Django Sessions: Correct way to get logged in user data from server?

Question

I have my API set up using SessionAuthentication. Once a user logs in, I redirect them to their profile page in React. Once they are redirected to their profile page, I want to make a REST call to retrieve their profile data and insert it in the proper location on the page. I see a couple ways I can do this:

When a user logs in, put their User ID into the Response object (DRF) and then store that in the client somewhere (Redux store, session storage, or local storage). Then when they are redirected to the login page, make a REST call to /users/users_id.
With Django sessions the logged in user is automatically tied to each request. So do I even need to follow Rest here? I can make a call to /users, and if the user is authenticated, return their data.

I would appreciate any help with this. Thank you.

@jTiKey But once they get redirected to their profile page, don't I need to make another call to the server to get the data? This is the part I am confused on. What endpoint do I hit? — Logan Phillips
– Logan Phillips, Commented Mar 29, 2020 at 22:23

jTiKey · Accepted Answer · 2020-03-29 22:59:43Z

1

With SessionAuthentication, after a successful login, the browser saves a sessionId cookie for that domain (or ip:port) automatically. Sending a request will send that cookie from the same domain no matter with Django or React, and authenticate the user, making your request.user a user.

You can check for the cookie when you inspect the page -> Application -> Cookies -> Your domain -> sessionId

Basically, you can login via Django and it will login you with React as well. No need to store anything manually. Just use the same domain for both.

answered Mar 29, 2020 at 22:59

jTiKey

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3 Comments

Logan Phillips Over a year ago

Thanks, that definitely helps. But where do I sent the request to? Something like 127.0.0.1/session/user? For example, if after the user logs in, I redirect them to their profile page. Would I sent a request to something like 127.0.0.1/sessions/user, which will make sure the user is authenticated and then return the user object to React?

jTiKey Over a year ago

Yes, to your django view that returns the request.user data in JSON.

Logan Phillips Over a year ago

Thank you. I was just confused because I wanted to keep it restful and do something like 127.0.0.1/users/, but since the proper way restful url would be /users/user_id, I wasn't sure how to do it.

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