Rails remember_token session not working - ruby-on-rails-3

Question

I am new to Ruby on Rails. I am learning it through Michel Hartl's reference doc available on the internet. However i ran into a problem during sign-in of users, I suspect the before_save is not calling the create_remember_token method. I am trying to debug this issue from a very long time. My code is as follows:
user.rb file:
# == Schema Information
#
# Table name: users
#
# id :integer(4) not null, primary key
# name :string(255)
# email :string(255)
# created_at :datetime not null
# updated_at :datetime not null
# password_digest :string(255)
# username :string(255)
# remember_token :string(255)
#
class User < ActiveRecord::Base
def to_param
username
end
attr_accessible :name, :email, :password, :password_confirmation, :username
has_secure_password
before_save { |user| user.email = email.downcase }
before_save :create_remember_token
private
def create_remember_token
self.remember_token = SecureRandom.urlsafe_base64
end
end
session_helper.rb
module SessionsHelper
def sign_in(user)
cookies.permanent[:remember_token] = user.remember_token
current_user = user
end
def current_user=(user)
#current_user = user
end
def current_user
#current_user ||= user_from_remember_token
end
def signed_in?
!current_user.nil?
end
private
def user_from_remember_token
remember_token = cookies[:remember_token]
User.find_by_remember_token(remember_token) unless remember_token.nil?
end
end
sessions_controller.rb:
class SessionsController < ApplicationController
def new
end
def create
user=User.find_by_username(params[:session][:username])
if user && user.authenticate(params[:session][:password])
sign_in user
redirect_to "/#/#{params[:session][:username]}"
else
flash.now[:error] = "Login failed! Please try again!"
render 'new'
end
end
def destroy
end
end
Please help me and let me know as to where the problem exists.
Cheers :)

Answer 1

What exactly is the problem that you are having during sign in?
The reason I ask is that the create_remember_token method is not supposed to be called during the sign-in process. It gets called when the user is saved (sign-up).
The sign-in process just fetches the token from the users table and copies it into the permanent cookie. The sign-in process looks roughly like this:
sign_in user --> session_helper.rb --> def sign_in(user) --> cookies.permanent[:remember_token] = user.remember_token --> back to session_controller.rb --> redirect_to ...

Answer 2

The before_save callbacks should only be called when the user is created (ie. when they sign up, not when they sign in). You don't show the whole sign-up/user creation flow in your code sample, but i assume it exists.
You can test whether create_remember_token is called (when the user is created) by running this command from the Rails console:
User._save_callbacks.select { |cb| cb.kind.eql?(:before) }.collect(&:filter).include?(:create_remember_token)
That should return true if and only if the create_remember_token function is being run on save. More details in the 'Debugging callbacks' section of the Callbacks API Documentation.
If the callback is called during the signup flow, the remember_token should be saved to the DB then. You can verify that by inspecting the user with the Rails console (User.last, after creating your test user).
What does your sign-up/user creation flow look like? What repro steps produce the problem you're describing?

Answer 3

You might have not used csrf meta tag in your layout. Try removing ' protect from forgery ' in application_controller.rb in controllers folder. Then try running the app again, if it works then you didnt add tags to your layout.

Answer 4

I had posted this question a year ago.
Now I am using the Devise gem for authentication. Everything is working as expected.
Thanks