Trying to get "current user" in Rails

Question

In the /views/layouts directory, how do I get the current user? I am using Devise, but current_user does not work here for some reason, it describes it as an unknown method. I want to do something like:

<% if User.role? == "gen_admin" %>
    <li>
    <%= link_to('Admin', users ) %>
    </li>
<% end %>

I do have a role? method defined in my User model, but I still get this exception:

undefined method 'role?' for #<Class:0x3fcc1e0>

So how can I get the current user, and access its fields at this level of the source tree? Thanks!

Here is the roles? method:

# in User
ROLES = %w[gen_admin teacher_admin student]
def role?(base_role)
  ROLES.index(base_role.to_s) <= ROLES.index(role)
end

Answer 1

Your code must account for when users are logged in, and when they are not logged in.

If no user is logged in, then current_user will return nil (as in your case, which you thought was an error on Devise's part).

Your view code must handle this - eg.

<% if current_user.present? && current_user.role?('gen_admin') %>

Answer 2

You have defined your role? method as an instance method. This means that in order to use it you should first create the instance from User class e.g.:

@user=User.new

Now you can call @user.role?

If you want role? to be available through the model User then you should define it as class method an pass in an object for verification

def self.role?(user)

...

end