Rails 4 User Authentication from Scratch Current_user == nil?

Question

I'm having an issue with my rails authentication. I'm not using Devise. For whatever reason when I log in to the app everything is fine but when I try to redirect when creating a new account current_user is nil? Any advice?

User Model

class UsersController < ApplicationController
before_action :set_user, only: [:show]

def create
    @user = User.new(user_params)
    if @user.save
        flash[:notice] = "Welcome to the site"
        redirect_to current_user
    else
        flash[:notice] = "There was a problem creating your account. Please try again."
        render new
    end
end

def new
    @user = User.new
end

def show
    @locations = current_user.locations
    @appointments = current_user.appointments
end

def index
end

private

def set_user
    @user = User.find_by_email(params[:id])
end

def user_params
    params.require(:user).permit(:name, :email, :service, :provider, :password, :password_confirmation)
end


end

Session Controller

def create
    user = User.find_by_email(params[:email])
    if user && user.authenticate(params[:password])
        session[:user_id] = user.id
        redirect_to current_user
    else
        flash.now[:error] = "There was a problem authenticating."
        render action: 'new'
    end
 end

def destroy
    session[:user_id] = nil
    redirect_to root_url, notice: "Signed out!"
end

Application controller

def current_user
    @current_user ||= User.find(session[:user_id]) if session[:user_id]
    rescue ActiveRecord::RecordNotFound
end

helper_method :current_user 

Answer 1

Upon signing up, you created the user, but not the session. When you look for current_user, the session[:user_id] does not have a value.

Also, I think the current_user method is probably not visible to the model.

You can try something like this:

class UsersController < ApplicationController
  before_action :set_user, only: [:show]

  def create
    @user = User.new(user_params)
    if @user.save
      flash[:notice] = "Welcome to the site"
      session[:user_id] = @user.id           # <=====
      redirect_to @user                      # <=====
    else
      flash[:notice] = "There was a problem creating your account. Please try again."
      render new
    end
  end

  ...
end

Answer 2

You'll need session[:user_id] = user.id before the redirect after saving the new user. You've not set it so session[:user_id] is nil when you create a user