I'm trying to add authentication in a webapp2 app hosted on GAE. I've successfully completed parts requiring registering a user, logging him in as well as a logout feature. Since this is my first attempt at adding authentication from scratch, I would love to get some advice about best practices. These are the queries I have:
Are there helpers in Webapp2. Something on the lines of view helpers in RoR where the helper functions are automatically available on every view / controller.
What is the right way of checking if user is logged in at each page? I was thinking of having a
is_logged_inhelper which would run on each page by checking against the cookies stored in the user's browser and then validating. Is there a better way?Finally, how/where do I use sessions? How is it helpful?
What I know about authentication is what I learnt in the on-going course at Udacity. The instructor though didn't mention sessions and spoke about authentication using cookies.
Any pointers would be appreciated. Thank you so much.