Document customizable view names/descriptions

docs/api-guide/settings.md

@@ -274,6 +274,40 @@ Default: `['iso-8601']`
 
 ---
 
+## View names and descriptions
+
+**The following settings are used to generate the view names and descriptions, as used in responses to `OPTIONS` requests, and as used in the browsable API.**
+
+#### VIEW_NAME_FUNCTION
+
+A string representing the function that should be used when generating view names.
+
+This should be a function with the following signature:
+
+    view_name(cls, suffix=None)
+
+* `cls`: The view class.  Typically the name function would inspect the name of the class when generating a descriptive name, by accessing `cls.__name__`.
+* `suffix`: The optional suffix used when differentiating individual views in a viewset.
+
+Default: `'rest_framework.views.get_view_name'`
+
+#### VIEW_DESCRIPTION_FUNCTION
+
+A string representing the function that should be used when generating view descriptions.
+
+This setting can be changed to support markup styles other than the default markdown.  For example, you can use it to support `rst` markup in your view docstrings being output in the browsable API.
+
+This should be a function with the following signature:
+
+    view_description(cls, html=False)
+
+* `cls`: The view class.  Typically the description function would inspect the docstring of the class when generating a description, by accessing `cls.__doc__`
+* `html`: A boolean indicating if HTML output is required.  `True` when used in the browsable API, and `False` when used in generating `OPTIONS` responses.
+
+Default: `'rest_framework.views.get_view_description'`
+
+---
+
 ## Miscellaneous settings
 
 #### FORMAT_SUFFIX_KWARG

rest_framework/views.py

@@ -15,8 +15,8 @@ from rest_framework.settings import api_settings
 from rest_framework.utils import formatting
 
 
-def get_view_name(instance, view, suffix=None):
+def get_view_name(cls, suffix=None):
-    name = view.__name__
+    name = cls.__name__
     name = formatting.remove_trailing_string(name, 'View')
     name = formatting.remove_trailing_string(name, 'ViewSet')
     name = formatting.camelcase_to_spaces(name)
@@ -25,8 +25,8 @@ def get_view_name(instance, view, suffix=None):
 
     return name
 
-def get_view_description(instance, view, html=False):
+def get_view_description(cls, html=False):
-    description = view.__doc__ or ''
+    description = cls.__doc__ or ''
     description = formatting.dedent(smart_text(description))
     if html:
         return formatting.markup_description(description)
@@ -43,9 +43,6 @@ class APIView(View):
     permission_classes = api_settings.DEFAULT_PERMISSION_CLASSES
     content_negotiation_class = api_settings.DEFAULT_CONTENT_NEGOTIATION_CLASS
 
-    view_name_function = api_settings.VIEW_NAME_FUNCTION
-    view_description_function = api_settings.VIEW_DESCRIPTION_FUNCTION
-
     @classmethod
     def as_view(cls, **initkwargs):
         """
@@ -131,6 +128,22 @@ class APIView(View):
             'request': getattr(self, 'request', None)
         }
 
+    def get_view_name(self):
+        """
+        Return the view name, as used in OPTIONS responses and in the
+        browsable API.
+        """
+        func = api_settings.VIEW_NAME_FUNCTION
+        return func(self.__class__, getattr(self, 'suffix', None))
+
+    def get_view_description(self, html=False):
+        """
+        Return some descriptive text for the view, as used in OPTIONS responses
+        and in the browsable API.
+        """
+        func = api_settings.VIEW_DESCRIPTION_FUNCTION
+        return func(self.__class__, html)
+
     # API policy instantiation methods
 
     def get_format_suffix(self, **kwargs):
@@ -178,21 +191,6 @@ class APIView(View):
             self._negotiator = self.content_negotiation_class()
         return self._negotiator
 
-    def get_view_name(self):
-        """
-        Get the view name
-        """
-        # This is used by ViewSets to disambiguate instance vs list views
-        view_name_suffix = getattr(self, 'suffix', None)
-
-        return self.view_name_function(self.__class__, view_name_suffix)
-
-    def get_view_description(self, html=False):
-        """
-        Get the view description
-        """
-        return self.view_description_function(self.__class__, html)
-
     # API policy implementation methods
 
     def perform_content_negotiation(self, request, force=False):