#393 Guest User Record

Nov 21, 2012 | 9 minutes | Authentication

Instead of presenting a sign up form to the user, consider creating a temporary guest record so the user can try out the application without filling in their information up front. They can then become a permanent member afterwards.

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terminal

rails g migration add_guest_to_users guest:boolean
rake db:migrate

index.html.erb

<p><%= button_to "Try it for free!", users_path, method: :post %></p>

layouts/application.html.erb

Logged in as <strong><%= current_user.name %></strong>.
<% if current_user.guest? %>
 <%= link_to "Become a member", signup_path %>
<% else %>
 <%= link_to "Log Out", logout_path %>
<% end %>

user_controller.rb

def create
 @user = params[:user] ? User.new(params[:user]) : User.new_guest
 if @user.save
 current_user.move_to(@user) if current_user && current_user.guest?
 session[:user_id] = @user.id
 redirect_to root_url
 else
 render "new"
 end
end

models/user.rb

class User < ActiveRecord::Base
 has_many :tasks, dependent: :destroy
 attr_accessible :username, :email, :password, :password_confirmation
 validates_presence_of :username, :email, :password_digest, unless: :guest?
 validates_uniqueness_of :username, allow_blank: true
 validates_confirmation_of :password
 # override has_secure_password to customize validation until Rails 4.
 require 'bcrypt'
 attr_reader :password
 include ActiveModel::SecurePassword::InstanceMethodsOnActivation
 
 def self.new_guest
 new { |u| u.guest = true }
 end
 
 def name
 guest ? "Guest" : username
 end
 
 def move_to(user)
 tasks.update_all(user_id: user.id)
 end
end

lib/tasks/guests.rake

namespace :guests do
 desc "Remove guest accounts more than a week old."
 task :cleanup => :environment do
 User.where(guest: true).where("created_at < ?", 1.week.ago).destroy_all
 end
end