# \[noob\] params vs query string

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/noob-params-vs-query-string/55211>\
**Category:** Rails\
**Created:** [March 17, 2006, 11:09pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/noob-params-vs-query-string/55211 "2006-03-17T23:09:51Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![kevin\_finn](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/k/a698b9/32.png) [@kevin\_finn](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/kevin_finn)\
**Post date:** [March 17, 2006, 11:09pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/noob-params-vs-query-string/55211/1 "2006-03-17T23:09:51Z")

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We’ve got a lot of existing legacy systems, and as a simple  
proof-of-concept I’m trying to get rails to work as an extension for  
these systems in a relatively transparent way. I’ve got rails running  
on another server with access to the same database as the legacy system.  
I’m simply popping up the rails in a frame on the legacy system, so the  
user can hardly tell that they’ve left the server.

The tricky part is authentication. I know I can’t read the cookie from  
the other domain, so I’m passing the md5 hash in the query string in the  
initial link to the rails app (with a typical ?something=something).  
I’m hoping to be able to access this via the params array, query the  
session table for the user info, and then build another cookie that the  
rails apps can use. Even merely querying the session table before any  
controller requests and making sure that the hash from the initial URL  
request is present, and checking these before any actions in the  
controller requests, might be sufficient for the time being (not a high  
load system).

My first question is simple – why aren’t the paramaters I’m passing in  
the params array? If I print out params I can see that the controller  
and action are in there, but the one paramter I passed in the initial  
url isn’t. I can parse response.query\_string myself to get it, but it  
feels like that shoudn’t be necessary. Is there a better way to get  
this?

More generally, has anyone done this sort of authentication. There  
isn’t any important information in the cookie really. I just want to to  
verify that the user has a valid login cookie from the other system. Is  
there a general way I can take the cookie md5 hash passed from the  
initial query request into the rails system, and build a cookie that  
rails will then rely on for authentication?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![kevin\_finn](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/k/a698b9/32.png) [@kevin\_finn](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/kevin_finn)\
**Post date:** [March 30, 2006, 2:08pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/noob-params-vs-query-string/55211/2 "2006-03-30T14:08:06Z")

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Just came across this. Have you had any luck resolving as of yet?

You should be able to access everything via the params hash.

Try this:

result = @params[:something]

Replace “:something” with the symbol of your query variable.

On 17 Mar 2006 22:08:31 -0000, kevin finn