Annotation-based filtering in FilterSchema

docs/docs/guides/input/filtering.md

@@ -73,30 +73,52 @@ class BookFilterSchema(FilterSchema):
 ```
 The `name` field will be converted into `Q(name=...)` expression.
 
-When your database lookups are more complicated than that, you can explicitly specify them in the field definition using a `"q"` kwarg:
-```python hl_lines="14"
-from ninja import FilterSchema
+When your database lookups are more complicated than that, you can annotate your fields with an instance of `FilterLookup` where you specify how you wish your field to be looked up for filtering:
+```python hl_lines="5"
+from ninja import FilterSchema, FilterLookup
+from typing import Annotated
 
 class BookFilterSchema(FilterSchema):
-    name: Optional[str] = FilterField(None, q='name__icontains')
+    name: Annotated[Optional[str], FilterLookup("name__icontains")] = None
 ```
-You can even specify multiple lookup keyword argument names as a list:
-```python hl_lines="2 3 4"
+
+You can even specify multiple lookups as a list:
+```python hl_lines="3 4 5"
 class BookFilterSchema(FilterSchema):
-    search: Optional[str] = FilterField(None, q=['name__icontains',
-                                           'author__name__icontains',
-                                           'publisher__name__icontains'])
+    search: Annotated[Optional[str], FilterLookup(
+        ["name__icontains",
+         "author__name__icontains",
+         "publisher__name__icontains"]
+    )]
 ```
-And to make generic fields, you can make the field name implicit by skipping it:
-```python hl_lines="2"
-from typing import Annotated
 
-IContainsField = Annotated[Optional[str], FilterField(None, q='__icontains')]
+By default, field-level expressions are combined using `"OR"` connector, so with the above setup, a query parameter `?search=foobar` will search for books that have "foobar" in either of their name, author or publisher.
+
+And to make generic fields, you can make the field name implicit by skipping it:
+```python hl_lines="1 4"
+IContainsField = Annotated[Optional[str], FilterLookup('__icontains')]
 
 class BookFilterSchema(FilterSchema):
-    name: IContainsField
+    name: IContainsField = None
 ```
-By default, field-level expressions are combined using `"OR"` connector, so with the above setup, a query parameter `?search=foobar` will search for books that have "foobar" in either of their name, author or publisher.
+
+??? note "Deprecated syntax"
+
+    In previous versions, database lookups were specified using `Field(q=...)` syntax:
+    ```python
+    from ninja import FilterSchema, Field
+
+    class BookFilterSchema(FilterSchema):
+        name: Optional[str] = Field(None, q="name__icontains")
+    ```
+
+    This approach is still supported, but it is considered **deprecated** and **not recommended** for new code because:
+
+    - Poor IDE support (IDEs don't recognize custom `Field` arguments)
+    - Uses deprecated Pydantic features (`**extra`)
+    - Less type-safe and harder to maintain
+
+    The new `FilterLookup` annotation provides better developer experience with full IDE support and type safety. Prefer using `FilterLookup` for new projects.
 
 
 ## Combining expressions
@@ -108,7 +130,9 @@ By default,
 So, with the following `FilterSchema`...
 ```python
 class BookFilterSchema(FilterSchema):
-    search: Optional[str] = FilterField(None, q=['name__icontains', 'author__name__icontains'])
+    search: Annotated[
+        Optional[str],
+        FilterLookup(["name__icontains", "author__name__icontains"])] = None
     popular: Optional[bool] = None
 ```
 ...and the following query parameters from the user
@@ -119,14 +143,19 @@ the `FilterSchema` instance will look for popular books that have `harry` in the
 
 
 You can customize this behavior using an `expression_connector` argument in field-level and class-level definition:
-```python hl_lines="3 7"
+```python hl_lines="12"
+from ninja import FilterConfigDict, FilterLookup, FilterSchema
+
 class BookFilterSchema(FilterSchema):
-    active: Optional[bool] = FilterField(None, q=['is_active', 'publisher__is_active'],
-                                         expression_connector='AND')
-    name: Optional[str] = FilterField(None, q='name__icontains')
+    active: Annotated[
+        Optional[bool],
+        FilterLookup(
+            ["is_active", "publisher__is_active"],
+            expression_connector="AND"
+        )] = None
+    name: Annotated[Optional[str], FilterLookup("name__icontains")] = None
 
-    class Meta:
-        expression_connector = 'OR'
+    model_config = FilterConfigDict(expression_connector="OR")
 ```
 
 An expression connector can take the values of `"OR"`, `"AND"` and `"XOR"`, but the latter is only [supported](https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/4.1/ref/models/querysets/#xor) in Django starting with 4.1.
@@ -144,20 +173,19 @@ You can make the `FilterSchema` treat `None` as a valid value that should be fil
 This can be done on a field level with a `ignore_none` kwarg:
 ```python hl_lines="3"
 class BookFilterSchema(FilterSchema):
-    name: Optional[str] = FilterField(None, q='name__icontains')
-    tag: Optional[str] = FilterField(None, q='tag', ignore_none=False)
+    name: Annotated[Optional[str], FilterLookup("name__icontains")] = None
+    tag: Annotated[Optional[str], FilterLookup("tag", ignore_none=False)] = None
 ```
 
 This way when no other value for `"tag"` is provided by the user, the filtering will always include a condition `tag=None`.
 
-You can also specify this settings for all fields at the same time in the Config:
-```python hl_lines="6"
+You can also specify this setting for all fields at the same time in `model_config`:
+```python hl_lines="5"
 class BookFilterSchema(FilterSchema):
-    name: Optional[str] = FilterField(None, q='name__icontains')
-    tag: Optional[str] = FilterField(None, q='tag', ignore_none=False)
+    name: Annotated[Optional[str], FilterLookup("name__icontains")] = None
+    tag: Optional[str] = None
 
-    class Meta:
-        ignore_none = False
+    model_config = FilterConfigDict(ignore_none=False)
 ```
 
 
@@ -173,7 +201,7 @@ class BookFilterSchema(FilterSchema):
     def filter_popular(self, value: bool) -> Q:
         return Q(view_count__gt=1000) | Q(download_count__gt=100) if value else Q()
 ```
-Such field methods take precedence over what is specified in the `FilterField()` definition of the corresponding fields.
+Such field methods take precedence over what is specified in the `Field()` definition of the corresponding fields.
 
 If that is not enough, you can implement your own custom filtering logic for the entire `FilterSet` class in a `custom_expression` method:
 

docs/mkdocs.yml

@@ -100,6 +100,7 @@ markdown_extensions:
   - abbr
   - codehilite
   - admonition
+  - pymdownx.details
   - pymdownx.superfences
 plugins:
   - search

ninja/__init__.py

@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
 from pydantic import Field
 
 from ninja.files import UploadedFile
-from ninja.filter_schema import FilterField, FilterSchema
+from ninja.filter_schema import FilterConfigDict, FilterLookup, FilterSchema
 from ninja.main import NinjaAPI
 from ninja.openapi.docs import Redoc, Swagger
 from ninja.orm import ModelSchema
@@ -54,7 +54,8 @@
     "Schema",
     "ModelSchema",
     "FilterSchema",
-    "FilterField",
+    "FilterLookup",
+    "FilterConfigDict",
     "Swagger",
     "Redoc",
     "PatchDict",