Multiple Models in Devise

Question

I'm trying to create multiple models in Devise (using Ruby 2.0, Rails 4). I have searched Stack Overflow and tried Google, but most people end up using inheritance or CanCan.

The problem is that I need two entirely different models to be able to sign up and use my website, in two entirely different ways - one uses email or username to log in, and has all sorts of management abilities (such as seeing graphs of MobileUser usage, etc). The other will only access from a mobile device, uses a phone number to log in, and has a much simpler interface.

I tried to run Devise for both ('rails g devise WebUser' and 'rails g devise MobileUser'). I now have tables and columns for both, but only have routes and a model for the WebUser. I tried manually adding routes and a model for the MobileUser, but nothing works - the model doesn't connect to the table, the routes produce runtime errors ('WebUser does not respond to 'devise' method).

Everything I've read indicates that I can get Devise to work for two models on my one website - how do I implement this?

My routes:

Mailer::Application.routes.draw do
  devise_for :web_users
  # devise_for :mobile_users (doesn't work, so it is commented out)

  resources 'web_users', only: [:show, :index]
  resources 'mobile_users', only: [:show, :index]

  root 'static_pages#home'

  match '/contact',  to: 'static_pages#contact',  via: 'get'
  match '/faq',      to: 'static_pages#faq',      via: 'get'
end

Answer 1

I know this is a very old question but maybe it will help to someone now in 2019 that Devise supports devise_group.

Thins makes really easy to work with multiple Devise models. I have three different devise models as show below:

User.rb

class User < ApplicationRecord
    has_many :messages

    # Include default devise modules. Others available are:
    # :confirmable, :lockable, :timeoutable and :omniauthable
    devise :database_authenticatable, :recoverable, :rememberable, :trackable, :validatable
end

Organizer.rb

class Organizer < ApplicationRecord
    has_one :organizer_profile, dependent: :destroy, autosave: true, inverse_of: :organizer
    has_many :brochures, dependent: :destroy
    has_many :messages, as: :messageable

    # Include default devise modules. Others available are:
    # :confirmable, :lockable, :timeoutable and :omniauthable
    devise :database_authenticatable, :registerable, :recoverable, :rememberable, :trackable, :validatable, :confirmable
end

Sponsor.rb

class Sponsor < ApplicationRecord
    has_one :sponsor_profile, dependent: :destroy, autosave: true, inverse_of: :sponsor
    has_many :sponsorings
    has_many :brochures, through: :sponsorings

    # Include default devise modules. Others available are:
    # :confirmable, :lockable, :timeoutable and :omniauthable
    devise :database_authenticatable, :registerable, :recoverable, :rememberable, :trackable, :validatable, :confirmable

    scope :approved, -> { where(approved: true) }

    # Allow saving of attributes on associated records through the parent,
    # :autosave option is automatically enabled on every association
    accepts_nested_attributes_for :sponsor_profile
end

routes.rb

Rails.application.routes.draw do
    # Deviseable resources
    devise_for :organizers, controllers: {registrations: "organizers/registrations"}
    devise_for :sponsors, controllers: {registrations: "sponsors/registrations"}
    devise_for :users

    root "welcome#index"
end

Now I can not use the same authenticate_user!, user_signed_in? or even current_user. So now, how can I know if any user is logged in? We may need to do something like user_signed_in? || organizer_signed_in? || sponsor_signed_in? but that's too much repeating code.

Thanks to devise_group option, we can simplify this workflow!

In your application_controller.rb add this:

class ApplicationController < ActionController::Base
    # Devise working with multiple models.
    # Define authentication filters and accessor helpers for a group of mappings.
    devise_group :member, contains: [:organizer, :sponsor, :user]

    private

    def pundit_user
        # Make Pundit to use whichever Devise model [Organizer, Sponsor, User] as the 'current_user'
        # Just by using the offered helper method from Devise, 'devise_group' feature
        current_member
    end
end

Now you can use universal helpers authenticate_member!, member_signed_in? or even current_member to validate any Devise user when required. Or you can still user separated helper for each type of Devise user as normal.

Hope it could be useful for somebody!