Serialize the @property methods in a Python class

You can extend Django's serializers without /too/ much work. Here's a custom serializer that takes a queryset and a list of attributes (fields or not), and returns JSON.

from StringIO import StringIO
from django.core.serializers.json import Serializer

class MySerializer(Serializer):
    def serialize(self, queryset, list_of_attributes, **options):
        self.options = options
        self.stream = options.get("stream", StringIO())
        self.start_serialization()
        for obj in queryset:
            self.start_object(obj)
            for field in list_of_attributes:
                self.handle_field(obj, field)
            self.end_object(obj)
        self.end_serialization()
        return self.getvalue()

    def handle_field(self, obj, field):
        self._current[field] = getattr(obj, field)

Usage:

>>> MySerializer().serialize(MyModel.objects.all(), ["field1", "property2", ...])

Of course, this is probably more work than just writing your own simpler JSON serializer, but maybe not more work than your own XML serializer (you'd have to redefine "handle_field" to match the XML case in addition to changing the base class to do that).

This is a combination of M. Rafay Aleem and Wtowers answer and caots. This is DRY and lets you only specify the extra props instead of all fields and props as in caots version.

from django.core.serializers.json import Serializer as JsonSerializer
from django.core.serializers.python import Serializer as PythonSerializer
from django.core.serializers.base import Serializer as BaseSerializer

class ExtBaseSerializer(BaseSerializer):
    def serialize(self, queryset, **options):
        self.selected_props = options.pop('props')
        return super(ExtBaseSerializer, self).serialize(queryset, **options)

    def serialize_property(self, obj):
        model = type(obj)
        for field in self.selected_props:
            if hasattr(model, field) and type(getattr(model, field)) == property:
                self.handle_prop(obj, field)

    def handle_prop(self, obj, field):
        self._current[field] = getattr(obj, field)

    def end_object(self, obj):
        self.serialize_property(obj)

        super(ExtBaseSerializer, self).end_object(obj)

class ExtPythonSerializer(ExtBaseSerializer, PythonSerializer):
    pass

class ExtJsonSerializer(ExtPythonSerializer, JsonSerializer):
    pass

How to use it:

ExtJsonSerializer().serialize(MyModel.objects.all(), props=['property_1', ...])

The solution worked well that is proposed by M. Rafay Aleem and Wtower, but it's duplicated lot of code. Here is an improvment:

from django.core.serializers.base import Serializer as BaseSerializer
from django.core.serializers.python import Serializer as PythonSerializer
from django.core.serializers.json import Serializer as JsonSerializer

class ExtBaseSerializer(BaseSerializer):

    def serialize_property(self, obj):
        model = type(obj)
        for field in self.selected_fields:
            if hasattr(model, field) and type(getattr(model, field)) == property:
                self.handle_prop(obj, field)

    def handle_prop(self, obj, field):
        self._current[field] = getattr(obj, field)

    def end_object(self, obj):
        self.serialize_property(obj)

        super(ExtBaseSerializer, self).end_object(obj)


class ExtPythonSerializer(ExtBaseSerializer, PythonSerializer):
    pass


class ExtJsonSerializer(ExtPythonSerializer, JsonSerializer):
    pass

How to use it:

ExtJsonSerializer().serialize(MyModel.objects.all(), fields=['field_name_1', 'property_1' ...])

Things have changed a bit since 2010, so the answer of @user85461 seems to no longer be working with Django 1.8 and Python 3.4. This is an updated answer with what seems to work for me.

from django.core.serializers.base import Serializer as BaseSerializer
from django.core.serializers.python import Serializer as PythonSerializer
from django.core.serializers.json import Serializer as JsonSerializer
from django.utils import six

class ExtBaseSerializer(BaseSerializer):
    """ Abstract serializer class; everything is the same as Django's base except from the marked lines """
    def serialize(self, queryset, **options):
        self.options = options

        self.stream = options.pop('stream', six.StringIO())
        self.selected_fields = options.pop('fields', None)
        self.selected_props = options.pop('props', None)  # added this
        self.use_natural_keys = options.pop('use_natural_keys', False)
        self.use_natural_foreign_keys = options.pop('use_natural_foreign_keys', False)
        self.use_natural_primary_keys = options.pop('use_natural_primary_keys', False)

        self.start_serialization()
        self.first = True
        for obj in queryset:
            self.start_object(obj)
            concrete_model = obj._meta.concrete_model
            for field in concrete_model._meta.local_fields:
                if field.serialize:
                    if field.rel is None:
                        if self.selected_fields is None or field.attname in self.selected_fields:
                            self.handle_field(obj, field)
                    else:
                        if self.selected_fields is None or field.attname[:-3] in self.selected_fields:
                            self.handle_fk_field(obj, field)
            for field in concrete_model._meta.many_to_many:
                if field.serialize:
                    if self.selected_fields is None or field.attname in self.selected_fields:
                        self.handle_m2m_field(obj, field)
            # added this loop
            if self.selected_props:
                for field in self.selected_props:
                    self.handle_prop(obj, field)
            self.end_object(obj)
            if self.first:
                self.first = False
        self.end_serialization()
        return self.getvalue()

    # added this function
    def handle_prop(self, obj, field):
        self._current[field] = getattr(obj, field)


class ExtPythonSerializer(ExtBaseSerializer, PythonSerializer):
    pass


class ExtJsonSerializer(ExtPythonSerializer, JsonSerializer):
    pass

Usage:

>>> ExtJsonSerializer().serialize(MyModel.objects.all(), fields=['myfield', ...], props=['myprop', ...])