Password change and reset in Django - Mini Project: Build & Apply

Password change and reset

📖 Scenario: You are building a simple Django web app where users can change their password or reset it if forgotten. This is common in real websites to keep accounts secure.

🎯 Goal: Create the basic setup for password change and reset using Django's built-in views and URLs.

📋 What You'll Learn

Create a Django project and app

Set up URL patterns for password change and reset

Use Django's built-in authentication views

Create simple templates for password change and reset forms

💡 Why This Matters

🌍 Real World

Most websites need a way for users to change or reset their passwords securely. Django provides built-in views to handle this safely and easily.

💼 Career

Knowing how to implement password management is essential for web developers working with Django to build secure user authentication systems.

1

Create URL patterns for password change and reset

In your Django app's urls.py, import path and auth_views from django.contrib.auth. Then create a list called urlpatterns with these exact paths: password_change/ using auth_views.PasswordChangeView.as_view() named password_change, and password_reset/ using auth_views.PasswordResetView.as_view() named password_reset.

Django

# Your code here

Need a hint?

Use path to add URLs and auth_views.PasswordChangeView.as_view() for the password change view.

2

Add success URLs for password change and reset

In the same urls.py, add two more paths to urlpatterns: password_change/done/ using auth_views.PasswordChangeDoneView.as_view() named password_change_done, and password_reset/done/ using auth_views.PasswordResetDoneView.as_view() named password_reset_done.

Django

from django.urls import path
from django.contrib.auth import views as auth_views

urlpatterns = [
    path('password_change/', auth_views.PasswordChangeView.as_view(), name='password_change'),
    path('password_reset/', auth_views.PasswordResetView.as_view(), name='password_reset'),
    # Add success URLs here
]

Need a hint?

Use auth_views.PasswordChangeDoneView.as_view() and auth_views.PasswordResetDoneView.as_view() for success pages.

3

Add URLs for password reset confirm and complete

Extend urlpatterns by adding these two paths: reset/// using auth_views.PasswordResetConfirmView.as_view() named password_reset_confirm, and reset/done/ using auth_views.PasswordResetCompleteView.as_view() named password_reset_complete.

Django

from django.urls import path
from django.contrib.auth import views as auth_views

urlpatterns = [
    path('password_change/', auth_views.PasswordChangeView.as_view(), name='password_change'),
    path('password_change/done/', auth_views.PasswordChangeDoneView.as_view(), name='password_change_done'),
    path('password_reset/', auth_views.PasswordResetView.as_view(), name='password_reset'),
    path('password_reset/done/', auth_views.PasswordResetDoneView.as_view(), name='password_reset_done'),
    # Add reset confirm and complete URLs here
]

Need a hint?

Use URL parameters <uidb64> and <token> for the reset confirm URL.

4

Create simple templates for password change and reset forms

Create two HTML files in your templates folder: registration/password_change_form.html and registration/password_reset_form.html. Each should have a <form> with method post and a submit button with text Change Password and Reset Password respectively. Include the CSRF token inside each form.

Django

Need a hint?

Use Django template tags for CSRF token and render the form fields with {{ form.as_p }}.