LoginGenerator - multiple user types

Rails
1

I have been looking at the LoginGenerator gem. Looks great and can be
easily modified. However in my app I have two places where people can
login, one is for in my case “employees” the other is for “users”. They
are seperate tables in my database and have many different fields.

I have an admin area located at ./sysadmin/ where only “employees” can
login, they will have roles of things like “engineer”, “admin”,
“development” etc which alters what they can do.

The other area is for “users” these users also have roles (like
client_admin) different to the “employees” roles. Logging in here is
only for our clients.

So on the surface it seems like I need to have the functionality of the
logingenerator as two seperate instances running from two tables inside
the same app.

Can’t work out the best way to do it. Have you done anything similar?

(I had thought about using STI, but have decided against that for a
number of reasons).

2

I’m wrestling with the exact same issues today. My first thought is
to define two before filters. One would be :user_login_required and
the other would be :employee_login_required. Then I just duplicate
the login_required method in the login_system.rb and adjust models
accordingly.

Perhaps someone has a better idea?

-Derrick S.

3

Derrick S. wrote:

I’m wrestling with the exact same issues today. My first thought is
to define two before filters. One would be :user_login_required and
the other would be :employee_login_required. Then I just duplicate
the login_required method in the login_system.rb and adjust models
accordingly.

Perhaps someone has a better idea?

-Derrick S.

Yes I see what you mean, that could be a way. So that would mean
duplicating the “user” model as well. I suppose you could create a base
model and the inherit it changing the required references to “user” to
the other model.

I’m all new to this so other suggestion are very welcome in the mean
time lets experiment!

4

James W. wrote:

Derrick S. wrote:

I’m wrestling with the exact same issues today. My first thought is
to define two before filters. One would be :user_login_required and
the other would be :employee_login_required. Then I just duplicate
the login_required method in the login_system.rb and adjust models
accordingly.

Perhaps someone has a better idea?

-Derrick S.

Yes I see what you mean, that could be a way. So that would mean
duplicating the “user” model as well. I suppose you could create a base
model and the inherit it changing the required references to “user” to
the other model.

I’m all new to this so other suggestion are very welcome in the mean
time lets experiment!

No i’m being stupid I cannot inherit the model as they are very
different and thats back to the SingleTableInheritance that I don’y want
to use.

5

On 2/20/06, James W. [email protected] wrote:

client_admin) different to the “employees” roles. Logging in here is
only for our clients.

You may want to look at the user engine (or user generator if there is
one).

http://www.rails-engines.org/user_engine

I’m still a newbie, but as I understand it the login engine and/or
generator allows people to login. To get different roles for
different people you can add the user engine to your setup.

Greg

–
Greg F.
The Norcross Group
Forensics for the 21st Century

6

On Feb 20, 2006, at 12:09 PM, James W. wrote:

The other area is for “users” these users also have roles (like

(I had thought about using STI, but have decided against that for a
number of reasons).

–

James-

You might want to take a look at my new plugin acl_system. Its an

add on for the different login generaotrs that adds permissions and
roles to the whole deal.

Its an acl/role type system that can sit on top of the
acts_as_authenticated login system or any login system that
implements a few requirements.

First lets see the candy ;-). This is what my post controller looks
like in my sample app to demonstrate this plugin:

class PostController < ApplicationController
before_filter :login_required, :except => [:list, :index]
access_control(:new => ‘(admin | user | moderator) & !blacklist’,
:create => ‘admin & !blacklist’,
:edit => ‘(admin | moderator) & !blacklist’,
:update => ‘(admin | moderator) & !blacklist’,
:delete => ‘admin & (!moderator | !blacklist)’ )

There is also a helper method that can be used in the view or
controller. In the view its handy for conditional menus or stuff like
that.

<% if permit?(“(admin | moderator) & !blacklist”, current_user) %>
<%= link_to “Admin & Moderator only link”, :action =>‘foo’ %>
<% end %>

Here is the link:
http://brainspl.at/articles/2006/02/20/new-plugin-acl_system

I reccomend that you use the acts_as_authenticated plugin instead of
the login generator, its similar but much better.

Cheers-
-Ezra Z.
WebMaster
Yakima Herald-Republic Newspaper
[email protected]
509-577-7732

7

Ezra,

Many thanks again. I had looked at the engines bt decided against using
them as it still does not address the issue I have which is I don’t just
have one “users” table & model to set permissions/logins against, I also
have another model & table with “employees” that needs seperate
permissions, logins.

I have decided, probably wrongly, to duplicate the login_required method
in login_system so that I have “employee_login_required” and
“user_login_required”.

This means that I now have duplicate information in my models that is
against DRY principles.