Proper way to consume data from RESTFUL API in django

Use the serializer instead of .json, as it gives flexibility to return in a number of formats.As while using rest-api , the provided serializer use is preferred.

Also keep the data handling and get data requests in view.py.The forms are used for templating not as the business logic.

I like the approach of putting that kind of logic in a separate service layer (services.py); the data you are rendering is quite not a "model" in the Django ORM sense, and it's more than simple "view" logic. A clean encapsulation ensures you can do things like control the interface to the backing service (i.e., make it look like a Python API vs. URL with parameters), add enhancements such as caching, as @sobolevn mentioned, test the API in isolation, etc.

So I'd suggest a simple services.py, that looks something like this:

def get_books(year, author):
    url = 'http://api.example.com/books' 
    params = {'year': year, 'author': author}
    r = requests.get(url, params=params)
    books = r.json()
    books_list = {'books':books['results']}
    return books_list

Note how the parameters get passed (using a capability of the requests package).

Then in views.py:

import services
class BooksPage(generic.TemplateView):
    def get(self,request):
        books_list = services.get_books('2009', 'edwards')
        return render(request,'books.html',books_list)

See also:

• Separation of business logic and data access in django