sudo_attributes

Adds 'sudo' methods to active record classes, allowing you to easily override protected attributes.

Requirements

Rails: Any version of Rails 2.3.x or Rails 3.x. (Older versions of Rails may work, but have not been tested)

Installation

The gem is hosted at rubygems.org and can be installed with: gem install sudo_attributes

The Problem

ActiveModel provides a convenient way to make your application more secure by using "protected" attributes. Protected attributes are assigned using either attr_protected or attr_accessible. This adds security by preventing mass assignment of attributes when doing things like user.update_attributes(params[:user]). The issue is that it can be tedious to always manually assign protected attributes in an administrative area of your application. You may find yourself doing things like:

user = User.find(params[:id])
user.update_attributes(params[:user])
user.admin = true
user.something_else = true
user.save

or the alternative in Rails 3.1:

user.assign_attributes(params[:user], :without_protection => true)
user.save

The Solution

SudoAttributes adds a few 'sudo' methods to your models, allowing you to override the protected attributes when you know the input can be trusted.

class User < ActiveRecord::Base
  attr_protected :admin
end

user = User.find(params[:id])
user.sudo_update_attributes(params[:user])

Class Methods

Model.sudo_create - Uses same syntax as Model.create to instantiate and save an object with protected attributes

Model.sudo_create! - Similar to Model.sudo_create, but it raises an ActiveRecord::RecordInvalid exception if there are invalid attributes

Model.sudo_new - Uses same syntax as Model.new to instantiate, but not save an object with protected attributes

Instance Methods

sudo_update_attributes - Uses identical syntax to update_attributes, but overrides protected attributes.

sudo_update_attributes! - Same as sudo_update_attributes, but raises ActiveRecord errors. Same as update_attributes!

Examples

Protect an admin boolean attribute

class User < ActiveRecord::Base
  attr_protected :admin
end

In your admin controller...

params[:user] = {:name => "Pete", :admin => true} (Typically set from a form)

@user = User.sudo_create(params[:user])

Somewhere else in your admin controller...

params[:user] = {:admin => false, :name => "Pete"}

@user.sudo_update_attributes(params[:user])