Users with Flask intro Tutorial




Now that you have a cool website, maybe you want to have users so that you can allow people to further customize their experience. Here on PythonProgramming.net, we track the tutorials that users complete, for example, customizing the view based on completed tutorials.

Creating a user system is no simple undertaking, however. Consider all of the implications involved with a user-system:

  • GET and POST request handling.
  • Database for storing users.
  • Encryption to protect user passwords (Password Hashing).
  • Reading from a database and modifying the database.
  • Since we're inserting stuff from the user into the database, we need to handle for SQL injection attempts.
  • Handle sessions / cookies so that the user stays logged in and we actually know who is interacting with the website.
  • Need a register page, a login page, a logout page.
  • ...and a few more things.

Flask does come with a few methods for handling users and logging in. We will make use of at least the sessions, but I have not come to enjoy most of the available choices. I wound up mostly making my own system, which is not recommended. I will show my methodology, but I encourage you to try the Flask versions as well, maybe they will make more sense to you, or maybe they will be improved by the time you are reading this tutorial.

Regardless of what you specifically do regarding users and logins, the next tutorials will still be useful to you, covering things like encryption, databases, sql injections, dynamic content based on users...etc, all of which you will likely find useful to know.

To have users, we'll need a login page, so let's add one by adding the following function to our __init__.py file:

@app.route('/login/', methods=["GET","POST"])
def login_page():
    return render_template("login.html")

The only unfamiliar thing here might be the GET and POST methods.

GET and POST are request methods that allow people to interact with the server.

GET allows the user to retrieve data, and POST allows them to submit data.

Now we need a login.html template:

{% extends "header.html" %}
{% block body %}
<body>
	<div class="container">
		<br>
		<h4>Please Login:</h4>
		<br>
		<form action="" class="form-inline" method="post">
			<input type="text" class="form-control" placeholder = "Username" name="username" value="{{request.form.username}}">
			<input type="password" class="form-control" placeholder = "Password" name="password" value="{{request.form.password}}">
			<input class="btn btn-default" type="submit" value="Login">
		</form>
	</div>
</body>
{% endblock %}

Simple enough, the login.html page contains a form with a submit button. The form allows for a username and password to be input and submitted. Here, the password will also be input as asterisks, and hidden.

Now we have a login page, which we can even use. We can type in any username and any password here, and submit the form, though nothing will happen. While we're allowing the GET and POST requests, we're not actually doing anything with them. That's what we're going to cover next.

The next tutorial:





  • Introduction to Practical Flask

  • Basic Flask Website tutorial

  • Flask with Bootstrap and Jinja Templating

  • Starting our Website home page with Flask Tutorial

  • Improving the Home Page Flask Tutorial

  • Finishing the Home Page Flask Tutorial

  • Dynamic User Dashboard Flask Tutorial

  • Content Management Beginnings Flask Tutorial

  • Error Handling with Flask Tutorial

  • Flask Flash function Tutorial

  • Users with Flask intro Tutorial
  • Handling POST and GET Requests with Flask Tutorial

  • Creating MySQL database and table Flask Tutorial

  • Connecting to MySQL database with MySQLdb Flask Tutorial

  • User Registration Form Flask Tutorial

  • Flask Registration Code Tutorial

  • Finishing User Registration Flask Tutorial

  • Password Hashing with Flask Tutorial

  • Flask User Login System Tutorial

  • Decorators - Login_Required pages Flask Tutorial

  • Dynamic user-based content Flask Tutorial

  • More on Content Management Flask Tutorial

  • Flask CMS Concluded Flask Tutorial

  • The Crontab Flask Tutorial

  • Flask SEO Tutorial

  • Flask Includes Tutorial

  • Jinja Templating Tutorial

  • Flask URL Converters Tutorial

  • Flask-Mail Tutorial for email with Flask

  • Return Files with Flask send_file Tutorial

  • Protected Directories with Flask Tutorial

  • jQuery with Flask Tutorial

  • Pygal SVG graphs with Flask Tutorial

  • PayPal with Flask Web Development Tutorial

  • Securing your Flask website with SSL for HTTPS using Lets Encrypt