Log in user using either email address or username in Django

Question

I am trying to create an auth backend to allow my users to log in using either their email address or their username in Django 1.6 with a custom user model. The backend work

Answer 1

I implemented the solution in my view. However, my users are not allowed to have emails as username during registration and also each email is unique.

if request.method=="POST":  
    username = request.POST.get('username').lower()
    password = request.POST.get('password')
    '''check if the username is a valid email'''
    try:
        email = validate_email(username)
        username = User.objects.get(email=username).username
    except:
        pass
    user = authenticate(request, username=username, password=password)
    if user is not None:
        login(request,user)
    else:
        messages.error(request,("Error logging in."))
        return redirect('login')

I am using validate_email so that my users can have @ in their usernames, @bestuser is a valid username but not a valid email. It works for me and I don't have to overwrite the authenticate method.