products:
    print(product)

Output (Example):

{'id': 1, 'title': 'Product A', 'price': 10.99}
{'id': 2, 'title': 'Product B', 'price': 15.50}

2. Use .values_list() for Flat Tuples
If you want a list of tuples with specific fields, use .values_list("id","title","content"):

Porduct.objects.all().orderby("?").values_list("id","title","content")

for product in Porducts:
    print(product)

Output:

(1, 'Product A', 10.99)
(2, 'Product B', 15.50)

Add flat=True to return a flat list if querying a single field:

Product.objects.all().value_lists("title", flat=True)

['Product A', 'Product B']

3. Convert Objects to Data (Serialization)

If you want to retrieve data in a serialized format (e.g., JSON), you can use Django’s serializers.

Example:

from django.core.seriazlizer import serialize 

product_json =  serilize("json", Porduct.objects.all().order_by("title")
print(product_json)

4. Direct Field Access

If you’re iterating over objects and need to access their fields, you can do so directly:

products = Product.objects.all().order_by("title")

for product in products:
   print(product.title,product.price)

Product A 10.99
Product B 15.50

5. Raw SQL Queries for Advanced Needs

If you need complete control over the data retrieval process, you can use raw SQL:

from django.db import connection

with connection.cursor() as cursor:
     cursor.execute("SELECT id, title, price from products.product ORDER BY title")
     row = cursor.fetchall()
     print(row)

Output (Example):

[(1, 'Product A', 10.99), (2, 'Product B', 15.50)]

Which Method to Use?

• For specific fields only: Use .values() or .values_list().
• For JSON format: Use serialization.
• For flexibility in iteration: Access fields directly from objects.
• For raw database operations: Use raw SQL.