# Privacy settings validation problem

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/privacy-settings-validation-problem/115593>\
**Category:** Rails\
**Created:** [September 26, 2007, 5:51pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/privacy-settings-validation-problem/115593 "2007-09-26T17:51:56Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![myowntribe](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/a88e4f/32.png) [@myowntribe](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/myowntribe)\
**Post date:** [September 26, 2007, 5:51pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/privacy-settings-validation-problem/115593/1 "2007-09-26T17:51:56Z")

</div>

Hi

I am trying to give privacy settings to my users, I created a  
privacy\_settings table and model with the following fields:  
id  
user\_id  
setting

where setting has three options: public, private and friends and the  
user can select an option.

if the user selects, say for example private, then any other user cannot  
view his profile.

Another expert helped me with the below methods to accomplish this,  
still inspite of the perfectly seeming logic, the validation is not  
working and the access is being given to users irrespective of what the  
privacy settings of the user are…

class UserController  
before\_filter :verify\_privacy, :only =\> :show

1. 
# (…actions code…)

```
private
def verify_privacy
  @user = User.find(params[:id], :include => :privacy_setting)
  return true if @user.privacy_setting.setting = "public"
 return false if @user.privacy_setting.setting = "private"
 if @user.privacy_setting.setting = "friends" and

```

!@user.is\_friends\_with?(current\_user)  
return false  
end  
end

class User  
has\_one :privacy\_setting  
has\_many :friendships  
has\_many :friends, :through =\> :friendships #or however you solved  
that

def is\_friends\_with?(user)  
friends.find(user.id)  
end

end

Could anyone please guide me on this issue…

Cheers

Cass

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![myowntribe](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/a88e4f/32.png) [@myowntribe](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/myowntribe)\
**Post date:** [September 26, 2007, 10:42pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/privacy-settings-validation-problem/115593/2 "2007-09-26T22:42:20Z")

</div>

On 9/26/07, Cass A. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote:

> user can select an option.  
> class UserController  
> before\_filter :verify\_privacy, :only =\> :show
> 
> 1. 
> # (…actions code…)
> 
> ```
> private
> def verify_privacy
> @user = User.find(params[:id], :include => :privacy_setting)
> return true if @user.privacy_setting.setting = "public"
> 
> ```

This is always true, since you’re doing assignment instead of  
comparison. You want ==, not =. The rest of the code will never be  
run.

> ```
> return false if @user.privacy_setting.setting = "private"
> if @user.privacy_setting.setting = "friends" and
> 
> ```
> 
> !@user.is\_friends\_with?(current\_user)  
> return false  
> end  
> end

This code is messy. I would suggest pulling this logic into a model  
method and creating some proper unit tests. You have many branches  
here, so you need to do some testing. For instance, what does this  
code do if privacy\_setting is blank? Is that what you intend it to do?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![myowntribe](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/a88e4f/32.png) [@myowntribe](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/myowntribe)\
**Post date:** [September 30, 2007, 11:53pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/privacy-settings-validation-problem/115593/3 "2007-09-30T23:53:34Z")

</div>

Hii Cass A.,

I am Swathi Mamadgi, graduate student from Arizona State Universitry.

I am working on a web application using ruby on rails. I need to set  
privacy settings for my application, the same way you have done  
public,private and friends.

I have seen your code in the forum and the logic seems right. Can u  
please guide me on where i can find commands on this regard…any  
weblinks or books which throws light on privacy settings??

It will really help me a lot to build my application.

Thanks a ton,  
Swathi.

On Sep 26, 8:51 am, Cass A. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid)