# Session usage **URL:** \ **Category:** Rails\ **Created:** [February 16, 2006, 1:34am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/session-usage/69013 "2006-02-16T01:34:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![craigrails](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/c2a13f/32.png) [@craigrails](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/craigrails)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2006, 1:34am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/session-usage/69013/1 "2006-02-16T01:34:14Z")
Clearly I have the session and can see that session[:user\_id] = 7 Now I want to use the results of this…in a page…so I am trying to use the instance variable @sess\_user and at the top of the application controller, I have either… @sess\_user = User.find([:first, “id = ?”, session[:user\_id]) or @sess\_user = User.find([:first, “id = ?”, session[:user\_id]) gives me an error…symbol as Array index Clues? Craig ---
**Author:** ![craigrails](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/c2a13f/32.png) [@craigrails](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/craigrails)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2006, 1:37am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/session-usage/69013/2 "2006-02-16T01:37:15Z")
Hi, @sess\_user = User.find(:first, :conditions=\>[“id = ?”, session[:user\_id]) Eric Craig W. wrote: > or > removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid > [http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails](http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails) – Eric G. [http://www.ericgoodwin.com](http://www.ericgoodwin.com) ---
**Author:** ![craigrails](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/c2a13f/32.png) [@craigrails](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/craigrails)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2006, 1:52am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/session-usage/69013/3 "2006-02-16T01:52:26Z")
Yeah…I got brackets out of whack… @sess\_user = User.find(:first, :conditions =\> [“id = ?”, session[:user\_id] ]) or @sess\_user = User.find(session[:user\_id]) both still return the same error… symbol as array index which probably still isn’t what I want to get out of it since I actually want user.name from the ‘find’ but nevertheless…the error is still the same. Thanks Craig ---
**Author:** ![craigrails](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/c2a13f/32.png) [@craigrails](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/craigrails)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2006, 1:43am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/session-usage/69013/4 "2006-02-16T01:43:18Z")
On Feb 15, 2006, at 4:39 PM, Tom M. wrote: > > @sess\_user = User.find([:first, “id = ?”, session[:user\_id]) > > or > > @sess\_user = User.find([:first, “id = ?”, session[:user\_id]) > > > > gives me an error…symbol as Array index > > You don’t need the [] around the arguments in find…and there’s > a shortcut that you don’t know about. Correction: You have the [ in the wrong place. Needs to be after the comma. Short form is better still… ---
**Author:** ![craigrails](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/c2a13f/32.png) [@craigrails](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/craigrails)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2006, 1:40am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/session-usage/69013/5 "2006-02-16T01:40:17Z")
On Feb 15, 2006, at 4:33 PM, Craig W. wrote: > or > @sess\_user = User.find([:first, “id = ?”, session[:user\_id]) > > gives me an error…symbol as Array index You don’t need the [] around the arguments in find…and there’s a shortcut that you don’t know about. @sess\_user = User.find(session[:user\_id]) – – Tom M. ---
**Author:** ![craigrails](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/c2a13f/32.png) [@craigrails](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/craigrails)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2006, 2:37am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/session-usage/69013/6 "2006-02-16T02:37:43Z")
Craig, Can you show us the exact contents of your session, or show us the code for the user id being added to the session data? It sounds like there is a problem with session[:user\_id] Estelle. ---
**Author:** ![craigrails](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/c2a13f/32.png) [@craigrails](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/craigrails)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2006, 3:47am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/session-usage/69013/7 "2006-02-16T03:47:09Z")
On Wed, 2006-02-15 at 17:34 -0800, Estelle W. wrote: > Craig, > > Can you show us the exact contents of your session, or show us the > code for the user id being added to the session data? It sounds like > there is a problem with session[:user\_id] * * * I’m ashamed to tell you that I solved it entirely differently. When I create the session, I get all the session variables I will need later rather than resorting to having to get them out of the db later. This is a simple process and it was my twisted logic that said…OK, I need this value now and the only way I can get it is from the user\_id in the session. Much simpler - thanks for the concern. I am now onto rights based roles and I can see that Chad’s ‘Recipes’ is gonna pay me dividends now. Thanks Craig