Ruby - Automatically running helper method

Question

I have a login page saving a session to allow users to navigate subsequent pages. If you're not logged, I want to redirect you to the log in page. I have a SessionsHelper method for checking if the user is logged in and then if not, redirecting them back to the login page, But I don't want to have to call this in every controller action. Is there a way to easily run this method globally?

Answer 1

Traditionally this is done via a before_action filter. Something along these lines:

class ApplicationController
  before_action :require_current_user

  def require_current_user
    redirect_to login_path unless current_user
  end
end

class SessionsController < ApplicationController
  # do not cause endless redirect loop
  skip_before_action :require_current_user, only: [:new, :create]
end

Also, helpers are for simplifying views (currency formatting, styling, etc.). They are not to be used for this kind of functionality (session management, in this case).