Integrating the enterprise using django - Ed Crewe (djangocon.eu)¶

Tags: djangocon, django

Single sign-on, group repository, identity management, cloud tools, perhaps google apps, specific university department apps. There’s a whole lot enterprisy stuff out there and django might have to connect to them. Data is also in big central oracle databases. There’s file storage on a SAN.

Authorisation integration. Single sign on and group management. django-cas helps.

Data integration, for instance group lists from various sources. External data in databases is fed by other apps like a CMS or department apps. Storing that data is oracle’s job. But the data structure tends to change. So the defined views in oracle that abstract away the differences. Django just connects to them with read-only models.

Sometimes bit sql statements are needed. They even went so far as to generate sql statements with django templates to give users the chance to make custom queries!

For configuration of the multiple sites they use decorators in the urls.py to customize the configuration.

Last step is the chrome. The look and feel of the site. They grab the layout from existing sites to integrate a bit with those sites automatically.

Question from me: regarding the chrome: it sounded a bit like xdv, wsgi middleware for hooking up with another site’s layout. Did you look at it? Answer: yes, but we’ve got a pretty loose coupling now and xdv needs a tighter coupling, it needs the target layout to be pretty fixed and the problem is that the university’s websites are pretty much in flux now.