Trilby's Person class has a method "by_name()" which looks up a Person by name (or URL).

kepi/trilby_api/models/person.py

@@ -234,8 +234,10 @@ class Person(models.Model):
     def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
 
         if 'username' in kwargs and 'local_user' not in kwargs:
-            new_user = TrilbyUser(username=kwargs['username'])
+            new_user = TrilbyUser(
+                    username=kwargs['username'])
             new_user.save()
+
             kwargs['local_user'] = new_user
             del kwargs['username']
 
@@ -315,3 +317,38 @@ class Person(models.Model):
             return self.remote_url
         else:
             return self.username
+
+    @classmethod
+    def by_name(cls, name,
+            local_only = False):
+
+        """
+        Return the Person who has the given name.
+        If local_only==False, name can also be a remote URL.
+        """
+
+        logger.info('looking up Person by name=%s; local_only=%s',
+                name, local_only)
+
+        if name.startswith('@'):
+            name = name[1:]
+            local_only = True
+
+        try:
+            return cls.objects.get(
+                    local_user__username = name,
+                    )
+        except cls.DoesNotExist:
+            pass
+
+        if local_only:
+            return None
+
+        try:
+            return cls.objects.get(
+                    remote_url = name,
+                    )
+        except cls.DoesNotExist:
+            pass
+
+        return None

kepi/trilby_api/views.py

@@ -26,6 +26,19 @@ logger = logging.Logger(name='kepi')
 
 ###########################
 
+def get_person_or_404(name):
+    result = trilby_models.Person.by_name(
+            name = name,
+            local_only = True,
+            )
+
+    if result is None:
+        raise Http404("No such user.")
+
+    return result
+
+###########################
+
 class Instance(View):
 
     def get(self, request, *args, **kwargs):
@@ -208,10 +221,7 @@ class DoSomethingWithPerson(generics.GenericAPIView):
             logger.debug('  -- user not logged in')
             return error_response(401, 'Not logged in')
 
-        the_person = get_object_or_404(
-                self.get_queryset(),
-                local_user__username = name,
-                )
+        the_person = get_person_or_404(name)
 
         result = self._do_something_with(the_person, request)
 
@@ -691,9 +701,7 @@ class UserFeed(View):
 
     def get(self, request, username, *args, **kwargs):
 
-        user = get_object_or_404(trilby_models.Person,
-                id = '@'+username,
-                )
+        user = get_person_or_404(username)
 
         context = {
                 'self': request.build_absolute_uri(),
@@ -785,10 +793,7 @@ class Followers_or_Following(generics.GenericAPIView):
             logger.debug('  -- user not logged in')
             return error_response(401, 'Not logged in')
 
-        the_person = get_object_or_404(
-                self.get_queryset(),
-                local_user__username = name,
-                )
+        the_person = get_person_or_404(name)
 
         queryset = self._get_list_for(the_person)