Python CGI as persistent network client.

[jbi130]

Not sure if the subject is a good description of what I'm after...

I have a client-server architecture (current client in Java, server in
C not that it really matters). I'm wanting to implement a web client
with Python and need to do more than just connect and work with the
database behind the server. I've already implemented a client module
in Python which is module enough to work with many UI's (I have a
ncurses based one and a wxPython based for experimental use).

What I think I need to do is create a new connection to the server
(using this module) when a new web session is started and retain this
connection throughout the session until the user logs out or has been
inactive for a certainn amount of time.

The closest example I can think of is a web based IRC client,
obviously these don't reconnect to the server everytime the user
reloads the page.

Are there any frameworks or Python tools aid in this sort of session
persistence? I've looked at Zope but not sure how much I want to deal
with DHTML, etc.

Thanks for any pointers.