Newly added column's data not being saved to DB

Question

I am using Devise for user authentication in my Rails 4 app. Recently I added two new columns to the User model. They are first_name and last_name. I then updated the signin form with fields for both of these attributes. However, neither are being saved to the database when I test creating a new user. I thought it might be a mass assignment problem but I'm not getting any kind of database error. The user is successfully created but only the original attributes (email, password, and password_confirmation) are being stored. Can anyone help?

Here is the code for my form:

<div class="row">
  <%= form_for(resource, :as => resource_name, :url => registration_path(resource_name)) do |f| %>
  <%= devise_error_messages! %>
  <div class="small-10 small-offset-0 columns">

    <div class="row">
      <div class="small-2 columns">
        <%= f.label :first_name, class: 'right inline' %>
      </div>
      <div class="small-4 columns">
        <%= f.text_field :first_name, id: 'right-label' %>
      </div>
      <div class="small-6 columns">
        <!-- empty space -->
      </div>
    </div>

    <div class="row">
      <div class="small-2 columns">
        <%= f.label :last_name, class: 'right inline' %>
      </div>
      <div class="small-4 columns">
        <%= f.text_field :last_name, id: 'right-label' %>
      </div>
      <div class="small-6 columns">
        <!-- empty space -->
      </div>
    </div>

    <div class="row">
      <div class="small-2 columns">
        <%= f.label :email, class: 'right inline' %>
      </div>
      <div class="small-4 columns">
        <%= f.email_field :email, id: 'right-label' %>
      </div>
      <div class="small-6 columns">
        <!-- empty space -->
      </div>
    </div>

    <div class="row">
      <div class="small-2 columns">
        <%= f.label :password, class: 'right inline' %>
      </div>
      <div class="small-4 columns">
        <%= f.password_field :password, id: 'right-label' %>
      </div>
      <div class="small-6 columns">
        <!-- empty space -->
      </div>
    </div>

    <div class="row">
      <div class="small-2 columns">
        <%= f.label :password_confirmation, class: 'right inline' %>
      </div>
      <div class="small-4 columns">
        <%= f.password_field :password_confirmation, id: 'right-label' %>
      </div>
      <div class="small-6 columns">
        <!-- empty space -->
      </div>
    </div>

    <div class="row">
      <div class="small-2 columns">
        <!--placeholder -->
      </div>
      <div class="small-10 columns">
        <%= f.submit "Create account", class: 'button small' %>
      </div>
    </div>

    <div class="row">
      <div class="small-2 columns">
        <!--placeholder -->
      </div>
      <div class="small-10 columns">
        <%= render "devise/shared/links" %>
      </div>
    </div>
  </div>

  <div class="small-3 columns">
    <!-- nothing here -->
  </div>
  <% end %>

</div>

And the info on my model from the console showing that the attributes have been added:

User(id: integer, email: string, encrypted_password: string, reset_password_token: string, reset_password_sent_at: datetime, remember_created_at: datetime, sign_in_count: integer, current_sign_in_at: datetime, last_sign_in_at: datetime, current_sign_in_ip: string, last_sign_in_ip: string, created_at: datetime, updated_at: datetime, first_name: string, last_name: string) 

Answer 1

You need to let devise know that these new parameters are now permitted, in accordance with Rails 4's strong parameters. You can add the following to your application controller:

class ApplicationController < ActionController::Base  
  before_action :configure_permitted_parameters, if: :devise_controller?

  protected

  def configure_permitted_parameters
     devise_parameter_sanitizer.for(:sign_up) << :first_name << :last_name
  end
end

For more information on using Rail 4's strong parameters with devise, see the Strong Parameters section of the Devise README.