Create a Session in Django

Assuming you want database based sessions (Django also offers file based sessions, and cache based sessions):

1. Open settings.py and find MIDDLEWARE_CLASSES. Add 'django.contrib.sessions.middleware.SessionMiddleware' to the list.
2. Find INSTALLED_APPS in the same file and add 'django.contrib.sessions' there.
3. Run manage.py syncdb from the command line.

After the initial setup you can use request.session in your views to store information between requests.

For example this will store the information:

request.session['name'] = 'Ludwik'

and you can retrieve it as easly:

print request.session['name']

or

if request.session['name'] == 'Ludwik':   print 'you are awesome!'

For other things you can do with the request.session object see the documentation.

Ludwik's answer is the way to go, but if you want a gentler intro into the world of Django, (the (free) Django Book) is a must-read. Chapter 15 deals with sessions.

MIDDLEWARE_CLASSES should have −

'django.contrib.sessions.middleware.SessionMiddleware'

INSTALLED_APPS should have −

'django.contrib.sessions'

Change our login view to save our username cookie server side −

def login(request):  username = 'not logged in'  if request.method == 'POST':    MyLoginForm = LoginForm(request.POST)    if MyLoginForm.is_valid():       username = MyLoginForm.cleaned_data['username']       request.session['username'] = username    else:        MyLoginForm = LoginForm()  return render(request, 'loggedin.html', {"username" : username}

create formView view for the login form, where we won’t display the form if cookie is set −

def formView(request):   if request.session.has_key('username'):      username = request.session['username']      return render(request, 'loggedin.html', {"username" : username})   else:      return render(request, 'login.html', {})

change the url.py file to change the url so it pairs with our new view −

from django.conf.urls import patterns, urlfrom django.views.generic import TemplateViewurlpatterns = patterns('myapp.views',   url(r'^connection/','formView', name = 'loginform'),   url(r'^login/', 'login', name = 'login'))   url(r'^logout/', 'logout', name = 'logout'),

create a simple logout view that erases our cookie.

def logout(request):   try:      del request.session['username']   except:      pass   return HttpResponse("<strong>You are logged out.</strong>")