Feeling like I want to cheat : Plugins versus coding

Rails
1

I’ve been working on a signup / login system. Things seem to be
working alright with it. However I earlier setup acts_as_authenticated
as a test app and looked at restful_authenticate. They seem pretty
robust, and might relieve some of the work for me. I’m just not sure
which direction to go in , a. my own code b. plugins with some
customization.

Any opinions ?

Stuart

2

Dark A. wrote:

I’ve been working on a signup / login system. Things seem to be
working alright with it. However I earlier setup acts_as_authenticated
as a test app and looked at restful_authenticate. They seem pretty
robust, and might relieve some of the work for me. I’m just not sure
which direction to go in , a. my own code b. plugins with some
customization.

Any opinions ?

Stuart

I use the code from Agile Web Dev book for my login system. It works
for me, so I keep reusing it. I haven’t tried any other methods for
logins though. I like it more than using a plugin because I haven’t
learned how to edit plugins yet, but it’s easy to edit the code for the
Login model from the agile code so I can change the login process for
each of my projects.

-Ben L.

3

On 23 Aug 2006, at 18:14, Dark A. wrote:

Stuart
I suppose it depends what you want out of it. I’m using
acts_as_authenticated in a project I’m working on at the moment.
Because of the timescale given for this project, I need to “cut
corners” as much as possible and so using someone elses code for an
authentication system will save me lots of time. It is a great plug-
in and there’s no reason you can’t look at the code and see how it
works. If you want to learn and have time on your hands, there’s no
reason why you shouldn’t develop your own authentication system.

Alastair

Alastair M.
Standards compliant web development with Ruby On Rails, PHP and ASP
www.kozmo.co.uk
07738 399038

4

Stuart Fellowes wrote:

I’ve been working on a signup / login system. Things seem to be
working alright with it. However I earlier setup acts_as_authenticated
as a test app and looked at restful_authenticate. They seem pretty
robust, and might relieve some of the work for me. I’m just not sure
which direction to go in , a. my own code b. plugins with some
customization.

Any opinions ?

Stuart

Acts_as_authenticated and ACL do everything I could ever need and more.

Again, as was stated earlier, if you have something custom pick up the
Agile book and code something. Im my opinion acts_as_authenticated is
pretty easy to understand and customize, and a great example of well
writted code.

5

I’ve never messed with acts_as_authenticated, so I can’t really compare,
but
the login_engine plugin is the most comprehensive login system I’ve seen
for
Rails, complete with password encryption and email password reminders.

Jason

6

I’ve used login_engine and user_engine on a few projects and couldn’t be
happier. I tweak the models/controllers/views as neeeded. I also use the
“remember me” solution detailed on this blog:
http://www.turnofthecrank.com/2006/03/08/how-to-persist-rails-sessions-via-cookies-using-the-login-engine-plugin/.

In my mind, why reinvent the wheel? These drop-ins work great and are
easily modified to get just the effect you want, so why trudge around
over well-worn territory writing your own?

c.

Jason R. wrote:

I’ve never messed with acts_as_authenticated, so I can’t really compare,
but
the login_engine plugin is the most comprehensive login system I’ve seen
for
Rails, complete with password encryption and email password reminders.

Jason