How to check user is authenticated properly in Django and Backbone.js - django

Question

I want to build single page application using Backbone.js and Django.
For checking user is authenticated or not,
I wrote a method get_identity method in django side.
If request.user.is_authenticated is true it returns request.user.id otherwise it returns Http404
In backbone side, I defined a User model and periodically make ajax call to get_identity.
I think it is the most straightforward way to check user is authenticated or not.
For learning single page application, I want to do this operation more sensible and efficient than this way if it is possible.
So what is your advice about this? When I search Django+Backbone.js + User Authentication, I couldn't find any satisfactory result and I really wonder how people do this simple operation.
Any help or idea will be appreciated.
(By the way I tried to read cookie periodically but HttpOnly True flagged cookies are not reacheable in client side.)
Django views.py
def get_identity(request):
if not request.user.is_authenticated():
raise Http404
return HttpResponse(json.dumps({'identity':request.user.id}), mimetype="application/json")
Backbone.js side.
updateUser:function(){
var $self=this;
$.ajaxSetup({async:false});
$.get(
'/get_identity',
function(response){
// update model...
$self.user.id =response.identity;
//check user every five minutes...
$self.user.fetch({success: function() {
$self.user.set('is_authenticated',true);
setTimeout($self.updateUser, 1000*60*1);
}
},this);
}).fail(function(){
//clear model
$self.user.clear().set($self.user.defaults);
setTimeout($self.updateUser, 1000*60*1);
});
$.ajaxSetup({async:true});
}

Answer 1

I had var is_authenticated = {{request.user.is_authenticated}}; in my base.html
and used the global variable to check.
I'm in pursuit of better solution (because this breaks when you start caching).
But you might find it useful.