Rails - Oct 2008 - preventing the user from navigating away without completing a selection (not a form) link_to

Hi

i have a page (assign role to user) in which i can add or remove a
role.

i have a people model that is tied to the user model with has one
role , changing the role changes the person type

thus, if you remove a role you can assign one of the 5 roles (admin,
manager, instructor, staff, member)

here''s where i want to make sure that the user( typically an Admin)
assign any role for the selected user and wont leave this user without
a role.

if an Admin forget to assign a role the person (user / member or
whatever) become a ghost.

how can i make sure the user assign a role BEFORE they can navigate
away from the page.

i can easily check if user.roles.empty? then flash error and render /
redirect

but i tried after_filter on the controller which doesnt seem to be
doing anything.

thanks
Ami
--~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups
"Ruby on Rails: Talk" group.
To post to this group, send email to
rubyonrails-talk-/JYPxA39Uh5TLH3MbocFFw@public.gmane.org
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
rubyonrails-talk+unsubscribe-/JYPxA39Uh5TLH3MbocFFw@public.gmane.org
For more options, visit this group at
http://groups.google.com/group/rubyonrails-talk?hl=en
-~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---

Ami wrote:
> how can i make sure the user assign a role BEFORE they can navigate
> away from the page.
Basically you can''t.  The user can navigate away by many means that are
out of your control.  You are better off coming at the problem from a 
different direction and, perhaps, having a default role that is there 
initially and the user either adds another role and removes the default 
(you can restrict removing the final role) or leaves it at default.

--~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups
"Ruby on Rails: Talk" group.
To post to this group, send email to
rubyonrails-talk-/JYPxA39Uh5TLH3MbocFFw@public.gmane.org
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
rubyonrails-talk+unsubscribe-/JYPxA39Uh5TLH3MbocFFw@public.gmane.org
For more options, visit this group at
http://groups.google.com/group/rubyonrails-talk?hl=en
-~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---

You can''t force someone to do something before leaving a page since 
there''s always the back button, typing in a URL, etc.  An after_filter 
won''t be very useful but what about a before_filter?

With a before_filter you can check if there are any ghost users and 
redirect to the user role page to force them to choose a role for the 
ghost user.  So, if they leave the role page after removing a role, they 
will be taken back to it until they choose a role.

Will that work?

If you have multiple admins you could store in the session the user that 
had a role removed and by which logged in admin to prevent it from 
redirecting admin A to set a role when it was admin B that removed the 
role.
-- 
Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/.

--~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups
"Ruby on Rails: Talk" group.
To post to this group, send email to
rubyonrails-talk-/JYPxA39Uh5TLH3MbocFFw@public.gmane.org
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
rubyonrails-talk+unsubscribe-/JYPxA39Uh5TLH3MbocFFw@public.gmane.org
For more options, visit this group at
http://groups.google.com/group/rubyonrails-talk?hl=en
-~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---

It''s not a perfect solution, but you can use window.onbeforeunload 
(javascript) to check for some condition. The user still has the option 
of leaving, but at least they are notified that something is not right. 
In one app I work on, some "notifications" are collected as the 
administrator makes scheduling changes. We want to send all of the 
notifications at one time, so we let the admin continue to work and 
click a button when ready. In the event that the notifications have not 
been sent when the page unloads, a message pops up to let the admin know 
they haven''t finished the process. My JavaScript looks like:

function notifications_check(evt)
{
  if (pending_notifications)
  {
    var message = "There are pending notifications.  By leaving this 
page before sending them, " +
      "you risk losing them completely. Are you sure you want to
leave?"
    if (typeof evt == ''undefined'')
    {
      evt = window.event;
    }

    if (evt)
    {
      evt.returnValue = message;
    }

    return message;
  }
}

window.onbeforeunload = notifications_check;

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

--~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups
"Ruby on Rails: Talk" group.
To post to this group, send email to
rubyonrails-talk-/JYPxA39Uh5TLH3MbocFFw@public.gmane.org
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
rubyonrails-talk+unsubscribe-/JYPxA39Uh5TLH3MbocFFw@public.gmane.org
For more options, visit this group at
http://groups.google.com/group/rubyonrails-talk?hl=en
-~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---

Hi Tim
can I assign a default (lowest level) role (member) automatically when
the user leaves the page?

i was thinking maybe with the use of current_page check that the page
has changed and then assign a default role automatically
what do you think?
Ami

On Oct 21, 10:34 am, "Tim P."
<rails-mailing-l...-ARtvInVfO7ksV2N9l4h3zg@public.gmane.org>
wrote:
> You can''t force someone to do something before leaving a page
since
> there''s always the back button, typing in a URL, etc.  An
after_filter
> won''t be very useful but what about a before_filter?
>
> With a before_filter you can check if there are any ghost users and
> redirect to the user role page to force them to choose a role for the
> ghost user.  So, if they leave the role page after removing a role, they
> will be taken back to it until they choose a role.
>
> Will that work?
>
> If you have multiple admins you could store in the session the user that
> had a role removed and by which logged in admin to prevent it from
> redirecting admin A to set a role when it was admin B that removed the
> role.
> --
> Posted viahttp://www.ruby-forum.com/.
--~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups
"Ruby on Rails: Talk" group.
To post to this group, send email to
rubyonrails-talk-/JYPxA39Uh5TLH3MbocFFw@public.gmane.org
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
rubyonrails-talk+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com
For more options, visit this group at
http://groups.google.com/group/rubyonrails-talk?hl=en
-~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---

My first thought was to use a before_filter (only for pages that display 
member information that could expose a broken role) and check the 
referer to see if the user came from the roles page.  If so, you could 
find any broken members and give them a default role.

Thinking more about it, however, it seems like we''re avoiding the cause
of the problem and trying to hack it.  The real issue is that you 
shouldn''t allow admins to remove someone''s role in the first
place.  I
now suggest changing your role page to let the admin change a role (not 
remove) _ or if you allow multiple roles let them only remove all but 
the lowest assigned role.  Another option would be to keep it as is but 
check when a role is removed - if that member now has no roles then 
assign them a default one.

I hope these ideas are of use.
-- 
Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/.

--~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups
"Ruby on Rails: Talk" group.
To post to this group, send email to
rubyonrails-talk-/JYPxA39Uh5TLH3MbocFFw@public.gmane.org
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
rubyonrails-talk+unsubscribe-/JYPxA39Uh5TLH3MbocFFw@public.gmane.org
For more options, visit this group at
http://groups.google.com/group/rubyonrails-talk?hl=en
-~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---

thanks Tim,

i wanted to clarify how my app is built:

it is based on http://crazyrails.com/how-to-install-restful-authentication/

i have a people STI table (admin, manager, instructor, staff, member)
then i have user table (login info) with a has_one: person
roles table which is a general 5 records table to store the access
level / roles
permissions which is a join table between people and roles

so changing a role would be actually : select from a drop down then on
the controller -> remove the previous role and reassign the selected
one

i think you''re 100% right, i''ll see if i can do that, let me
know if
you can think of anything else

thanks man
Ami

On Oct 22, 10:58 am, Tim Parkin
<rails-mailing-l...-ARtvInVfO7ksV2N9l4h3zg@public.gmane.org>
wrote:
> My first thought was to use a before_filter (only for pages that display
> member information that could expose a broken role) and check the
> referer to see if the user came from the roles page.  If so, you could
> find any broken members and give them a default role.
>
> Thinking more about it, however, it seems like we''re avoiding the
cause
> of the problem and trying to hack it.  The real issue is that you
> shouldn''t allow admins to remove someone''s role in the
first place.  I
> now suggest changing your role page to let the admin change a role (not
> remove) _ or if you allow multiple roles let them only remove all but
> the lowest assigned role.  Another option would be to keep it as is but
> check when a role is removed - if that member now has no roles then
> assign them a default one.
>
> I hope these ideas are of use.
> --
> Posted viahttp://www.ruby-forum.com/.
--~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups
"Ruby on Rails: Talk" group.
To post to this group, send email to
rubyonrails-talk-/JYPxA39Uh5TLH3MbocFFw@public.gmane.org
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
rubyonrails-talk+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com
For more options, visit this group at
http://groups.google.com/group/rubyonrails-talk?hl=en
-~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---