How do I work with Rails 3 cookies and helpers?

Question

I created a user and stored the id in a permanent cookie:

def save_user_id_cookie
  cookies.permanent.signed[:user_id] = @user_id
end

Here is a link.

and then try to access it:

helper_method :current_user

private
def current_user
  @current_user = @current_user || User.find(cookies.signed[:user_id])
end

Here is a link.

I see the cookie on my machine but when I try to load the homepage I get:

Couldn't find User without an ID

app/controllers/application_controller.rb:8:in `current_user'

The controller is here.

Answer 1

Believe this line

@current_user = @current_user || User.find(cookies.signed[:user_id])

should be

@current_user = @current_user || User.find(cookies[:user_id])

*side note: for little less code you can try assigning like

@current_user ||= User.find(cookies[:user_id])

Answer 2

In your save_user_id_cookie:

def save_user_id_cookie
    cookies.permanent.signed[:user_id] = @user_id # may be @user.id?
    puts 'saved cookie'
end

@user_id is nil. I think you should use @user.id instead.

Answer 3

Try this:

@current_user = @current_user || User.find(*cookies.signed[:user_id])

Notice the * before the cookies.

and yes, as @nash pointed out, that user_id should be actually user.id.
I didn't bother to look there for errors, as you said that you could see the cookie on your machine.