Rails: How to store data in session?

Question

I'm making an writing exam practice web app in Rails. The problem is that if users' answers are submited to the Internet, they will easily be detected by ETS. So when users write their answers again in real test, ETS will think they are coping answers from Internet and give them a fairly low score.

My approach to this, is to store users' eassay in session. So it will not be upload to Internet at all. But, how can I store an object in session?

Answer 1

To store something in a session you can do:

session[:answer] = "some answer" 

Then you can call the answer with:

session[:answer] 

Or you could use HTML5 localstorage:

<script>   localStorage.setItem("essay", "text");   localStorage.getItem("essay"); // => "text" </script> 

Answer 2

1. Rails stores data in a database (doesn't have to be on the "Internet")
2. Storing lots of data in sessions is a really bad idea

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Sessions

Rails sessions are meant to keep consistency throughout your app

IMO, sessions are best used for storing "snippets" of data (such as a single object, ids etc), and are best used for these types of functions:

• Shopping carts
• Security-centric systems (keeping secure data)
• Authentication (keeping a user logged in)

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Database

What you've asked is how you store people's answers in sessions

I would argue you should store them in a database, but secure that DB with authentication (such as Devise):

#app/controllers/answers_controller.rb def new     @answer = Answer.new end  def create     @answer = Answer.new(answer_params)     @answer.save end  private  def answers_params      params.require(:answer).permit(:body, :question_id).merge(user_id: current_user.id) end  

This will allow you to store the answers in a database (the database can be on your local computer, local Intranet, or anywhere you want)

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Security

The key for you will be to secure your data

This is called Authentication, and without going into huge detail, here's a great resource for you:

http://railscasts.com/episodes/250-authentication-from-scratch