Signing in a User (Ruby on Rails Tutorial Ch. 8)

Question

Why is the middle method necessary? It seems to me like it's just an intermediary step to connect the first and third methods.

module SessionsHelper

  def sign_in(user)
    cookies.permanent[:remember_token] = user.remember_token
    self.current_user = user
  end

  def current_user=(user)
    @current_user = user
  end

  def current_user
    @current_user ||= User.find_by_remember_token(cookies[:remember_token])
  end
end

Answer 1

It is the setter method or the helper method to set the current_user with the user who is currently online . This is used by devise gem to identify the current user.

So whenever you need to find the online user for your application, you just use the following code-

if current_user
#Do something important   
else
#You do not have enough privileges. Please login.
#Your offline stuff
end