Rails 3 NoMethod Error - undefined method for profile in Profiles#edit with CanCan - ruby-on-rails-3

Question

In my Rails 3 app, I'm getting redirected to login during my signup process. The steps to signup are supposed to be:
User creates User and Profile
Upon saving user, user is logged into the app and redirected to Profiles#edit (/signup/join)
Upon saving profile, user is redirect to Profiles#show (/profiles/:id)
I'm getting redirected to /login after step 1, and I'm seeing a 302 error after the redirect. If I comment out my before_filter :authenticate in profiles_controller.rb and redo the steps above I don't get redirected out of /signup/join but I get the following error:
NoMethodError in ProfilesController#edit
undefined method `profile' for nil:NilClass
I'm pointed to the first line of my Profiles#edit action:
def edit
#profile = user.profile
if #profile.higher_ed?
higher_ed = HigherEd.find_or_create_by_name(:name => #profile.higher_ed)
end
if #profile.employer?
employer = Employer.find_or_create_by_name(:name => #profile.employer)
end
render :layout => "join_form"
end
I've been making an attempt to implement CanCan in my app, so I thought that was the cause. However I commented out my entire ability.rb file and the problem persists. I'd obviously like to figure out how to fix this without commenting out the before_filter. So if anyone has an idea I'd greatly appreciate it. Since I'm dealing with CanCan which depends on a current_user, I'll start with the definition of current_user in my application_controller.rb:
protected
# Returns the currently logged in user or nil if there isn't one
def current_user
return unless session[:user_id]
#current_user ||= User.find_by_id(session[:user_id])
#current_user ||= User.find_by_auth_token!(cookies[:auth_token]) if cookies[:auth_token]
end
# Make current_user available in templates as a helper
helper_method :current_user
Here's my users_controller.rb:
class UsersController < ApplicationController
before_filter :authenticate, :only => [:edit, :update, :index]
layout "application"
def new
#user = User.new
#user.profile = Profile.new
if logged_in?
redirect_to current_user.profile
end
end
def create
#user = User.new(params[:user])
if #user.save
session[:user_id] = #user.id
redirect_to join_path, :notice => 'User successfully added.'
UserMailer.registration_confirmation(#user).deliver
else
render :action => 'new'
end
end
My profiles_controller.rb:
class ProfilesController < ApplicationController
#before_filter :authenticate, :only => [:edit, :update]
helper_method :find_or_create_group
layout "application", :except => [:edit, :show]
def new
#profile = Profile.new(params[:profile])
end
def create
#profile = Profile.new(params[:profile])
if #profile.save
redirect_to #user.profile, :notice => 'User successfully added.'
else
render :new
end
if #profile.higher_ed?
HigherEd.find_or_create_by_name(:name => #profile.higher_ed)
end
if #profile.employer?
Employer.find_or_create_by_name(:name => #profile.employer)
end
if #profile.job_title?
JobTitle.find_or_create_by_name(:name => #profile.job_title)
end
if #profile.high_school?
HighSchool.find_or_create_by_name(:name => #profile.high_school)
end
end
def user
#user = current_user
end
def edit
#profile = user.profile
if #profile.higher_ed?
higher_ed = HigherEd.find_or_create_by_name(:name => #profile.higher_ed)
end
if #profile.employer?
employer = Employer.find_or_create_by_name(:name => #profile.employer)
end
render :layout => "join_form"
end
My sessions_controller.rb:
class SessionsController < ApplicationController
def new
end
def create
if user = User.authenticate(params[:email].downcase, params[:password])
session[:user_id] = user.id
cookies.permanent[:auth_token] = user.auth_token
if user.profile.higher_ed?
redirect_to user.profile, :notice => "Logged in successfully"
else
redirect_to join_path, :notice => "Logged in successfully"
end
else
flash.now[:alert] = "Invalid login/password. Try again!"
render :action => 'new'
end
end
def destroy
reset_session
cookies.delete(:auth_token)
redirect_to root_path, :notice => "You successfully logged out"
end
end
My ability.rb for CanCan:
class Ability
include CanCan::Ability
def initialize(user)
user ||= User.new guest user
if user.role? :admin
can :manage, :all
else
can :manage, :all
end
end
end
My routes.rb:
match "/signup/join" => "profiles#edit", :as => 'join'

Answer 1

#profile = user.profile
Try changing the above line to
#profile = #current_user.profile
or
#profile = current_user.profile
The issue has nothing to do with cancan, rather it has to do with "user" being nil in your controller.

Answer 2

I got it working by reworking my current_user logic. It's now:
def current_user
#current_user ||= lookup_user
end
def lookup_user
if cookies[:auth_token]
User.find_by_auth_token!(cookies[:auth_token])
elsif session[:user_id]
User.find_by_id(session[:user_id])
end
end
That seems to have done the trick.