How do I use a variable declared in a ##_helper file?

Question

I'm trying to execute a before save definition like so in my Route.rb file. (@current_user.email is causing the error)

      class Route < ActiveRecord::Base

  before_save { |route| route.created_by = @current_user.email }

end

But I get this error,

undefined method `email' for nil:NilClass

But I can use it just fine in my _header.html.erb Like so:

<a class="btn btn-primary dropdown-toggle" data-toggle="dropdown" href="#">
    <%= @current_user.email %>
    <span class="caret"></span>

@current_user is described in my sessions_helper like so:

module SessionsHelper

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

    def signed_in?
        !current_user.nil?
    end

    def current_user=(user)
        @current_user
    end

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

    def current_user?(user)
        user == current_user
    end

    def sign_out
        current_user = nil
        cookies.delete(:remember_token)
    end
end

Why am I not able to execute this before_save without getting that error? Thanks guys.

Answer 1

Further to my comment, your SessionsHelper looks similar to that of The Rails Tutorial . Given that, I think you have some issues with your current_user and current_user= methods as they seem to be doing the opposite thing. They should probably be:

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

def current_user=(user)
  @current_user = user
end

Edit

The model should not know about controller or helper methods , so you might want to set @route.created_by = current_user.email somewhere in the relevant controller before you save the object.