Activation link to allow committing to database in Django

Question

So I have an app that takes a form, and sends and e-mail address to somebody, but I want a way to stick and activation URL generated by Django into that e-mail, and not have the form data commit to the database until that activation link is clicked. Is there any way to do this?

Answer 1

Based on the comments on my first answer, here's a reworked one more suited to your needs.

Create a model, e.g. ServiceHours, that next to the data you want to collect (hours done, supervisor_email, ...), has the following fields:

activation_key=models.CharField(_('activation key'), max_length=40, null=True, blank=True)
validated=models.BooleanField(default=False)

I'd suggest adding a post_save signal to the Model, so that whenever a new ServiceHours instance is created (by saving the form), the email to the supervisor is sent.

# Add this to your models file
# Required imports 

from django.db.models.signals import post_save
from django.utils.hashcompat import sha_constructor
import random

def _create_and_send_activation_key(sender, instance, created, **kwargs):
    if created:    # Only do this for newly created instances.
        salt = sha_constructor(str(random.random())).hexdigest()[:5]        
        # Set activation key based on supervisor email 
        instance.activation_key = sha_constructor(salt+instance.supervisor_email).hexdigest()
        instance.save()
        # Create email
        subject = "Please validate"
        # In the message, you can use the data the volunteer has entered by accessing 
        # the instance properties
        message = "Include instance hours, volunteer's name etc\n"
        # Insert the activation key & link
        messsage += "Click here: %s" % (reverse("validate_hours", kwargs={'id': instance.id, 'activation_key':instance.activation_key})

        # Send the mail
        from django.core.mail import send_mail # Move this import to top of your file ofcourse, I've just put it here to show what module you need
        send_mail(subject, message, sender, recipients)

post_save.connect(_create_and_send_activation_key, sender=ServiceHours)

Define a view to validate service hours based on an activation key

  # in views.py
  def validate_hours(request, id, activation_key):
      # find the corresponding ServiceHours instance
      service_hours = ServiceHours.objects.get(id=id, activation_key=activation_key)
      service_hours.validated = True
      service_hours.save()

In your urls.py, define an url to your validate_hours view:

urlpatterns += patterns('',
    url(r'^validate-hours/(?P<id>[0-9]+)/(?P<activation_key>\w+)', validate_hours, name='validate_hours'),

This has all been off the top of my head, so please excuse any errors. I hope you get the gist of the process and can extend according to your exact needs.

Answer 2

You might want to set/unset the is_active flag on the user.

Conceptually:

• When a user registers succesfully, be sure to set the flag to False;
• Autogenerate a unique string that is tied to the user's ID and send the activation url via email;
• In the activation view, decompose the key into the user ID and set the is_active flag to True;
• In your login view, check whether the user trying to log in has is_active is True.

Then you'll be sure that users who are logged in have a confirmed email address.

The page in Django's documentation on user authentication provides all necessary information. For a sample login view, the chapter "How to log a user in" has one.

If you'd prefer to use a reusable app, django-registration might fit your needs perfectly.

(Post-reply addition:) why not commit the data to the database? The "waste" of having unactivated users residing in your database does not outweigh the effort you'd need to implement a solution that does not commit the data to the database. Moreover, it might be more than interesting to have an idea of the amount of unactivated users (and act accordingly).