added support for partial activation over serializer meta option

docs/api-guide/serializers.md

@@ -254,13 +254,24 @@ The `depth` option should be set to an integer value that indicates the depth of
 
 ## Specifying which fields should be read-only 
 
-You may wish to specify multiple fields as read-only. Instead of adding each field explicitely with the `read_only=True` attribute, you may use the `read_only_fields` Meta option, like so:
+You may wish to specify multiple fields as read-only. Instead of adding each field explicitly with the `read_only=True` attribute, you may use the `read_only_fields` Meta option, like so:
 
     class AccountSerializer(serializers.ModelSerializer):
         class Meta:
             model = Account
             read_only_fields = ('created', 'modified')
 
+## Specifying partial updates
+
+You may want to allow partial updates to your Model. To do so, you can set `partial = True` as a Meta option to your serializer:
+
+    class AccountSerializer(serializers.ModelSerializer):
+        class Meta:
+            model = Account
+            partial = True
+
+By default `partial` will be `False`.
+
 ## Customising the default fields
 
 You can create customized subclasses of `ModelSerializer` that use a different set of default fields for the representation, by overriding various `get_<field_type>_field` methods.

docs/topics/release-notes.md

@@ -4,6 +4,10 @@
 >
 > — Eric S. Raymond, [The Cathedral and the Bazaar][cite].
 
+## Master
+
+* Added `partial` to serializer meta options
+
 ## 2.1.9
 
 **Date**: 11th Dec 2012

rest_framework/serializers.py

@@ -91,6 +91,7 @@ class SerializerOptions(object):
         self.depth = getattr(meta, 'depth', 0)
         self.fields = getattr(meta, 'fields', ())
         self.exclude = getattr(meta, 'exclude', ())
+        self.partial = getattr(meta, 'partial', False)
 
 
 class BaseSerializer(Field):
@@ -100,12 +101,12 @@ class BaseSerializer(Field):
     _options_class = SerializerOptions
     _dict_class = SortedDictWithMetadata  # Set to unsorted dict for backwards compatibility with unsorted implementations.
 
-    def __init__(self, instance=None, data=None, files=None, context=None, partial=False, **kwargs):
+    def __init__(self, instance=None, data=None, files=None, context=None, partial=None, **kwargs):
         super(BaseSerializer, self).__init__(**kwargs)
         self.opts = self._options_class(self.Meta)
         self.parent = None
         self.root = None
-        self.partial = partial
+        self.partial = partial or self.opts.partial
 
         self.context = context or {}
 

rest_framework/tests/serializer.py

@@ -41,6 +41,12 @@ class CommentSerializer(serializers.Serializer):
         return instance
 
 
+class CommentPartialSerializer(CommentSerializer):
+
+    class Meta:
+        partial = True
+
+
 class BookSerializer(serializers.ModelSerializer):
     isbn = serializers.RegexField(regex=r'^[0-9]{13}$', error_messages={'invalid': 'isbn has to be exact 13 numbers'})
 
@@ -134,6 +140,14 @@ class BasicTests(TestCase):
         self.assertEquals(serializer.object, expected)
         self.assertTrue(serializer.object is expected)
         self.assertEquals(serializer.data['content'], msg)
+        msg = 'Merry New Year wishes for 2013!'
+        partial_data = {'content': msg}
+        serializer = CommentPartialSerializer(self.comment, data=partial_data)
+        expected = self.comment
+        self.assertEqual(serializer.is_valid(), True)
+        self.assertEquals(serializer.object, expected)
+        self.assertTrue(serializer.object is expected)
+        self.assertEquals(serializer.data['content'], msg)
 
     def test_model_fields_as_expected(self):
         """