handling manual user creation with get_current_user() (GAE)

Question

I am using GAE's Python environment and Janrain in order to provide multiple ways to login in my service.

Based on login information I receive from Janrain, I create a google.appengine.api.User object and store it to the datastore. Is there a way to handle this new object with the built-in get_current_user()? I need to be able to determine whether the requester is logged in or not and who the user is.

Answer 1

No, you cannot use your custom user objects with the native GAE Users API.

You could use a sessions library to track whether or not the request is coming from a logged in user (and who that user is). I recommend gae-sessions. The source includes a demo which shows how to integrate the sessions library with Janrain/RPX.

Disclaimer: I wrote gae-sessions, but for an informative comparison of it with alternatives, read this article.