Using Google App Engine

Chapter 8. App Engine Datastore

When using Google App Engine, we do not have access to a traditional relational database such as Oracle, MySQL, or SQLite. Instead, we have access to the Google Datastore, which takes more of a hierarchical object-oriented storage approach. The Google Datastore is based on Google’s Bigtable technology; go to http://labs.google.com/papers/bigtable.html for more information.

The focus of Bigtable and the Google Datastore is to achieve efficient application scalability within the Google cloud, given the dynamic and distributed nature of the Google production infrastructure.

For users who are familiar with relational databases, the Google Datastore will seem somewhat different. Beginning users may find that the Google Datastore is much simpler to get started with than a relational database would be. If you learn the App Engine Datastore first and then switch to relational databases, you might find relational databases a bit clunky compared to the App Engine Datastore.

The Google App Engine Datastore, much like with templates, uses syntax similar to the approach that Django uses to describe its Models.

We will explore basic use of the Datastore by modifying our application to allow users to create real accounts with real passwords and store those user accounts in the Datastore.

The Model-View-Controller Pattern

Now that we are adding some data storage to our application, it is time to revisit the Model-View-Controller (MVC) pattern.

To review, the MVC pattern ...