Unable to sign_up using Devise and CanCan in Rails - ruby-on-rails

Question

I been working on my application in which I have a number of roles and also some users.
However suddenly I can't sign-up anymore. Signing in works fine, but signing up always redirects me back to the signing page and produces the same error:
The console always shows the following when I try to sign up:
Started POST "/registers/user/registration" for 127.0.0.1 at 2013-04-18 00:48:22 +0100
Processing by RegistersController#registration as HTML
Parameters: {"utf8"=>"✓", "authenticity_token"=>"ofucDxxzZFbTVLfVaA3QxixOHL2V9hzxfSFU/99Pd60=", "user"=>{"name"=>"Omar Arroum", "email"=>"omar#gmail.com", "password"=>"[FILTERED]", "password_confirmation"=>"[FILTERED]"}, "commit"=>"Sign up", "id"=>"user"}
Completed 401 Unauthorized in 1ms
Started GET "/users/sign_in" for 127.0.0.1 at 2013-04-18 00:48:22 +0100
Processing by Devise::SessionsController#new as HTML
Rendered devise/shared/_links.html.erb (0.4ms)
Rendered devise/sessions/new.html.erb within layouts/application (9.8ms)
Rendered layouts/_navigation.html.erb (1.3ms)
Rendered layouts/_messages.html.erb (0.1ms)
Completed 200 OK in 63ms (Views: 61.6ms | ActiveRecord: 0.0ms)
I haven't made any changes to the `user_controller.rb, so not sure what is causing this issue
EDIT: Added the RegistersController
class RegistersController < ApplicationController
#before_filter :authenticate_user!
load_and_authorize_resource
# GET /registers
# GET /registers.json
def index
#registers = Register.all
respond_to do |format|
format.html # index.html.erb
format.json { render json: #registers }
end
end
# GET /registers/1
# GET /registers/1.json
def show
#register = Register.find(params[:id])
respond_to do |format|
format.html # show.html.erb
format.json { render json: #register }
end
end
# GET /registers/new
# GET /registers/new.json
def new
#register = Register.new(:event_id => params[:event_id])
respond_to do |format|
format.html # new.html.erb
format.json { render json: #register }
end
end
# GET /registers/1/edit
def edit
#register = Register.find(params[:id])
end
# POST /registers
# POST /registers.json
def create
#register = Register.new(params[:register])
respond_to do |format|
if #register.save
format.html { redirect_to #register, notice: 'Register was successfully created.' }
format.json { render json: #register, status: :created, location: #register }
else
format.html { render action: "new" }
format.json { render json: #register.errors, status: :unprocessable_entity }
end
end
end
# PUT /registers/1
# PUT /registers/1.json
def update
#register = Register.find(params[:id])
StudentRegister.find_all_by_register_id(#register).each do |streg|
streg.update_attributes(:present => false, :late => false)
#sets the users status as being absent, mainly for the purpose of when copying a new register,
#as the presence and lateness is otherwise maintained
end
respond_to do |format|
if #register.update_attributes(params[:register])
format.html { redirect_to #register, notice: 'Register was successfully updated.' }
format.json { head :no_content }
else
format.html { render action: "edit" }
format.json { render json: #register.errors, status: :unprocessable_entity }
end
end
end
# DELETE /registers/1
# DELETE /registers/1.json
def destroy
#register = Register.find(params[:id])
#register.students.delete_all_on_destroy
#register.destroy
respond_to do |format|
format.html { redirect_to registers_url }
format.json { head :no_content }
end
end
def registration
#studentregister = StudentRegister.find_all_by_register_id(params[:id])
end
def copy
#register = Register.find(params[:id]).amoeba_dup #Creates a duplicate of the existing register with all Students in it
#register.date = Date.today #Sets the registers date to today's date
#register.save
respond_to do |format|
format.html { redirect_to edit_register_path(#register) } #Redirects to the edit page so that they can make any updates
format.json { head :no_content }
end
end
end

Answer 1

You are doing before_filter :authenticate_user! in your RegistersController (most likely). That is what produces the 401 response and that flash message with Devise. CanCan should have nothing to do with it. Post your RegistersController.

Answer 2

Ok figured out what the issue was.
Due to the fact that I had a file called Registration.html.erb and an action name registration my route looked like this:
match 'registers/:id/registration' => 'registers#registration', :as => 'registration' #Route for taking the register
Problem is that Devise uses this action name internally, so my code was being routed wrongly.
To solve this, I changed everything named registration to take_register, like so:
match 'registers/:id/take_register' => 'registers#take_register', :as => 'take_register' #Route for taking the register
That did the trick for me, and now all works