# \[ANN\] Authorization Plugin 1.0 release candidate + 3 test ap **URL:** \ **Category:** Rails\ **Created:** [June 22, 2006, 9:26am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ann-authorization-plugin-1-0-release-candidate-3-test-ap/64125 "2006-06-22T09:26:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![kelleysislander](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/k/f6c823/32.png) [@kelleysislander](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/kelleysislander)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2006, 9:26am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ann-authorization-plugin-1-0-release-candidate-3-test-ap/64125/1 "2006-06-22T09:26:22Z")
In honor of RailsConf, I’m releasing an authorization plugin with 3 test apps that show you how to use the system. A reasonably lengthy description can be found here: [http://www.writertopia.com/developers/authorization](http://www.writertopia.com/developers/authorization) I will also be talking about the plugin’s architecture in my RailsConf talk on Saturday. Some features: - Nice English-like way of expressing permissions through roles and the objects which give the scope of the roles. You can say things like: permit “(matz or dhh) and interested in Answers” - The plugin easily handles roles associated with particular model instances. You can handle a moderator of meeting #23 as easily as you can handle a user being a general “site admin”. - You can choose how much database you’ll use for the roles (and the complexity of your authorization system) through a choice of mixins. Each mixin provides “acts\_as\_authorized\_user” for your User-like object and “acts\_as\_authorizable” for your authorizable objects. - The test apps include an integration test with a simple DSL developed after reading Chad F.'s most excellent Rails Recipe book. The object\_roles\_test app might be useful as a scaffold for new apps that want authentication and authorization. - It’s reasonably easy to hook into existing authentication systems. -Bill ---
**Author:** ![kelleysislander](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/k/f6c823/32.png) [@kelleysislander](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/kelleysislander)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2006, 9:41am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ann-authorization-plugin-1-0-release-candidate-3-test-ap/64125/2 "2006-06-22T09:41:32Z")
On Jun 22, 2006, at 12:23 AM, Bill K. wrote: > the objects which give the scope of the roles. You can say things > object and “acts\_as\_authorizable” for your authorizable objects. > > - The test apps include an integration test with a simple DSL > developed after reading Chad F.'s most excellent Rails Recipe > book. The object\_roles\_test app might be useful as a scaffold for new > apps that want authentication and authorization. > > - It’s reasonably easy to hook into existing authentication systems. > > -Bill Bill- ``` Very cool. Congrats on the release. Looking forward to the talk! ``` -Ezra ---
**Author:** ![kelleysislander](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/k/f6c823/32.png) [@kelleysislander](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/kelleysislander)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2006, 2:13pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ann-authorization-plugin-1-0-release-candidate-3-test-ap/64125/3 "2006-06-22T14:13:08Z")
On Thursday, June 22, 2006, at 12:23 AM, Bill K. wrote: > the objects which give the scope of the roles. You can say things > object and “acts\_as\_authorizable” for your authorizable objects. > Rails mailing list > removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid > [http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails](http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails) Good stuff, particularly the record level authorization stuff. I took a quick look through the plugin and didn’t see any helpers for views. Using the ‘user\_engine’, you can do things like… link\_if\_authorized and current\_user.authorized? …to make your views appropriate for the user. Can you do this with this system? (I may have missed it, haven’t finished my coffee yet.) \_Kevin ---
**Author:** ![kelleysislander](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/k/f6c823/32.png) [@kelleysislander](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/kelleysislander)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2006, 6:07pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ann-authorization-plugin-1-0-release-candidate-3-test-ap/64125/4 "2006-06-22T18:07:54Z")
On Thursday, June 22, 2006, at 8:54 AM, Bill K. wrote: > > and > > [http://svn.writertopia.com/svn/plugins/authorization/init.rb](http://svn.writertopia.com/svn/plugins/authorization/init.rb) > > resource, Jon Dugan (the main programmer for Simbiome, recently > > Rails mailing list > > removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid > > [http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails](http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails) Ah, cool! I’ll have to take a closer look now. \_Kevin ---
**Author:** ![kelleysislander](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/k/f6c823/32.png) [@kelleysislander](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/kelleysislander)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2006, 5:55pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ann-authorization-plugin-1-0-release-candidate-3-test-ap/64125/5 "2006-06-22T17:55:24Z")
On 22 Jun 2006 12:10:52 -0000, Kevin O. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > …to make your views appropriate for the user. Can you do this with > this system? > (I may have missed it, haven’t finished my coffee yet.) > > \_Kevin Kevin, Take a look at the init.rb for the plugin: [http://svn.writertopia.com/svn/plugins/authorization/init.rb](http://svn.writertopia.com/svn/plugins/authorization/init.rb) You’ll see that the ControllerInstanceMethods module, which contains permit and permit?, are mixed into ActionView. This allows you to do things like: link if permit?(“member of :workshop and not crazy”) A slightly older form of the plugin is used in an open sourced biomedical resource directory called Simbiome ([http://www.simbiome.org](http://www.simbiome.org)). If you look at the view code for a resource, Jon Dugan (the main programmer for Simbiome, recently converted to Ruby from Perl) used a view-side permit to show an “edit this resource” link: [https://simtk.org/websvn/wsvn/simbiome/trunk/rails/app/views/resource/show.rhtml](https://simtk.org/websvn/wsvn/simbiome/trunk/rails/app/views/resource/show.rhtml) The permit methods automatically don’t redirect when the object doesn’t support it. -Bill