Rails: Switch User Gem and issues with switching back to original user

Question

In my app I am using the switch_user (https://github.com/flyerhzm/switch_user) gem to allow admins to login as another user. The gem has the ability to log back in as an admin, but I am having a hard time conceptualizing how to do it.

Here is my config:

SwitchUser.setup do |config|
  # provider may be :devise, :authlogic, :clearance, :restful_authentication, :sorcery, or :session
  config.provider = :devise

  # available_users is a hash,
  # key is the model name of user (:user, :admin, or any name you use),
  # value is a block that return the users that can be switched.
  config.available_users = { :user => lambda { User.all } }

  # available_users_identifiers is a hash,
  # keys in this hash should match a key in the available_users hash
  # value is the name of the identifying column to find by,
  # defaults to id
  # this hash is to allow you to specify a different column to
  # expose for instance a username on a User model instead of id
  config.available_users_identifiers = { :user => :id }

  # available_users_names is a hash,
  # keys in this hash should match a key in the available_users hash
  # value is the column name which will be displayed in select box
  config.available_users_names = { :user => :email }

  # controller_guard is a block,
  # if it returns true, the request will continue,
  # else the request will be refused and returns "Permission Denied"
  # if you switch from "admin" to user, the current_user param is "admin"
  config.controller_guard = lambda { |current_user, request, original_user| 
    current_user.school_admin? || original_user.school_admin?
  }

  # view_guard is a block,
  # if it returns true, the switch user select box will be shown,
  # else the select box will not be shown
  # if you switch from admin to "user", the current_user param is "user"
  config.view_guard = lambda { |current_user, request, original_user| 
    current_user.school_admin? || original_user.school_admin?
  }

  # redirect_path is a block, it returns which page will be redirected
  # after switching a user.
  config.redirect_path = lambda { |request, params| '/' }

  # helper_with_guest is a boolean value, if it set to false
  # the guest item in the helper won't be shown
  config.helper_with_guest = true

  # false = login from one scope to another and you are logged in only in both scopes
  # true = you are logged only into one scope at a time
  config.login_exclusive = true

  # switch_back allows you to switch back to a previously selected user. See
  # README for more details.
  config.switch_back = true
end

Their README says you can have these links in your view

<%= link_to user.login, "/switch_user?scope_identifier=user_#{user.id}" %>
<%= link_to admin.login, "/switch_user?scope_identifier=admin_#{admin.id}" %>

But there is no way to load the "original user" to check to see if you need to display the admin login link.. anyone else have experience using this gem?

Answer 1

I had similar issues with switch user and its switching back option, so at the end I am trying to implement something by myself.

I'm using this as a starting point, I hope it helps you as well.

Answer 2

You can access original user from your controllers by doing

provider = SwitchUser::Provider.init(self)
provider.original_user

Cheers