Role

As explained in The Well-Grounded Python Developer: How the pros use Python and Flask

An authorization role is a named grouping of permissions that determines which actions a user may perform.

A role groups capabilities so an application can decide what a user may do after logging in. Authentication identifies the user; authorization uses the user’s role to control access to actions and routes. section 9.6 section 9.9

A practical role scheme separates ordinary content work from system-wide administration:

• Administrator: updates, activates, or deactivates any content and can activate or deactivate users. section 9.6
• Editor: updates any content, including content created by other users, but cannot deactivate users or their content. section 9.6
• Registered user: creates content and manages its active state, but cannot change another user’s or another user’s content state. section 9.6

Roles are initialized by the application and maintained as database records. Each user has one role, while many users can share the same role, forming a one-to-many relationship between roles and users. section 9.6.1

Named permissions backed by stored values

A Role model defines a Permissions Flag enum with REGISTERED, EDITOR, and ADMINISTRATOR names. The application stores the underlying integer in raw_permissions, initializes the role table at startup, and exposes the permissions class to templates for upcoming authorization features. section 9.6.1

Figure 9.5 The new Role table and its relationship to the existing User table

The relationship diagram clarifies how the role lookup table connects to users and supports shared roles. section 9.6.1

How The Well-Grounded Python Developer: How the pros use Python and Flask covers it

How deep it goes

Defines three roles, their action boundaries, database relationships, enum values, startup initialization, and template exposure.

Examples

Uses administrator, editor, and registered-user roles with distinct content and user-management capabilities.

What it assumes

Assumes authenticated users and introduces authorization as the separate mechanism governing their capabilities.

What you can do after

Configure roles in a Flask application and use them to protect pages and system-wide actions.

How it connects

Connects authentication, authorization, users, permissions, database relationships, templates, and route protection.

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Also explained in

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  Authorization in ActionA role is an authorization abstraction that groups permissions or access responsibilities for assignment to principals.
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  Amazon Web Services in Action, Third Edition: An in-depth guide to AWSAn IAM role is an AWS identity with permissions that can be assumed by trusted entities such as services or processes.
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  Effective Platform EngineeringA cloud role is a permission-bearing identity configuration that can be assumed by an authorized user, service, or pipeline.
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  Spring Security in Action, Second EditionA role is a named grouping of permissions or authorities used to represent an actor's access level.
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  Infrastructure as Code, Patterns and Practices: With examples in Python and TerraformAn access-control role is a named collection of permissions that can be assigned to an identity or service account.
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  MongoDB 8.0 in Action, Third EditionA database role is a named set of permissions assigned to a user or other identity.
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  Kubernetes for DevelopersA Kubernetes Role is a namespace-scoped object that defines permissions for API groups, resources, and verbs.
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  ScyllaDB in ActionA role is a database identity to which permissions can be assigned and through which users can receive those permissions.
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  Building Web APIs with ASP.NET CoreA role is a named identity-group designation assigned to a user for evaluating the permissions and access the user has.
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  liveBookmanning.com
  Software Security for DevelopersA role is a named collection of permissions or access responsibilities assigned to a subject in an access-control system.

Compare how 11 books explain role →

Related concepts

• role-based access controlused by · Role-based access control is an authorization model that assigns permissions to roles and grants users or other principals access through their assigned roles.
• promptconfigures · An input, typically containing instructions or context, supplied to an artificial-intelligence model to guide or elicit its output.
• authorizationhas part · Authorization is the determination and enforcement of rules governing which subjects may access resources or perform operations.
• administratorincludes · An administrator is a user, account, role, or process granted elevated permissions to manage a system, application, or its resources and settings.
• ASP.NET Core Identityused by · ASP.NET Core Identity is an extensible ASP.NET Core membership system for managing user accounts, credentials, claims, roles, authentication, and related identity data.
• custom roleincludes · A custom role is a user-defined authorization role with an explicitly selected set of permissions or privileges.

This explainer was generated by Manning's knowledge graph from the text of The Well-Grounded Python Developer: How the pros use Python and Flask. The section links point to the parts of the book it draws on.