# Gettting the current windows user id **URL:** \ **Category:** Rails\ **Created:** [March 7, 2008, 1:14pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/gettting-the-current-windows-user-id/131257 "2008-03-07T13:14:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Prasanna\_kumar\_N](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/p/f04885/32.png) [@Prasanna\_kumar\_N](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Prasanna_kumar_N)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2008, 1:14pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/gettting-the-current-windows-user-id/131257/1 "2008-03-07T13:14:21Z")
Hi I have where users can enter title and description that gets stored in the database. since this will not give information on who has entered what… I was thinking of haveing a filed say created\_by to which I can insert the current logged in windows user\_id. But I dont see a way of getting the current logged in user id. Can you please throw some light on this ? offcouse ENV[‘USER’] would give the id, but this will be the id on which the server is running on it. But the user can access the application from any browser rrunning on any machine. Thanks Prasanna ---
**Author:** ![Prasanna\_kumar\_N](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/p/f04885/32.png) [@Prasanna\_kumar\_N](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Prasanna_kumar_N)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2008, 2:39pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/gettting-the-current-windows-user-id/131257/2 "2008-03-07T14:39:53Z")
On 7 Mar 2008, at 12:14, Prasanna kumar Nagasamudram wrote: > Hi > > I have where users can enter title and description that gets stored in > the database. > since this will not give information on who has entered what… > I was thinking of haveing a filed say created\_by to which I can insert > the current logged in windows user\_id. If you mean that you want to be able to use active directory authentication then there’s some stuff out there on how to proceed: > **[Active Directory Authentication for Ruby on Rails](https://www.zorched.net/2007/06/04/active-directory-authentication-for-ruby-on-rails/)** If you mean how you you would get some random person’s on the internet’s windows login name then that is quite obviously not going to happen (and wouldn’t be very useful since anyone can set that to be whatever they want to be, or not even be running windows at all). Fred ---
**Author:** ![Prasanna\_kumar\_N](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/p/f04885/32.png) [@Prasanna\_kumar\_N](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Prasanna_kumar_N)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2008, 12:59pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/gettting-the-current-windows-user-id/131257/3 "2008-03-10T12:59:43Z")
If you’re talking about getting the username of the user account on the client machine, your only hope of getting that would be though client-side scripting. I don’t believe, and sure hope, that this is not possible using JavaScript. I would see this as a major security violation. JavaScript should be “sand-boxed” to only allow access to information within the browser or cookies for the current site. That being said, if you don’t mind limiting yourself to using Internet Explorer, I’m guessing you could break free from this security policy by using an ActiveX control, which we all know is dangerously insecure. Of course, doing so would limit your users to Microsoft Windows and Internet Explorer. Users of Firefox, or any other platform, would properly protect themselves from this security violation. On Mar 10, 7:20 am, Prasanna kumar Nagasamudram \ **Author:** ![Prasanna\_kumar\_N](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/p/f04885/32.png) [@Prasanna\_kumar\_N](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Prasanna_kumar_N)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2008, 12:20pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/gettting-the-current-windows-user-id/131257/4 "2008-03-10T12:20:53Z") Frederick C. wrote: > On 7 Mar 2008, at 12:14, Prasanna kumar Nagasamudram wrote: > > > Hi > > > > I have where users can enter title and description that gets stored in > > the database. > > since this will not give information on who has entered what… > > I was thinking of haveing a filed say created\_by to which I can insert > > the current logged in windows user\_id. > > If you mean that you want to be able to use active directory > authentication then there’s some stuff out there on how to proceed: > [Zorched / One-Line Fix | Active Directory Authentication for Ruby on Rails](http://www.zorched.net/2007/06/04/active-directory-authentication-for-ruby-on-rails/) > > If you mean how you you would get some random person’s on the > internet’s windows login name then that is quite obviously not going > to happen (and wouldn’t be very useful since anyone can set that to be > whatever they want to be, or not even be running windows at all). > > Fred Hi Fred I just need the current loggied in user … I dont want to thow any dialog box. Say fro example i need to call create. I will call it as create?userid=abcd I just need to know where to get that abcd from ? Thanks Prasanna ---
**Author:** ![Prasanna\_kumar\_N](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/p/f04885/32.png) [@Prasanna\_kumar\_N](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Prasanna_kumar_N)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2008, 9:37pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/gettting-the-current-windows-user-id/131257/5 "2008-03-10T21:37:47Z")
You could implement an actual app login. If you use something like restful authentication it gives you a current\_user method. On Mar 10, 8:25 am, Prasanna kumar Nagasamudram \ **Author:** ![Prasanna\_kumar\_N](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/p/f04885/32.png) [@Prasanna\_kumar\_N](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Prasanna_kumar_N)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2008, 1:25pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/gettting-the-current-windows-user-id/131257/6 "2008-03-10T13:25:09Z") Robert W. wrote: > If you’re talking about getting the username of the user account on > the client machine, your only hope of getting that would be though > client-side scripting. I don’t believe, and sure hope, that this is > not possible using JavaScript. I would see this as a major security > violation. JavaScript should be “sand-boxed” to only allow access to > information within the browser or cookies for the current site. > > That being said, if you don’t mind limiting yourself to using Internet > Explorer, I’m guessing you could break free from this security policy > by using an ActiveX control, which we all know is dangerously > insecure. Of course, doing so would limit your users to Microsoft > Windows and Internet Explorer. Users of Firefox, or any other > platform, would properly protect themselves from this security > violation. > > On Mar 10, 7:20?am, Prasanna kumar Nagasamudram \ **Author:** ![Prasanna\_kumar\_N](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/p/f04885/32.png) [@Prasanna\_kumar\_N](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Prasanna_kumar_N)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2008, 7:05am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/gettting-the-current-windows-user-id/131257/7 "2008-03-11T07:05:11Z") > The only reason i thought about the other approache was to eniminate the > resigration screen. > I kinda figured that was the case. Well don’t. It’s part of life on > the web. I’m suggestion is to just deal with it like the rest of us > have to. Security is important and until somebody comes up with a > better scheme than we have now web app users will have to deal with it > too. That being said there are a number of great alternatives developing that are actually more secure and a lot more convenient for your users. The primary one being OpenID ([http://openid.net](http://openid.net)). If you are unfamiliar with it, check it out. I now cringe whenever I see a web site that does not implement an OpenID login. And it’s now pretty easy to do in Rails so there’s just no longer any excuse not to do it. In the mean time I use a wonderful tool called 1password (http:// [1passwd.com](http://1passwd.com)). This allow me to create random strong passwords for all my various internet login forms and never have to worry about remembering them. All I need to remember is my one master password… “One Password to rule them all, One Password to find them, One Password to bring them all and in the darkness bind them.” On Mar 11, 12:52 am, Prasanna kumar Nagasamudram \ **Author:** ![Prasanna\_kumar\_N](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/p/f04885/32.png) [@Prasanna\_kumar\_N](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Prasanna_kumar_N)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2008, 5:52am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/gettting-the-current-windows-user-id/131257/8 "2008-03-11T05:52:20Z") Robert W. wrote: > You could implement an actual app login. If you use something like > restful authentication it gives you a current\_user method. > > On Mar 10, 8:25?am, Prasanna kumar Nagasamudram \