Provides automatic session timeout in a Rails application. Very easy to install and configure. Have you ever wanted to force your users off your app if they go idle for a certain period of time? Many online banking sites use this technique. If your app is used on any kind of public computer system, this gem is a necessity.
Add this line to your application's Gemfile:
gem 'auto-session-timeout'
And then execute:
$ bundle
Or install it yourself as:
$ gem install auto-session-timeout
After installing, tell your application controller to use auto timeout:
class ApplicationController < ActionController::Base
auto_session_timeout 1.hour
end
This will use a global timeout of 1 hour. The gem assumes your authentication
provider has a #current_user
method that returns the currently logged in user.
If you want to specify a custom timeout value per user, don't pass a value to
the controller as shown above. Instead, override #auto_timeout
in your
#current_user
model. This is typically the User
class:
class ApplicationController < ActionController::Base
auto_session_timeout
end
class User < ActiveRecord::Base
def auto_timeout
15.minutes
end
end
You will also need to insert a call to the #auto_session_timeout_js
helper method inside the body tags in your views. The easiest way to
do this is to insert it once inside your default or application-wide
layout. Make sure you are only rendering if the user is logged in,
otherwise the gem will attempt to force non-existent sessions to
timeout, wreaking havoc:
<body>
<% if current_user %>
<%= auto_session_timeout_js %>
<% end %>
</body>
You need to setup two actions: one to return the session status and another that runs when the session times out. You can use the default actions included with the gem by inserting this line in your target controller (most likely your user or session controller):
class SessionsController < ApplicationController
auto_session_timeout_actions
end
To customize the default actions, simply override them. You can call
the #render_session_status
and #render_session_timeout
methods to
use the default implementation from the gem, or you can define the
actions entirely with your own custom code:
class SessionsController < ApplicationController
def active
render_session_status
end
def timeout
render_session_timeout
end
end
In any of these cases, make sure to properly map the actions in your routes.rb file:
get "active", to: "sessions#active"
get "timeout", to: "sessions#timeout"
You're done! Enjoy watching your sessions automatically timeout.
When using Devise for authentication you will need to add a scoped sessions controller and call the timeout actions helper there. For example:
class Users::SessionsController < Devise::SessionsController
auto_session_timeout_actions
end
In your routes.rb file you will need to declare your scoped controller and declare the timeout actions inside the same Devise scope:
Rails.application.routes.draw do
devise_for :users, controllers: { sessions: "users/sessions" }
devise_scope :user do
get "active", to: "users/sessions#active"
get "timeout", to: "users/sessions#timeout"
end
end
You can use Devise's #user_signed_in?
method when you call the JS helper
method in your view:
<body>
<% if user_signed_in? %>
<%= auto_session_timeout_js %>
<% end %>
</body>
By default, the JavaScript code checks the server every 60 seconds for active sessions. If you prefer that it check more frequently, pass a frequency attribute to the helper method. The frequency is given in seconds. The following example checks the server every 15 seconds:
<body>
<% if current_user %>
<%= auto_session_timeout_js frequency: 15 %>
<% end %>
</body>
- Fork it
- Create your feature branch (
git checkout -b my-new-feature
) - Commit your changes (
git commit -am 'Add some feature'
) - Push to the branch (
git push origin my-new-feature
) - Create new Pull Request
- Repository: http://github.com/pelargir/auto-session-timeout/
- Blog: http://www.matthewbass.com
- Author: Matthew Bass