Moved object serialization into a utility function

netbox/utilities/models.py

@@ -1,11 +1,9 @@
 from __future__ import unicode_literals
 
-import json
-
-from django.core.serializers import serialize
 from django.db import models
 
 from extras.models import ObjectChange
+from utilities.utils import serialize_object
 
 
 class ChangeLoggedModel(models.Model):
@@ -32,15 +30,10 @@ class ChangeLoggedModel(models.Model):
         Create a new ObjectChange representing a change made to this object. This will typically be called automatically
         by extras.middleware.ChangeLoggingMiddleware.
         """
-
-        # Serialize the object using Django's built-in JSON serializer, then extract only the `fields` dict.
-        json_str = serialize('json', [self])
-        object_data = json.loads(json_str)[0]['fields']
-
         ObjectChange(
             user=user,
             request_id=request_id,
             changed_object=self,
             action=action,
-            object_data=object_data
+            object_data=serialize_object(self)
         ).save()

netbox/utilities/utils.py

@@ -1,8 +1,10 @@
 from __future__ import unicode_literals
 
 import datetime
+import json
 import six
 
+from django.core.serializers import serialize
 from django.http import HttpResponse
 
 
@@ -82,3 +84,15 @@ def dynamic_import(name):
     for comp in components[1:]:
         mod = getattr(mod, comp)
     return mod
+
+
+def serialize_object(obj, extra=None):
+    """
+    Return a generic JSON representation of an object using Django's built-in serializer. (This is used for things like
+    change logging, not the REST API.)
+    """
+    json_str = serialize('json', [obj])
+    data = json.loads(json_str)[0]['fields']
+    if extra is not None:
+        data['extra'] = extra
+    return data