Rails - Apr 2006 - newbie q: acts as authenticated or login engine?

I''m trying to create a basic web page where people can register. 
Before
they are approved they are emailed a link where that they must click in 
order to verify their info is correct (or at least their email).

Should I use acts as authenticated or the login engine for this?

http://technoweenie.stikipad.com/plugins/show/Acts+as+Authenticated
http://rails-engines.org/login_engine

TIA

-- 
Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/.

On 4/15/06, Vince W. <vince71@gmail.com> wrote:
> I''m trying to create a basic web page where people can register. 
Before
> they are approved they are emailed a link where that they must click in
> order to verify their info is correct (or at least their email).
>
> Should I use acts as authenticated or the login engine for this?
>
> http://technoweenie.stikipad.com/plugins/show/Acts+as+Authenticated
> http://rails-engines.org/login_engine
>
I highly recommend writing your own.  It''s much easier than you might
think, and it will then work exactly the way you want.
If you have the ''Rails Recipes'' book, there are some helpful
pointers
in there about doing this.
If you absolutely had to use one of the two libraries you mentioned,
I''d recommend acts_as_authenticated.

Wilson Bilkovich wrote:
> I highly recommend writing your own.  It''s much easier than you
might
> think, and it will then work exactly the way you want.
> If you have the ''Rails Recipes'' book, there are some
helpful pointers
> in there about doing this.
> If you absolutely had to use one of the two libraries you mentioned,
> I''d recommend acts_as_authenticated.
I''m a total newbie to programming and ruby.. nothing is easier than I 
might think. :o)

Is there a particular reason why you feel it would be better to write my 
own? It''s intimidating just to think about it.  Does the rails recipe 
book you mention have a pretty straight forward walkthrough or does it 
specifically address this problem?  I''m terrible at learning things 
quickly.. It usually takes months for me to figure out how things all 
work together..

-- 
Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/.

If you''re a newbie to programming, you might want to start by grabbing
the agile book and working through the examples there. The issue with
pulling someone else''s code of the net is that to use it, it
doesn''t
require you to understand it. And then the temptation is to never try
and understand it.

Best to work from the ground up with these things when you''re starting
out. The Agile & Recipes books should be able to walk you through step
by step, and that way you''ll learn the *purpose* of every line of
code, even if that''s not an initially deep understanding.

Best of luck!

- james

On 4/15/06, Vince W. <vince71@gmail.com> wrote:
> Wilson Bilkovich wrote:
>
> > I highly recommend writing your own.  It''s much easier than
you might
> > think, and it will then work exactly the way you want.
> > If you have the ''Rails Recipes'' book, there are some
helpful pointers
> > in there about doing this.
> > If you absolutely had to use one of the two libraries you mentioned,
> > I''d recommend acts_as_authenticated.
>
> I''m a total newbie to programming and ruby.. nothing is easier
than I
> might think. :o)
>
> Is there a particular reason why you feel it would be better to write my
> own? It''s intimidating just to think about it.  Does the rails
recipe
> book you mention have a pretty straight forward walkthrough or does it
> specifically address this problem?  I''m terrible at learning
things
> quickly.. It usually takes months for me to figure out how things all
> work together..
>
> --
> Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/.
> _______________________________________________
> Rails mailing list
> Rails@lists.rubyonrails.org
> http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails
>

--
* J *
  ~

On 4/15/06, Vince W. <vince71@gmail.com> wrote:
> Wilson Bilkovich wrote:
>
> > I highly recommend writing your own.  It''s much easier than
you might
> > think, and it will then work exactly the way you want.
> > If you have the ''Rails Recipes'' book, there are some
helpful pointers
> > in there about doing this.
> > If you absolutely had to use one of the two libraries you mentioned,
> > I''d recommend acts_as_authenticated.
>
> I''m a total newbie to programming and ruby.. nothing is easier
than I
> might think. :o)
>
> Is there a particular reason why you feel it would be better to write my
> own? It''s intimidating just to think about it.  Does the rails
recipe
> book you mention have a pretty straight forward walkthrough or does it
> specifically address this problem?  I''m terrible at learning
things
> quickly.. It usually takes months for me to figure out how things all
> work together..
>
I have fully-functional login systems in Rails that are fewer than 15
lines of code.  I''m sure you can learn to build one quickly.  The
easiest problems are the ones that you fully understand, and you''ve
probably logged into so many systems that you know it like the back of
your hand.

However, that wasn''t really my point; sorry.  It''s that if you
download someone''s login generator/engine/plugin/thing, and you have a
problem with it.. you''ll be starting from scratch, looking at code you
didn''t write.

If you write your own, and have trouble, you''ll at least know what the
code looks like.  It''s much easier to debug your own code.

--Wilson.

Your opinions are fair enough and I appreciate them.  To me it''s kind
of
like trying to solve a math problem yourself.  You try and try but then 
if you can''t get it you look in the back of the book for the solution. 
In doing that you learn the correct answer and a little about problem 
solving too.

That''s what I''d like to do.. I''ve been through the
agile book already.
(I''ve extended that shopping cart application and so now I understand
it
better.)  But with this login generator I''m just not sure where to 
start. I''ve created fields in my users table but then.. well
let''s say I
need some hints and thought that either login or acts_as_authenticated 
could be my hint book.

Does that make sense?  Otherwise I''d be really happy to give this a
shot
myself if I could get a few hints (say... 15 lines of code? heh -just 
kidding)

Thanks for your help

-- 
Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/.

On 4/15/06, Vince W. <vince71@gmail.com> wrote:
> Your opinions are fair enough and I appreciate them.  To me it''s
kind of
> like trying to solve a math problem yourself.  You try and try but then
> if you can''t get it you look in the back of the book for the
solution.
> In doing that you learn the correct answer and a little about problem
> solving too.
>
> That''s what I''d like to do.. I''ve been through
the agile book already.
> (I''ve extended that shopping cart application and so now I
understand it
> better.)  But with this login generator I''m just not sure where to
> start. I''ve created fields in my users table but then.. well
let''s say I
> need some hints and thought that either login or acts_as_authenticated
> could be my hint book.
>
> Does that make sense?  Otherwise I''d be really happy to give this
a shot
> myself if I could get a few hints (say... 15 lines of code? heh -just
> kidding)
>
> Thanks for your help
Sorry, hopefully I''m not coming off as pedantic.  I''m just
trying to
dispel some of the fear surrounding login code.

If you''re open to picking up another book, the Rails Recipes book has
a complete walkthrough of building your own authentication system, and
it''s written so that newcomers to Ruby should be able to follow it.

If not, then taking a look at acts_as_authenticated is a good starting point.

--Wilson.

Vince,

I haven''t put it into production yet but in my development environment 
the SaltedHashLogin plugin worked great. Someone signs up, gets and 
email, and they click the link and are verified. I will look at the code 
as there was something I have to modify to get the verification part to 
work. It doesn''t give you role based security but you can see if
someone
is logged in or not. Hope this helps.

- Robert Dempsey

http://wiki.rubyonrails.com/rails/pages/SaltedHashLoginGenerator

-- 
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Wilson Bilkovich wrote:
> Sorry, hopefully I''m not coming off as pedantic.  I''m
just trying to
> dispel some of the fear surrounding login code.
> 
> If you''re open to picking up another book, the Rails Recipes book
has
> a complete walkthrough of building your own authentication system, and
> it''s written so that newcomers to Ruby should be able to follow
it.
No need to apologize -- I absolutely appreciate your input.  I found the 
rails book and will download the pdf and see how it goes.

If I run into trouble after that I''ll let you know. :o)

cheers,
Vince

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Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/.

On Saturday 15 April 2006 04:57 pm, Wilson Bilkovich
wrote:
> Sorry, hopefully I''m not coming off as pedantic.  I''m
just trying to
> dispel some of the fear surrounding login code.
Don''t do that. Above all, people should fear (OK, not fear, have a
healthy
respect) for the compexity in writing a secure authentication/authorization 
system.  Is NOT simple and straightforward, and it''s made even worse in
a web
environment.

It still amazes me some of the security holes people will introduce.

David