Rails - Apr 2005 - customizing views based on login

what is a good way to customize a view based on login credentials.  for
instance,
i''m putting together an app that shows some dynamic tablular data. 
i''d like
''normal'' users to be able to only *view* the data, but have
additional links/buttons
for someone logged in as an ''admin'' to *change* the data. 
creating two separate
.rhtml files for each login type seems counter-ruby, so I''m wondering
if
there''s a more elegant way to do it.

thanks in advance
les

On 4/15/05, lester <dumpingrounds-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w@public.gmane.org>
wrote:
> what is a good way to customize a view based on login credentials.  for
instance,
> i''m putting together an app that shows some dynamic tablular data.
i''d like
> ''normal'' users to be able to only *view* the data, but
have additional links/buttons
> for someone logged in as an ''admin'' to *change* the data.
creating two separate
> .rhtml files for each login type seems counter-ruby, so I''m
wondering if
> there''s a more elegant way to do it.
Simplest way:

<% if admin_logged_in? %>
  display stuff
<% end %>

Then create a helper function called admin_logged_in? that checks to
see if the logged in user is an admin or not.

Or, create a partial called _admin_links.rhtml and do the check in
there.  Lots of different ways to do it.

On 4/15/05, lester <dumpingrounds-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w@public.gmane.org>
wrote:
> what is a good way to customize a view based on login credentials.  for
instance,
> i''m putting together an app that shows some dynamic tablular data.
i''d like
> ''normal'' users to be able to only *view* the data, but
have additional links/buttons
> for someone logged in as an ''admin'' to *change* the data.
creating two separate
> .rhtml files for each login type seems counter-ruby, so I''m
wondering if
> there''s a more elegant way to do it.
First, in your login controller, you change the authorize function to
return true if the user is admin, or false if the user is not. Then in
your view, put in conditionals to test for authorize, if it''s true,
put in the edit buttons, if it''s false, don''t.

-- 
Urban Artography
http://artography.ath.cx

On Apr 15, 2005, at 2:01 PM, lester wrote:
> what is a good way to customize a view based on login credentials.  
> for instance, i''m putting together an app that shows some dynamic 
> tablular data.  i''d like ''normal'' users to be
able to only *view* the
> data, but have additional links/buttons for someone logged in as an 
> ''admin'' to *change* the data.  creating two separate
.rhtml files for
> each login type seems counter-ruby, so I''m wondering if
there''s a more
> elegant way to do it.
I use the following in application_helper.rb:

   def user_logged_in?
     @session[''user'']
   end

   def is_admin?
     @session[''user''][''login''] ==
CONFIG[''admin_login'']
   end

   def navigation_bar
     if user_logged_in?
       unless is_admin?
         render_partial "partials/navbar_user"
       else
         render_partial "partials/navbar_admin"
       end
     else
       render_partial "partials/navbar_public"
     end
   end

and the following in my layouts/application.rhtml:

       <%= navigation_bar %>

There are lots of different ways to approach this. You can also use a 
layout method... e.g.:

instead of:

layout ''application'', :except => ... list of exceptions

you could use:

layout :my_layout_method, :except => ... list of exceptions

private

def my_layout_method
   if user_logged_in?
     unless is_admin?
       "user_layout"
     else
       "admin_layout"
     end
   else
     "public_layout"
   end
end

.. I hope there are no errors in all these snippets but you get the 
idea. I''m paraphrasing from what I use.

--
Michael Schubert

Maintaining badly written code is like trying to solve a crossword
puzzle set by someone who can''t spell -- Jacob Kaplan-Moss