Parsing PHP-style GET parameters for lists and dicts in Django

I need to work with DataTables, a jQuery-plugin for sortable HTML tables.

It sends Ajax GET requests with parameters like the following (but urlencoded, of course):

columns[0][data]=0

columns[0][name]=

columns[0][searchable]=true

columns[0][orderable]=true

columns[0][search][value]=

columns[0][search][regex]=false

columns[1][data]=1

columns[1][name]=

columns[1][searchable]=true

columns[1][orderable]=true

columns[1][search][value]=

columns[1][search][regex]=false

columns[2][data]=2

columns[2][name]=

columns[2][searchable]=true

columns[2][orderable]=true

columns[2][search][value]=

columns[2][search][regex]=false

I think this plugin was written with PHP in mind, and that PHP can automatically convert that into a list of dicts that would in Python look something like

columns = [

    {"data": 0, "name": '', "searchable": True, "orderable": True, "search": {"value": '', "regex": False}},

    {"data": 1, "name": '', "searchable": True, "orderable": True, "search": {"value": '', "regex": False}},

    {"data": 2, "name": '', "searchable": True, "orderable": True, "search": {"value": '', "regex": False}},

]

Does anybody know of any Python or Django app / library that does this?

Would it be possible to do this in a FormField? (convert many GET parameters into one field)

Does anybody know what this technique is called? My Google-fu is failing, and if I'm going write a field for this I need to name it.

Thanks,

Remco Gerlich

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