User signed in, but set to nil using Rails and Devise - ruby-on-rails

Question

devise (4.4.0)
Rails 5.1.4
I'm seeing this question asked a lot, but not finding the answer that works for me. I am showing that I am signing up and logging in, but current user set to nil. I'm thinking maybe it is the cookies, but I'm having a hard time parsing exactly how to fix that. One solution suggested adding
Rails.application.config.session_store :cookie_store, key: '_bejoy_session', domain: :all
to the config > session_store.rb which I did not have, but created and included. I'm just not sure what I'm missing here.
application controller:
class ApplicationController < ActionController::Base
protect_from_forgery with: :exception
before_action :configure_permitted_parameters, if: :devise_controller?
helper_method :current_user
helper_method :admin
def current_user
if session[:user_id]
#current_user ||= User.find(session[:user_id])
end
end
def authorize
if !current_user
flash[:alert] = "You aren't authorized to visit that page."
redirect_to '/'
end
end
def admin_authorize
if !current_user || current_user.admin == false
flash[:alert] = "Only administrators can visit that page."
redirect_to new_user_session_path
end
end
def admin
current_user && current_user.admin
end
protected
def configure_permitted_parameters
devise_parameter_sanitizer.permit(:sign_up, keys: [:username, :admin, :email])
end
end
routes.rb
Rails.application.routes.draw do
root :to => 'contents#index'
resources :contents
resources :visitors
devise_for :users, controllers: {
sessions: 'users/sessions',
passwords: 'users/passwords',
registrations: 'users/registrations'
}
end
Terminal:
Started POST "/users/sign_in" for 127.0.0.1 at 2018-01-07 12:31:25 -0800
Processing by Users::SessionsController#create as HTML
Parameters: {"utf8"=>"✓", "authenticity_token"=>"6a0yiBCkmEN0W68xN/lVZH71YhT5i5tMEkFFYqnoIvMU0NJjH3LM3hPG+8yO3D1tXskh9pSA+PRFVKDmiKzN6A==", "user"=>{"email"=>"test#tester.com", "password"=>"[FILTERED]", "remember_me"=>"0"}, "commit"=>"Log in"}
User Load (1.9ms) SELECT "users".* FROM "users" WHERE "users"."email" = $1 ORDER BY "users"."id" ASC LIMIT $2 [["email", "test#tester.com"], ["LIMIT", 1]]
(0.1ms) BEGIN
SQL (2.0ms) UPDATE "users" SET "current_sign_in_at" = $1, "last_sign_in_at" = $2, "sign_in_count" = $3, "updated_at" = $4 WHERE "users"."id" = $5 [["current_sign_in_at", "2018-01-07 20:31:26.091228"], ["last_sign_in_at", "2018-01-07 20:29:10.402839"], ["sign_in_count", 5], ["updated_at", "2018-01-07 20:31:26.092407"], ["id", 2]]
(0.4ms) COMMIT
Redirected to http://localhost:3000/
Completed 302 Found in 152ms (ActiveRecord: 4.5ms)
Started GET "/" for 127.0.0.1 at 2018-01-07 12:31:26 -0800
Processing by ContentsController#index as HTML
User Load (0.3ms) SELECT "users".* FROM "users" WHERE "users"."id" = $1 ORDER BY "users"."id" ASC LIMIT $2 [["id", 2], ["LIMIT", 1]]
**current_user :nil
session id request :353a5e1d2bd295e8ac665e22e8f31314
user_signed_in? :false**
Rendering contents/index.html.erb within layouts/application
Content Load (0.2ms) SELECT "contents".* FROM "contents"
Rendered contents/index.html.erb within layouts/application (1.5ms)
Rendered partials/_author_photo_contact_block.html.erb (0.4ms)
Completed 200 OK in 53ms (Views: 49.1ms | ActiveRecord: 0.5ms)
contents controller:
class ContentsController < ApplicationController
before_action :authenticate_user!
# before_action :set_content, only: [:show, :edit, :update, :destroy]
def index
#contents = Content.all
logger.debug "current_user :#{current_user.inspect}"
logger.debug "session id request :#{request.session_options[:id]}"
logger.debug "user_signed_in? :#{user_signed_in?}"
end
def show
end
def new
#content = Content.new
end
def edit
end
def create
#content = Content.new(content_params)
respond_to do |format|
if #content.save
format.html { redirect_to #content, notice: 'Content was successfully created.' }
format.json { render :show, status: :created, location: #content }
else
format.html { render :new }
format.json { render json: #content.errors, status: :unprocessable_entity }
end
end
end
def update
respond_to do |format|
if #content.update(content_params)
format.html { redirect_to #content, notice: 'Content was successfully updated.' }
format.json { render :show, status: :ok, location: #content }
else
format.html { render :edit }
format.json { render json: #content.errors, status: :unprocessable_entity }
end
end
end
def destroy
#content.destroy
respond_to do |format|
format.html { redirect_to contents_url, notice: 'Content was successfully destroyed.' }
format.json { head :no_content }
end
end
private
def set_content
#content = Content.find(params[:id])
end
def content_params
params.require(:content).permit(:main_image, :sidebar_image, :content, :sidebar)
end
end

Answer 1

Solution:
my current_user method in the application controller was overriding devise's own current_user method. I removed the current_user method I had in my application controller and it now shows:
current_user :#<User id: 2, email: "test#tester.com", username: "", admin: false, created_at: "2018-01-07 20:09:17", updated_at: "2018-01-07 21:33:51">
session id request :all
user_signed_in? :true
current user present? :true
found answer here: devise - can't display sign in or sign out in rails view