Using session-type data in an ActiveRecord callback

Rails
1

Any suggestions on how best to gain access to session-type information
while in an ActiveRecord callback, such as after_save?

I am encrypting some information in the database, using the
generalized encryption/decryption handler in “Agile Web D.
With Rails” (p 375ff). I got it working, and now I want to reference
a session field (a user PIN) which is NOT stored in the database…
for security reasons.

I can’t seem to gain access to the session method:

  1. attempting to use session[‘user’][‘pin’] gives me an “undefined
    variable or method”
  2. attempting to use UserController.session[‘user’][‘pin’] gives me a
    message saying that it’s expecting an integer, not a string.

Any ideas as to how to either (1) gain access to the session hash or
(2) provide my own application-wide storage mechanism?

Thanks…jon

2

I wouldn’t do it this way since it kind of muddy’s up the controller &
model portions of the MVC.

Instead you should create an function that will set the PIN in the
user model like this.
attr_accessor :pin

Then in your controller just pass it to a user object

user = User.find_by_id(session[:user][:id])
user.pin = session[:user][:pin]
user.save!

in the Model

after_save
# do whatever with the pin
user.pin # this will call it now that you have set it
end

That’s the basic gist of it, I haven’t tested any of this could but I
hope its clear enough to understand.

hope that helps,
Jim

3

oops I meant instead of this

after_save
# do whatever with the pin
user.pin # this will call it now that you have set it
end

do this

after_save
self.pin #to call the current user instances pin.
end

4

Very cool, Jim… thank you very much… just the kind of guidance I
was looking for. I’ll give it a shot tomorrow.

…jon