How to use Django's built-in sessions framework



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Django provides a built-in session framework that allows you to store and retrieve arbitrary data on a per-site-visitor basis. It stores data on the server side and abstracts the sending and receiving of cookies. The session framework is optional and can be used to store data on a per-site-visitor basis for the duration of a user’s visit.

Here's a basic guide on how to use Django's built-in sessions framework:

  1. Enable Sessions in your Django project:

    In your settings.py file, make sure the django.contrib.sessions.middleware.SessionMiddleware is included in the MIDDLEWARE setting:

    python
    MIDDLEWARE = [
    # ...
    'django.contrib.sessions.middleware.SessionMiddleware',
    # ...
]

    Also, make sure the django.contrib.sessions app is included in your INSTALLED_APPS:

    python
    INSTALLED_APPS = [
    # ...
    'django.contrib.sessions',
    # ...
]

  2. Configure the session engine:

    In your settings.py file, you need to specify the session engine. Django provides different engines like database-backed sessions, cached sessions, or file-based sessions. Choose the one that suits your project. For example, to use the database-backed session engine:

    python
    SESSION_ENGINE = 'django.contrib.sessions.backends.db'

  3. Use sessions in your views:

    In your views, you can use the request.session dictionary to store and retrieve data for the current session. Here's a simple example:

    python
    def set_session_variable(request):
    # Set a session variable
    request.session['favorite_color'] = 'blue'
    return HttpResponse("Favorite color set to blue.")

def get_session_variable(request):
    # Get a session variable
    favorite_color = request.session.get('favorite_color', 'default_color')
    return HttpResponse(f"Favorite color is {favorite_color}.")

    In the example above, the set_session_variable view sets a session variable, and the get_session_variable view retrieves it. If the session variable doesn't exist, it defaults to 'default_color'.

  4. Session expiration and cleanup:

    By default, Django uses database-backed sessions, and the session data is cleared from the database when the user's session has expired (based on the SESSION_COOKIE_AGE setting). You can customize the expiration time in your settings.py:

    python
    # Set session cookie age to 1 day (in seconds)
SESSION_COOKIE_AGE = 86400

    Additionally, Django provides a management command to clean up expired sessions:

    bash
    python manage.py clearsessions

    You can run this command as a cron job to regularly clean up expired sessions from your database.

That's a basic overview of using Django's built-in sessions framework. You can find more details and options in the Django documentation: Django Sessions.

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