Question

I’m building a Rails 3 app, where I need to give users specific roles based on the path they take to sign up on the site. I am using Devise and Cancan.

So for instance, the path

new-fundraiser (or /users/new/fundraiser)

Needs to set user.fundraiser = true on user creation, and

new-charity-user (or /users/new/charity)

Needs to set user.charity_owner = true on user creation.

What is the easiest / best-practice way to accomplish this using Devise and Cancan?

Answer 1

I would set up a route like:

match "/users/new/:role", :to => 'users#new'

In your user model I’d add an accessor:

class User < ActiveRecord::Base
  def role=(role_name)
    @role = role_name
    case role_name
    when 'charity'
      self.charity_owner = true
    when 'fundraiser'
      self.fundraiser = true
    else
      # raise some exception
    end
  end

  def role
    @role
  end
end

Then in your users#new.html.erb form add a hidden field:

<%= form.hidden_field :role, :value => params[:role] %>

Then your won’t need to change your controller code at all.