# So confused -- logging in **URL:** \ **Category:** Rails\ **Created:** [November 10, 2007, 7:42pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/so-confused-logging-in/119808 "2007-11-10T19:42:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![stedwick](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/90ced4/32.png) [@stedwick](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/stedwick)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2007, 7:42pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/so-confused-logging-in/119808/1 "2007-11-10T19:42:29Z")
I’ve spent hours on this, and I can’t figure it out. I’m trying to create a simple login system. Here’s my accounts controller. class AccountsController \< ApplicationController # ssl\_required :login def login if !(params[:username] and params[:password]) flash[:error] = “Username or password cannot be blank.” redirect\_to :action =\> :index return end ``` username = params[:username] hashed_password = "hello" #Account.hash(params[:password]) account = Account.find_by_username_and_hashed_password(username, ``` hashed\_password) ``` if account == nil flash[:error] = "Incorrect username or password." redirect_to :action => :index return end session[:user_id] = account.id redirect_to :controller => :home ``` end def logout session[:user\_id] = nil flash[:notice] = “You have logged out.” redirect\_to :controller =\> :home end end The logout function works fine. The first part of the login function, the part that tests to make sure that a username and password are present, works fine as well. However, if I pass username and password parameters to the function (regardless if they correspond to a real account or not), everything blows up in my face. In fact, my whole application permanently crashes until I run “rake db:sessions:clear”. Even if I restart mongrel and Apache, my application still doesn’t work until the sessions are cleaned out. My Account.hash and Account.find\_by\_username\_and\_hashed\_password functions both work fine, and I tried turning them off. No luck. Any ideas? Oh, and the errors I get in the mongrel console are: \*\* Starting Mongrel listening at 0.0.0.0:3000 \*\* Starting Rails with development environment… \*\* Rails loaded. \*\* Loading any Rails specific GemPlugins \*\* Signals ready. INT =\> stop (no restart). \*\* Mongrel available at 0.0.0.0:3000 \*\* Use CTRL-C to stop. Sat Nov 10 13:26:13 -0500 2007: Error calling Dispatcher.dispatch #\ C:/INSTAN~1/ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/activerecord-1.15.5/lib/ active\_record/ba se.rb:1318:in `hash' C:/INSTAN~1/ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/activerecord-1.15.5/lib/ active_record/ba se.rb:1318:in`[]’ C:/INSTAN~1/ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/activerecord-1.15.5/lib/ active\_record/ba se.rb:1318:in `subclasses' C:/INSTAN~1/ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/activerecord-1.15.5/lib/ active_record/ba se.rb:1319:in`subclasses’ C:/INSTAN~1/ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/actionpack-1.13.5/lib/ action\_controller/ routing.rb:351:in `inject' C:/INSTAN~1/ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/activerecord-1.15.5/lib/ active_record/ba se.rb:1319:in`each’ C:/INSTAN~1/ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/activerecord-1.15.5/lib/ active\_record/ba se.rb:1319:in `inject' C:/INSTAN~1/ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/activerecord-1.15.5/lib/ active_record/ba se.rb:1319:in`subclasses’ C:/INSTAN~1/ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/activerecord-1.15.5/lib/ active\_record/ba se.rb:280:in `reset_subclasses' C:/INSTAN~1/ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/rails-1.2.5/lib/dispatcher.rb: 57:in`res et\_application!’ C:/INSTAN~1/ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/rails-1.2.5/lib/dispatcher.rb: 115:in `re set_after_dispatch' C:/INSTAN~1/ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/rails-1.2.5/lib/dispatcher.rb: 50:in`dis patch’ C:/INSTAN~1/ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/mongrel-1.0.1-mswin32/lib/ mongrel/rails. rb:78:in `process' C:/INSTAN~1/ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/mongrel-1.0.1-mswin32/lib/ mongrel/rails. rb:76:in`synchronize’ C:/INSTAN~1/ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/mongrel-1.0.1-mswin32/lib/ mongrel/rails. rb:76:in `process' C:/INSTAN~1/ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/mongrel-1.0.1-mswin32/lib/ mongrel.rb:618 :in`process\_client’ C:/INSTAN~1/ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/mongrel-1.0.1-mswin32/lib/ mongrel.rb:617 :in `each' C:/INSTAN~1/ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/mongrel-1.0.1-mswin32/lib/ mongrel.rb:617 :in`process\_client’ C:/INSTAN~1/ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/mongrel-1.0.1-mswin32/lib/ mongrel.rb:736 :in `run' C:/INSTAN~1/ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/mongrel-1.0.1-mswin32/lib/ mongrel.rb:736 :in`initialize’ C:/INSTAN~1/ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/mongrel-1.0.1-mswin32/lib/ mongrel.rb:736 :in `new' C:/INSTAN~1/ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/mongrel-1.0.1-mswin32/lib/ mongrel.rb:736 :in`run’ C:/INSTAN~1/ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/mongrel-1.0.1-mswin32/lib/ mongrel.rb:720 :in `initialize' C:/INSTAN~1/ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/mongrel-1.0.1-mswin32/lib/ mongrel.rb:720 :in`new’ C:/INSTAN~1/ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/mongrel-1.0.1-mswin32/lib/ mongrel.rb:720 :in `run' C:/INSTAN~1/ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/mongrel-1.0.1-mswin32/lib/ mongrel/config urator.rb:271:in`run’ C:/INSTAN~1/ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/mongrel-1.0.1-mswin32/lib/ mongrel/config urator.rb:270:in `each' C:/INSTAN~1/ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/mongrel-1.0.1-mswin32/lib/ mongrel/config urator.rb:270:in`run’ C:/INSTAN~1/ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/mongrel-1.0.1-mswin32/bin/ mongrel\_rails: 127:in `run' C:/INSTAN~1/ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/mongrel-1.0.1-mswin32/lib/ mongrel/comman d.rb:211:in`run’ C:/INSTAN~1/ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/mongrel-1.0.1-mswin32/bin/ mongrel\_rails: 243 C:/INSTAN~1/ruby/bin/mongrel\_rails:16:in `load’ C:/INSTAN~1/ruby/bin/mongrel\_rails:16 Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![stedwick](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/90ced4/32.png) [@stedwick](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/stedwick)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2007, 7:54pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/so-confused-logging-in/119808/2 "2007-11-10T19:54:48Z")
On Nov 10, 2007 1:40 PM, Stedwick [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > ``` > redirect_to :action => :index > return > end > > username = params[:username] > hashed_password = "hello" #Account.hash(params[:password]) > > ``` > #\ r: wrong number of arguments (0 for 1)\> I’m guessing that you haven’t defined Account#hash BUT DON"T DO THAT Object#hash is a core ruby method which takes no arguments. You should name the method something like Account#hash\_password to avoid conflicting with it. – Rick DeNatale My blog on Ruby [http://talklikeaduck.denhaven2.com/](http://talklikeaduck.denhaven2.com/) ---
**Author:** ![stedwick](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/90ced4/32.png) [@stedwick](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/stedwick)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2007, 9:08pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/so-confused-logging-in/119808/3 "2007-11-10T21:08:39Z")
You should look at acts\_as\_authenticated. It takes care of all this for you and is easy to extend. -Bill ---
**Author:** ![stedwick](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/90ced4/32.png) [@stedwick](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/stedwick)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2007, 9:38pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/so-confused-logging-in/119808/4 "2007-11-10T21:38:11Z")
I’ve looked at “ask as authenticated”, but I’m trying to do it the hard way so I learn along the way 🙂 Interesting update: my accounts controller works on my web host, it just doesn’t work with instant rails. Rather annoying, but I guess the problem isn’t as serious as I first thought. I’m thinking the problem might have something to do with this line: Sat Nov 10 13:26:13 -0500 2007: Error calling Dispatcher.dispatch On my web host, it’s set up to run as a CGI application, which I will eventually migrate to fast CGI, but instant rails uses mongrel. Do you think that could be the problem? Is there an easy way I can fix this so that it runs on my home computer using instant rails? Because I like to do my development on my home computer… but now it looks like I’ll have to upload everything to my server and test it there. On a side note, relating to “ask as authenticated”, is there a good plug-in that makes it easy to authenticate using Google accounts? I found a plug-in called “acts as Google accounts”, but the comments said it sucked. And thanks Rick, I will change my “hash” function to another name.