Devise returns nil after User.first - ruby-on-rails

Question

I'm testing some associations after adding a new migration that associates users to many posts.
class DeviseCreateUsers < ActiveRecord::Migration
def change
create_table(:users) do |t|
## Customization
t.string :name
## Database authenticatable
t.string :email, null: false, default: ""
t.string :encrypted_password, null: false, default: ""
## Recoverable
t.string :reset_password_token
t.datetime :reset_password_sent_at
## Rememberable
t.datetime :remember_created_at
## Trackable
t.integer :sign_in_count, default: 0, null: false
t.datetime :current_sign_in_at
t.datetime :last_sign_in_at
t.string :current_sign_in_ip
t.string :last_sign_in_ip
## Confirmable
t.string :confirmation_token
t.datetime :confirmed_at
t.datetime :confirmation_sent_at
t.string :unconfirmed_email # Only if using reconfirmable
## Lockable
# t.integer :failed_attempts, default: 0, null: false # Only if lock strategy is :failed_attempts
# t.string :unlock_token # Only if unlock strategy is :email or :both
# t.datetime :locked_at
t.timestamps
end
add_index :users, :email, unique: true
add_index :users, :reset_password_token, unique: true
# add_index :users, :confirmation_token, unique: true
# add_index :users, :unlock_token, unique: true
end
end
After I migrated, I'm supposed to test with
u = User.first
to receive this block of code make sure everything is running smoothly.
User Load (0.3ms) SELECT "users".* FROM "users" ORDER BY "users"."id" ASC LIMIT 1
=> #<User id: 1, name: nil, email: "username#example.com", encrypted_password: "$2a$10$702fd8Io3WH7UTWoTY3rUeUJBcFVlsq8/K6ypPKZUQni...", reset_password_token: nil, reset_password_sent_at: nil, remember_created_at: nil, sign_in_count: 0, current_sign_in_at: nil, last_sign_in_at: nil, current_sign_in_ip: nil, last_sign_in_ip: nil, confirmation_token: nil, confirmed_at: "2013-04-29 20:25:26", confirmation_sent_at: "2013-04-29 20:25:09", unconfirmed_email: nil, created_at: "2013-04-29 20:25:09", updated_at: "2013-04-29 20:25:26">
but I got nil
2.1.5 :001 > u = User.first
User Load (0.1ms) SELECT "users".* FROM "users" ORDER BY "users"."id" ASC LIMIT 1
=> nil
Is this a bad thing? Why isn't anything showing up?

Answer 1

Your database is empty at present. And hence you are getting a nil. You can do this:
1) Add a new user to the table using devise sign-up functionality in the front end.
2) Add seed data in the db/seeds.rb file like this:
User.find_or_create_by(:email => 'tester#test.com', :password => 'password', :password_confirmation => 'password')
Run rake db:seed from command prompt. Seeds data is the initial data that you want to add to your database for the application to run as desired.
3) Use Rails console: Run rails c in your command prompt and do this:
User.create(:email => 'tester#test.com', :password => 'password', :password_confirmation => 'password')

Answer 2

You need to do something like this in your console to add the first user:
user = User.new(:email => 'tester#test.com', :password => 'testingpassword',
:password_confirmation => 'testingpassword')
user.save
Devise doesn't create a default user for you, so until you create one, user.first wil come back as nil