Feature: Settings-based configuration for LDAP

[davidjb]

The majority of my configuration is handled from a settings file, and I'd like my usage and configuration of pyramid_ldap to use this as well. I'm happy to do the development work, but want to check the feature will be suitable for inclusion in this package.

My thinking is that some additional work can be done in the includeme() function, after the existing directives are added, to read the relevant configuration in from the settings, and then have that call these existing LDAP configuration functions. Backwards compatibility is maintained, and then all LDAP configuration can be carried out in a settings file.

Thoughts?

[mcdonc]

What would it actually look like? I'm a little loath to add more framework to that package, given that it's so easy to call the configurator methods in your main() using the **settings passed to it.

[davidjb]

My thinking is just like other Pyramid add-on packages can be configured from settings with a certain prefix -- just as a package such as pyramid_mailer does: https://github.com/Pylons/pyramid_mailer/blob/master/pyramid_mailer/mailer.py#L179.

My rationale is such that I can separate LDAP details out of my code -- especially the username and password -- and easily use different servers/settings between different environments.

[mcdonc]

Are your username and password currently stored in the ini file? It's easy to put them there, and then just grab them from **settings passed in to the main() function without having any special support from pyramid_ldap itself. If you don't do that already, you should try it first before adding it as a feature of pyramid_ldap, at very least to get comfortable with the way it works.

[lmctv]

@davidjb : you could try and take a look at https://github.com/lmctv/velruse/tree/pyramid_ldap_forwarder/velruse/providers/localform and https://github.com/lmctv/velruse/tree/pyramid_ldap_forwarder/examples/sample_localform_app to see one possible way to setup the connector from the ini file. The main project's setup.py file add an explicit dependency on #6 to allow configuring multiple ldap connectors inside the same application

@mcdonc : since the minimum allowed python version is already 2.6, what do you think about a wholesale replace of % interpolated strings with str.format? This way you could avoid contorsions like the ones I've put in https://github.com/lmctv/velruse/blob/pyramid_ldap_forwarder/velruse/providers/localform/interpolators.py

Thank you very much

[davidjb]

@mcdonc Yes, I'm familiar with how Pyramid's settings work. My thinking with regards to this feature is that since I'm already writing generic code for configuring pyramid_ldap from my settings, that it could be incorporated into this package. Or, else feel free to suggest somewhere else equally as generic, since this settings extraction behaviour appears fairly common.

Edit: here's what my code looks like -- https://github.com/jcu-eresearch/jcu.common/blob/master/jcu/common/ldap.py - allows configuration of all 3 pyramid_ldap methods from settings. This code is able to be included in pyramid_ldap - verbatim or otherwise.