Check if user signed in before any action in Rails

Question

I want to execute some function before any controller action to check if the user is signed in. I am using devise so that I can use is_signed_in?, but I have to put if else condition to every method in the controller.

What I want is to have something like this:

#some_controller.rb
before_action :is_signed_in?

def is_signed_in?
   if !user_signed_in?
      redirect_to new_user_session_path
   else 
      ..proceed to the action intended to call
   end
end

So I want this method to execute before any action (or some set of actions) and redirect to sign in if false or let that action to be executed if true.

Answer 1

Devise is shipped with some useful built-in helpers.

In your case, one that interested you is authenticate_user!. Take a look at controller filters and helpers in Devise documentation.

You can filter your actions in your controller with this method to ensure only logged-in users can process a given action or all actions in a controller, else if user isn't logged-in then he is redirect to login page.

before_action :authenticate_user!

before_action :authenticate_user!, only: [:show]

Answer 2

You can also create your own helper method.

In your users_controller.rb, create a before_action filter

class UsersController < ApplicationController
    before_action :logged_in_user
    ...
end

and in your session_helper.rb

module SessionHelper
   # Returns true if the user is logged in, false otherwise.
   def logged_in?
       !current_user.nil?
   end

   # Confirms a logged-in user.
   def logged_in_user
      unless logged_in?
         flash[:danger] = "Please log in."
         redirect_to login_url
      end
   end

end

Answer 3

If you want to check whether user is signed for every action in the application, you have to put the filter in the application controller. You can do this for a specific controller also.

You can use the devise method:

class SomeController < ApplicationController
  before_action :authenticate_user!
  ...
end

You can create your own filter also:

class SomeController < ApplicationController
  before_action :my_authentication
  ... 
  def my_authentication
     if user_signed_in? 
        # do something ...
     else 
        # do something else ...
     end
  end
end