How to access current user in a mailer file before action - ruby-on-rails

I have a before action in a user mailer file, which is supposed to stop mailers sending if a column on user is set to true or false. However current user is currently unavailable. I understand why, but was wondering if there was a way to do this.
I want to avoid adding the check_if_users_can_receive_mailers at the top of each mailer method.
before_action :check_if_users_can_receive_mailers
#methods that send mailers
private
def check_if_users_can_receive_mailers
current_user.send_mailers?
end

You have to make the current user available as a attribute or class variable. The most straight forward method is something like this:
class MailerBase < ActionMailer::Base
before_action :check_if_users_can_receive_mailers
attr_accessor :user
def initialize(user)
#user = user
end
private
def check_if_users_can_receive_mailers
user.send_mailers?
end
end
class SomeMailerClass < MailerBase
end

In Rails only your controller and views are request aware. Mailers and models and other classes in your application are not and they cannot get the current user since they can't access the session nor the method current_user which is a helper method mixed into your controller (and the view context).
If your mailers need to know about the current user the most logical approach is to pass that information into the mailer:
class UserMailer < ApplicationMailer
def intialize(user)
#user = user
end
end
However a mailer should only have one job - to send emails and it shouldn't be questioning if it should do the job or not. Determining if you should send an email to the user should be done elsewhere. You can place this logic in the controller or even better in a service object:
# app/notifiers/user_notifier.rb
class UserNotifier
def initialize(user, event:)
#user = user
#event = event
end
def notify
if #user.wants_email?
spam_user!
end
send_in_app_notification
end
def self.notify(user, event:)
new(user, event:)
end
private
def spam_user!
# ...
end
def send_in_app_notification
# ...
end
end
class ThingsController
def create
#thing = Thing.new
if #thing.save
UserNotifier.notify(current_user, event: :thing_created)
redirect_to #thing
else
render :new
end
end
end

Related

How do you call a controller action from a model in rails

I have a rails app that I am trying to use a model file that finds # mentions in a text field and then I want it to notify the #mentioned party, using after_create callback
class Post < ApplicationRecord
after_create :notifiy_users
def notifiy_users
mentioned_users.each do |user|
Notification.create!(recipient: user,
actor: self.user,
action: 'mentioned',
notifiable: self)
end
end
def mentions
#mentions ||= begin
regex = /#([\w]+)/
matches = body.scan(regex).flatten
end
end
def mentioned_users
#mentioned_users ||= User.where(username: mentions)
end
end
on local_env this works and the notification is created and saved, but when I push to production this acts like the after_create is never called and I get no return from the notify_users method.
Any help or recommendations for a better way to handle this would be greatly appreciated.
Calling controller actions from inside a model violates MVC. Model actions should only handle data-related logic, all the actions should stay within the controller.
Instead, you should be calling the callback from within your controller:
class PostController < ApplicationController
after_action :notify_users, only: [:create]
...
def notify_users
#post.mentioned_users.each do |user|
Notification.create!(recipient: user,
actor: #post.user,
action: 'mentioned',
notifiable: self)
end
end
end
And your model will look like this:
class Post < ApplicationRecord
def mentions
#mentions ||= begin
regex = /#([\w]+)/
matches = self.body.scan(regex).flatten
end
end
def mentioned_users
#mentioned_users ||= User.where(username: self.mentions)
end
end

How to get Devise's current_user in ActiveRecord callback in Rails?

I'm using Devise and Rails 3.2.16. I want to automatically insert who created a record and who updated a record. So I have something like this in models:
before_create :insert_created_by
before_update :insert_updated_by
private
def insert_created_by
self.created_by_id = current_user.id
end
def insert_updated_by
self.updated_by_id = current_user.id
end
Problem is that I get the error undefined local variable or method 'current_user' because current_user is not visible in a callback. How can I automatically insert who created and updated this record?
If there's an easy way to do it in Rails 4.x I'll make the migration.
Editing #HarsHarl's answer would probably have made more sense since this answer is very much similar.
With the Thread.current[:current_user] approach, you would have to make this call to set the User for every request. You've said that you don't like the idea of setting a variable for every single request that is only used so seldom; you could chose to use skip_before_filter to skip setting the User or instead of placing the before_filter in the ApplicationController set it in the controllers where you need the current_user.
A modular approach would be to move the setting of created_by_id and updated_by_id to a concern and include it in models you need to use.
Auditable module:
# app/models/concerns/auditable.rb
module Auditable
extend ActiveSupport::Concern
included do
# Assigns created_by_id and updated_by_id upon included Class initialization
after_initialize :add_created_by_and_updated_by
# Updates updated_by_id for the current instance
after_save :update_updated_by
end
private
def add_created_by_and_updated_by
self.created_by_id ||= User.current.id if User.current
self.updated_by_id ||= User.current.id if User.current
end
# Updates current instance's updated_by_id if current_user is not nil and is not destroyed.
def update_updated_by
self.updated_by_id = User.current.id if User.current and not destroyed?
end
end
User Model:
#app/models/user.rb
class User < ActiveRecord::Base
...
def self.current=(user)
Thread.current[:current_user] = user
end
def self.current
Thread.current[:current_user]
end
...
end
Application Controller:
#app/controllers/application_controller
class ApplicationController < ActionController::Base
...
before_filter :authenticate_user!, :set_current_user
private
def set_current_user
User.current = current_user
end
end
Example Usage: Include auditable module in one of the models:
# app/models/foo.rb
class Foo < ActiveRecord::Base
include Auditable
...
end
Including Auditable concern in Foo model will assign created_by_id and updated_by_id to Foo's instance upon initialization so you have these attributes to use right after initialization, and they are persisted into the foos table on an after_save callback.
another approach is this
class User
class << self
def current_user=(user)
Thread.current[:current_user] = user
end
def current_user
Thread.current[:current_user]
end
end
end
class ApplicationController
before_filter :set_current_user
def set_current_user
User.current_user = current_user
end
end
current_user is not accessible from within model files in Rails, only controllers, views and helpers. Although , through class variable you can achieve that but this is not good approach so for that you can create two methods inside his model. When create action call from controller then send current user and field name to that model ex:
Contoller code
def create
your code goes here and after save then write
#model_instance.insert_created_by(current_user)
end
and in model write this method
def self.insert_created_by(user)
update_attributes(created_by_id: user.id)
end
same for other methods
just create an attribute accessor in the model and initialize it when your record is being saved in controller as below
# app/models/foo.rb
class Foo < ActiveRecord::Base
attr_accessor :current_user
before_create :insert_created_by
before_update :insert_updated_by
private
def insert_created_by
self.created_by_id = current_user.id
end
def insert_updated_by
self.updated_by_id = current_user.id
end
end
# app/controllers/foos_controller.rb
class FoosController < ApplicationController
def create
#foo = Foo.new(....)
#foo.current_user = current_user
#foo.save
end
end

Wrapping within filter

Using Rails 3.2. I am trying to secure my app by checking user permission on all crud actions. Here is one of the examples:
class StatesController < ApplicationController
def create
#country = Country.find(params[:country_id])
if can_edit(#country)
#state.save
else
redirect_to country_path
end
end
def destroy
#country = Country.find(params[:country_id])
if can_edit(#country)
#state = State.find(params[:id])
#state.destroy
else
redirect_to country_path
end
end
end
class ApplicationController < ActionController::Base
def is_owner?(object)
current_user == object.user
end
def can_edit?(object)
if logged_in?
is_owner?(object) || current_user.admin?
end
end
end
I notice that I have been wrapping can_edit? in many controllers. Is there a DRYer way to do this?
Note: All must include an object to check if the logged in user is the owner.
You are looking for an authorization library. You should look at CanCan which allows you to set certain rules about which objects can be accessed by particular users or groups of users.
It has a method, load_and_authorize_resource, which you can call in a given controller. So your statues controller would look like:
class StatesController < ApplicationController
load_and_authorize_resource :country
def create
#state.save
end
def destroy
#state = State.find(params[:id])
#state.destroy
end
end
CanCan will first load the country and determine whether or not the user has the right to view this resource. If not, it will raise an error (which you can rescue in that controller or ApplicationController to return an appropriate response".) You can then access #country in any controller action knowing that the user has the right to do so.

after_save callback to set the updated_by column to the current_user

I would like to use an after_save callback to set the updated_by column to the current_user. But the current_user isn't available in the model. How should I do this?
You need to handle it in the controller. First execute the save on the model, then if successful update the record field.
Example
class MyController < ActionController::Base
def index
if record.save
record.update_attribute :updated_by, current_user.id
end
end
end
Another alternative (I prefer this one) is to create a custom method in your model that wraps the logic. For example
class Record < ActiveRecord::Base
def save_by(user)
self.updated_by = user.id
self.save
end
end
class MyController < ActionController::Base
def index
...
record.save_by(current_user)
end
end
I have implemented this monkeypatch based on Simone Carletti's advice, as far as I could tell touch only does timestamps, not the users id. Is there anything wrong with this? This is designed to work with a devise current_user.
class ActiveRecord::Base
def save_with_user(user)
self.updated_by_user = user unless user.blank?
save
end
def update_attributes_with_user(attributes, user)
self.updated_by_user = user unless user.blank?
update_attributes(attributes)
end
end
And then the create and update methods call these like so:
#foo.save_with_user(current_user)
#foo.update_attributes_with_user(params[:foo], current_user)

Access current_user in model

I have 3 tables
items (columns are: name , type)
history(columns are: date, username, item_id)
user(username, password)
When a user say "ABC" logs in and creates a new item, a history record gets created with the following after_create filter.
How to assign this username ‘ABC’ to the username field in history table through this filter.
class Item < ActiveRecord::Base
has_many :histories
after_create :update_history
def update_history
histories.create(:date=>Time.now, username=> ?)
end
end
My login method in session_controller
def login
if request.post?
user=User.authenticate(params[:username])
if user
session[:user_id] =user.id
redirect_to( :action=>'home')
flash[:message] = "Successfully logged in "
else
flash[:notice] = "Incorrect user/password combination"
redirect_to(:action=>"login")
end
end
end
I am not using any authentication plugin. I would appreciate if someone could tell me how to achieve this without using plugin(like userstamp etc.) if possible.
Rails 5
Declare a module
module Current
thread_mattr_accessor :user
end
Assign the current user
class ApplicationController < ActionController::Base
around_action :set_current_user
def set_current_user
Current.user = current_user
yield
ensure
# to address the thread variable leak issues in Puma/Thin webserver
Current.user = nil
end
end
Now you can refer to the current user as Current.user
Documentation about thread_mattr_accessor
Rails 3,4
It is not a common practice to access the current_user within a model. That being said, here is a solution:
class User < ActiveRecord::Base
def self.current
Thread.current[:current_user]
end
def self.current=(usr)
Thread.current[:current_user] = usr
end
end
Set the current_user attribute in a around_filter of ApplicationController.
class ApplicationController < ActionController::Base
around_filter :set_current_user
def set_current_user
User.current = User.find_by_id(session[:user_id])
yield
ensure
# to address the thread variable leak issues in Puma/Thin webserver
User.current = nil
end
end
Set the current_user after successful authentication:
def login
if User.current=User.authenticate(params[:username], params[:password])
session[:user_id] = User.current.id
flash[:message] = "Successfully logged in "
redirect_to( :action=>'home')
else
flash[:notice] = "Incorrect user/password combination"
redirect_to(:action=>"login")
end
end
Finally, refer to the current_user in update_history of Item.
class Item < ActiveRecord::Base
has_many :histories
after_create :update_history
def update_history
histories.create(:date=>Time.now, :username=> User.current.username)
end
end
The Controller should tell the model instance
Working with the database is the model's job. Handling web requests, including knowing the user for the current request, is the controller's job.
Therefore, if a model instance needs to know the current user, a controller should tell it.
def create
#item = Item.new
#item.current_user = current_user # or whatever your controller method is
...
end
This assumes that Item has an attr_accessor for current_user.
The Rails 5.2 approach for having global access to the user and other attributes is CurrentAttributes.
If the user creates an item, shouldn't the item have a belongs_to :user clause? This would allow you in your after_update to do
History.create :username => self.user.username
You could write an around_filter in ApplicationController
around_filter :apply_scope
def apply_scope
Document.where(:user_id => current_user.id).scoping do
yield
end
This can be done easily in few steps by implementing Thread.
Step 1:
class User < ApplicationRecord
def self.current
Thread.current[:user]
end
def self.current=(user)
Thread.current[:user] = user
end
end
Step 2:
class ApplicationController < ActionController::Base
before_filter :set_current_user
def set_current_user
User.current = current_user
end
end
Now you can easily get current user as User.current
The Thread trick isn't threadsafe, ironically.
My solution was to walk the stack backwards looking for a frame that responds to current_user. If none is found it returns nil. Example:
def find_current_user
(1..Kernel.caller.length).each do |n|
RubyVM::DebugInspector.open do |i|
current_user = eval "current_user rescue nil", i.frame_binding(n)
return current_user unless current_user.nil?
end
end
return nil
end
It could be made more robust by confirming the expected return type, and possibly by confirming owner of the frame is a type of controller...

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