Django Authentication: Getting a blank screen - django

Question

I am building my first django app that uses user authentication and I'm using
some examples I found on the web for reference. My examples use a method 'direct_to_template'.
The problem is that I get a blank screen when I use this. I know that the
template is in my templates directory.
Why am I getting a blank screen at login? How can I fix this?
The examples I'm using:
Example #1: https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/dev/topics/auth/
Example #2:
http://www.nerdydork.com/django-login-form-on-every-page.html
My code is below:
-------------base.html-------------
Here is the trigger it's in the header bar.
<li>Log-In</li>
--------- views.py -----------------------
from django.template import Context, loader
from django.conf.urls import patterns, url, include
from django.views.generic.simple import direct_to_template
from django.http import HttpResponse
VER = "1a" # Global I like to print; making sure my latest code is running.
def mylogin(request):
print "mylogin called [%s] " % VER
if request.method == 'POST':
user = authenticate(username=request.POST['username'],
password=request.POST['password'])
if user is not None:
if user.is_active:
login(request, user)
# success
return HttpResponseRedirect('/')
else:
# disabled account
return direct_to_template(request, 'inactive_account.html')
else:
# invalid login
return direct_to_template(request, 'invalid_login.html')
# User just clicked login
# *** I know this is getting called and I get a blank screen here ***
print "calling: direct_to_template('login.html')"
return direct_to_template(request, 'login.html')
def mylogout(request):
print "mylogout called"
logout(request)
return direct_to_template(request, 'logged_out.html')
--------- urls.py -----------------------
from django.conf.urls import patterns, include, url
from django.views.generic.simple import direct_to_template
from django.contrib import admin
admin.autodiscover()
urlpatterns = patterns('',
(r'^customers/$', 'jim.views.index'),
(r'^customers/(?P<customer_id>\d+)/$', 'jim.views.detail'),
(r'^media/(?P<path>.*)$', 'django.views.static.serve', {'document_root': '/media'}),
(r'^static/(?P<path>.*)$', 'django.views.static.serve', {'document_root': '/static'}),
(r'^login/$', 'jim.views.mylogin'),
(r'^logout/$', 'jim.views.mylogout'),
(r'^site_media/(?P<path>.*)$', 'django.views.static.serve', {'document_root': '/media'}),
url(r'^admin/doc/', include('django.contrib.admindocs.urls')),
url(r'^admin/', include(admin.site.urls)),
)
urlpatterns += patterns('django.views.generic.simple', (r'^accounts/login/$', 'direct_to_template', {'template': 'login_required.html'}),
)
--------- templates/login.html -----------------------
{% if user.is_authenticated %}
<!-- Authenticate account menu -->
{% else %}
<h3>Login</h3>
<form action="/login/" method="post" accept-charset="utf-8">
<label for="username">Username</label><input type="text" name="username" value="" id="username" />
<label for="password">Password</label><input type="password" name="password" value="" id="password" />
<p><input type="submit" value="Login"></p>
</form>
{% endif %}

Answer 1

Errr if your template is such
{% if user.is_authenticated %}
<!-- Authenticate account menu -->
{% else %}
stuff
{% endif %}
it seems pretty logical that your template is blank -_-
further more.. 200 is not an HTTP error it means 200 OK: Standard response for successful HTTP requests.

Answer 2

I have added a comment for you question asking for more details. But without those details my wild guess is that you need a view to display your "login.html" template.
You can write a sepearate view for that and put it in the urls.py. You can use the generic direct_to_template view in urls.py. Or you can modify your current "mylogin" view, for example:
def mylogin(request):
print "mylogin called [%s] " % VER
if request.method == 'POST':
user = authenticate(username=request.POST['username'],
password=request.POST['password'])
if user is not None:
if user.is_active:
login(request, user)
# success
return HttpResponseRedirect('/')
else:
# disabled account
return direct_to_template(request, 'inactive_account.html')
else:
# display login form
return direct_to_template(request, 'login.html')
The difference is in the indendation and in the last line (no POST data, means it's a GET request to display the login form).
But as I said, there are w few ways to handle it, mine is only a suggestion and I'm not going into any of your design decisions :)