Use both Account and User tables with Devise

Question

I'm working with Rails 3.1.0 and Devise 1.4.8, and am new to both.

I want to allow multiple users for an account. The first user to sign up creates the account (probably for their company), then that user can add more users. A user is always linked to exactly one account.

I have Users and Accounts tables. Abbreviated models:

class User < ActiveRecord::Base
  belongs_to :account
  devise :database_authenticatable, :registerable,
     :recoverable, :rememberable, :trackable, :validatable,
     :confirmable, :lockable, :timeoutable
  attr_accessible :email, :password, :password_confirmation, :remember_me
end

class Account < ActiveRecord::Base
  has_many :users, :dependent => :destroy
  attr_accessible :name, :account_type
end

The question is, when the first user signs up, how do I create both the Account and User?

• Do I need to modify/override the Devise registrations_controller, something like the answer here? I couldn't figure out how to create the Account then pass it to Devise for creating the User.

• account_id is already in the User model. Should I add account_name and account_type to the User model, and create a new the Account record if account_id is not passed in? In this case, I'm trying to hide Account creation from Devise, but not sure that will work since I still need to prompt for account_name and account_type on the registration page.

Answer 1

Finally got this to work using nested attributes. As discussed in the comments on Kenton's answer, that example is reversed. If you want multiple users per account, you have to create the Account first, then the User--even if you only create one user to start with. Then you write your own Accounts controller and view, bypassing the Devise view. The Devise functionality for sending confirmation emails etc. still seems to work if you just create a user directly, i.e. that functionality must be part of automagical stuff in the Devise model; it doesn't require using the Devise controller.

Excerpts from the relevant files:

Models in app/models

class Account < ActiveRecord::Base
  has_many :users, :inverse_of => :account, :dependent => :destroy
  accepts_nested_attributes_for :users
  attr_accessible :name, :users_attributes
end

class User < ActiveRecord::Base
  belongs_to :account, :inverse_of => :users
  validates :account, :presence => true
  devise :database_authenticatable, :registerable,
         :recoverable, :rememberable, :trackable, :validatable,
         :confirmable, :lockable, :timeoutable
  attr_accessible :email, :password, :password_confirmation, :remember_me
end

spec/models/account_spec.rb RSpec model test

it "should create account AND user through accepts_nested_attributes_for" do
  @AccountWithUser = { :name => "Test Account with User", 
                       :users_attributes => [ { :email => "[email protected]", 
                                                :password => "testpass", 
                                                :password_confirmation => "testpass" } ] }
  au = Account.create!(@AccountWithUser)
  au.id.should_not be_nil
  au.users[0].id.should_not be_nil
  au.users[0].account.should == au
  au.users[0].account_id.should == au.id
end

config/routes.rb

  resources :accounts, :only => [:index, :new, :create, :destroy]

controllers/accounts_controller.rb

class AccountsController < ApplicationController

  def new
    @account = Account.new
    @account.users.build # build a blank user or the child form won't display
  end

  def create
    @account = Account.new(params[:account])
    if @account.save
      flash[:success] = "Account created"
      redirect_to accounts_path
    else
      render 'new'
    end
  end

end

views/accounts/new.html.erb view

<h2>Create Account</h2>

<%= form_for(@account) do |f| %>
  <%= render 'shared/error_messages', :object => f.object %>
  <div class="field">
    <%= f.label :name %><br />
    <%= f.text_field :name %>
  </div>

  <%= f.fields_for :users do |user_form| %>
    <div class="field"><%= user_form.label :email %><br />
    <%= user_form.email_field :email %></div>
    <div class="field"><%= user_form.label :password %><br />
    <%= user_form.password_field :password %></div>
    <div class="field"><%= user_form.label :password_confirmation %><br />
    <%= user_form.password_field :password_confirmation %></div>
  <% end %>

  <div class="actions">
    <%= f.submit "Create account" %>
  </div>
<% end %>

Rails is quite picky about plural vs. singular. Since we say Account has_many Users:

• it expects users_attributes (not user_attributes) in the model and tests
• it expects an array of hashes for the test, even if there is only one element in the array, hence the [] around the {user attributes}.
• it expects @account.users.build in the controller. I was not able to get the f.object.build_users syntax to work directly in the view.

Answer 2

Couldn't you use something like what's covered in these RailsCasts?:

http://railscasts.com/episodes/196-nested-model-form-part-1

http://railscasts.com/episodes/197-nested-model-form-part-2

You could setup your models as described in those screencasts, using accepts_nested_attributes_for.

Then, your views/devise/registrations/new.html.erb form would be for :user like normal, and could include a nested form for :account.

So something like this within that default form:

<%= f.fields_for :account do |account_form| %>
<div>
  <p>
    <%= account_form.label :name, "Account Name", :class => "label" %>
    <%= account_form.text_field :name, :class => "text_field" %>
    <span class="description">(e.g., enter your account name here)</span>
  </p>
</div>

<div>
  <p>
    <%= account_form.label :company, "Company Name", :class => "label" %>
    <%= account_form.text_field :company, :class => "text_field" %>
  </p>
</div>
<% end %>

This is sample code from an app I'm working on and I'm using the simple_form gem, so the helpers used in your app may be different, but you'll probably get the idea.

So when a user is created (when they register), they can also fill in the info that'll be used by the Account model to create their account once they hit the "Sign Up" button.

And you may want to set an attribute on that user like "admin" too...sounds like this initial user will be the "admin" user for the company, though other users may have access too.

Hope that helps.