Pass url params hash in controller to another method, becomes nil - ruby-on-rails

Question

I have a route that matches /edit_account => accounts#edit since the account id isn't provided it's supposed to use the current user id and the account#edit method is shared with /accounts/[:id]/edit.
class AccountController < ApplicationController
...
def edit
# This doesn't work:
params = retrieve_id_if_missing(params)
# This works:
# aHash = params
# params = retrieve_id_if_missing(aHash)
end
def retrieve_id_if_missing(params)
# raise params.inpect => returns nil at this point
if params[:id].nil? and !logged_in?
redirect_to root_path
else params[:id].nil?
params[:id] = current_user.id
end
params
end
end
The problem I am having is that params, when passed to the class method, retrieve_id_if_missing, is becoming nil. However, if I assign params to another variable. e.g., aHash, before passing it to retrieve_id_if_missing it will contain the expected data, {"action" => "edit", "controller" => "account"}.
I've tried to search for a reason but have come up short, can someone explain to me why this is happening?

Answer 1

Have you tried
class AccountController < ApplicationController
...
def edit
retrieve_id_if_missing
end
def retrieve_id_if_missing()
if params[:id].nil? and !logged_in?
redirect_to root_path
else params[:id].nil?
params[:id] = current_user.id
end
params
end
end
I am fairly sure params will be in scope in the method.
Anyhow, check out gem devise for this. it should have everything you want and more
With devise you can just use
before_filer :authenticate_user!
At the top of your controller
https://github.com/plataformatec/devise

Answer 2

The Ruby interpreter is treating params as a local variable and initializing it with nil when it sees the assignment. This happens before it executes the retrieve_id_if_missing.
This is why explicitly assigning a value to the local variable before calling the method avoids the error, because the initialization to nil by Ruby doesn't happen.
The following examples demonstrate this:
Example #1
def foo(bar)
puts "foo bar: #{bar.class}"
end
bar = foo(bar) # => nil
puts "bar: #{bar.class}"
# Outputs:
# foo bar: NilClass
# bar: bar: NilClass
Example #2
a = a # => nil
puts "a: #{a.class}"
# Outputs:
# a: NilClass
Example #3
a = 123 if a # => nil
puts "a: #{a.class}"
# Outputs:
# a: NilClass
References:
Why is a = a nil in Ruby?
Ruby interpreter initializes a local variable with nil when it sees an
assignment to it. It initializes the local variable before it executes
the assignment expression or even when the assignment is not reachable
(as in the example below). This means your code initializes a with nil
and then the expression a = nil will evaluate to the right hand value.
a = 1 if false a.nil? # => true The first assignment expression is not
executed, but a is initialized with nil.
Ruby: method inexplicably overwritten and set to nil
Here's another example:
a = 123 if a # => nil a # => nil We shouldn't be able to say if a
because we never set a, but Ruby sees the a = 123 and initializes a,
then gets to if a at which point a is nil
I'd consider it a quirk of the interpreter, really. Gary Bernhardt
makes fun of it in wat (https://www.destroyallsoftware.com/talks/wat)
with a = a

Answer 3

While I cannot answer why your params object would be overridden with the code provided, here are some thoughts.
class AccountController < ApplicationController
before_filter :retrieve_id_if_missing, only: :edit
def edit
# You'll find params[:id] prepopulated if it comes here,
# else the request has been redirect
end
protected
# There should be no need to pass the params object around, it should be accessible everywhere
def retrieve_id_if_missing
if logged_in?
params[:id] ||= current_user.id # conditional assignment will only happen if params[:id] is nil
end
# Redirect to root if params[:id] is still blank,
# i.e. user is not logged in and :id was not provided through route
if params[:id].blank?
flash[:alert] = 'You need to be logged in to access this resource.'
return redirect_to root_url # early return!
end
end
end