Question

I’m trying to incorporate Devise and Cancan into a web app. I want users with :role => “admin” to be able to delete users, and Devise’s destroy action only allows users to delete themselves, so I’ve created a custom action for this purpose. (To override the plugin’s controller file, I’ve copied the registrations controller over to app/controllers/registrations_controller.rb.)

Here is my custom action in my registrations_controller.rb:

def destroy_user_account
    @user = User.find_by_id(params[:user])        
    @user.destroy
    redirect_to profiles_path, :flash => { :success => "User deleted!" }
    authorize! :destroy, User, :message => "You don't have authorisation to delete this user."          
end

Here is how I’m trying to use it, in a link on the page where you view a user’s profile. (I have things set up so that each user has_one profile; profiles are what you see at the front end. A profile is automatically created in the profiles table on user registration.)

    <% if can? :update, @profile %>
        | <%= link_to 'Edit Profile', edit_profile_path(@profile) %>
        | <%= link_to 'Edit Settings', edit_settings_path %>
    <% end %>               
    <% if can? :destroy, @profile.user %>
        | <%= link_to "Delete User", destroy_user_account(@profile.user), 
                        :class => "delete", 
                        :confirm => "Are you sure?",
                        :title => "Delete #{@profile.user.name}"
    %>
    <% end %>   

My tests are showing 2 failures that I can’t resolve:

1) ProfilesController GET show when signed in as an admin should
have a link to edit the profile
Failure/Error: get :show, :id => @profile
ActionView::Template::Error:
undefined method destroy_user_account' for #<#<Class:0x105b474a8>:0x1057f32e8>
# ./app/views/profiles/show.html.erb:41:in_app_views_profiles_show_html_erb___917863454_2195331000_0′
# ./spec/controllers/profiles_controller_spec.rb:143

2) ProfilesController GET show when signed in as an admin should
have a link to delete the user’s account (using the
destroy_user_account action in the registrations controller)
Failure/Error: get :show, :id => @profile
ActionView::Template::Error:
undefined method destroy_user_account' for #<#<Class:0x105b474a8>:0x105806d20>
# ./app/views/profiles/show.html.erb:41:in_app_views_profiles_show_html_erb___917863454_2195331000_0′
# ./spec/controllers/profiles_controller_spec.rb:148

Also, when I try it out in my browser, clicking on the “Delete user” link gets me the following error:

Routing Error

No route matches “/destroy-user-account/2”

Here are the routes that should cover this:

devise_for :users, #:path => ”,
:skip => [ :confirmations, :passwords, :registrations ],
:controllers => { :registrations => “registrations” } do

# Routes for ACCOUNT REGISTRATIONS
get     "join",                           :to => "registrations#new",    :as => :new_user_registration
post    "join",                           :to => "registrations#create", :as => :user_registration
get     "settings/account",               :to => "registrations#show",   :as => :settings
get     "settings/account/edit",          :to => "registrations#edit",   :as => :edit_settings
put     "settings/account",               :to => "registrations#update", :as => :update_settings
delete  "close-my-account/:id",           :to => "registrations#destroy", :as => :close_my_account
delete  "destroy-user-account/:id",      :to => "registrations#destroy_user_account", :as => :destroy_user_account

Can anyone help with what I’m doing wrong?

Answer 1

In the browser it isn’t matching the route because you’re sending a GET request but the route only matches a DELETE request. The test fails because the route gives the name destroy_user_account_path instead of destroy_user_account.

Try:

<%= link_to "Delete User", destroy_user_account_path(@profile.user), 
                        :class => "delete", 
                        :confirm => "Are you sure?",
                        :title => "Delete #{@profile.user.name}"
                        :method => :delete
%>