gem 'the_role' (alpha v0.3)

Bye bye CanCan, I got The Role!

Description

TheRole is an authorization library for Ruby on Rails which restricts what resources a given user is allowed to access. All permissions are defined in with 2-level-hash, and store in database with JSON. TheRole - Semantic, lightweight role system with an administrative interface. Role is a two-level hash, consisting of the sections and nested rules. Section may be associated with controller name. Rule may be associated with action name. Section can have many rules. Rule can have true or false value Sections and nested Rules provide ACL (Access Control List) Role stored in the database as JSON string. Using of hashes, makes role system extremely easy to configure and use.

GUI

TheRole management web interface => localhost:3000/admin/roles

rubygems page

http://rubygems.org/gems/the_role

TheRole and Devise 2

Integration with Devise2

TheRole and Sorcery

Integration with Sorcery

Want to improve this gem?

• I need for your feedback and issues
• How to start development process

Rspec for TheRole

Specs with Devise 2

Read How to start development process manual for running specs

What does it mean semantic?

Semantic - the science of meaning. Human should fast to understand what is happening in a role system.

Look at next Role hash. If you can understand access rules - this authorization system is semantically.

role = {
  'pages' => {
    'index'   => true,
    'show'    => true,
    'new'     => false,
    'edit'    => false,
    'update'  => false,
    'destroy' => false
  },
  'articles' => {
    'index'  => true,
    'show'   => true
  },
  'twitter'  => {
    'button' => true,
    'follow' => false
  }
}

Virtual sections and rules

Usually, we use real names of controllers and actions for names of sections and rules:

current_user.has_role?(:pages, :show)

But, also, you can use virtual names of sections, and virtual names of section's rules.

current_user.has_role?(:twitter, :button)
current_user.has_role?(:facebook, :like)

And you can use them as well as other access rules.

Install

  gem 'the_role'

  bundle

User Model migration

Add role_id:integer field to your User Model

def self.up
  create_table :users do |t|
    t.string :login,            :null    => false
    t.string :email,            :default => nil
    t.string :crypted_password, :default => nil
    t.string :salt,             :default => nil

    t.integer :role_id,         :default => nil

    t.timestamps
  end
end

Generate Role Model without migration

rails g model role --migration=false

Generate Role migration

rake the_role_engine:install:migrations

Create database and migrate

rake db:create && rake db:migrate

Create fake roles for test (not required)

rake db:roles:test

Change your ApplicationController

Define aliases method for correctly work TheRole's controllers

class ApplicationController < ActionController::Base
  protect_from_forgery

  def access_denied
    render :text => 'access_denied: requires an role' and return
  end

  alias_method :login_required,     :YOUR_AUTH_SYSTEM_LOGIN_REQUIRE_METHOD
  alias_method :role_access_denied, :access_denied
end

access_denied or any other method for processing access denied situation

YOUR_AUTH_SYSTEM_LOGIN_REQUIRE_METHOD!

• authenticate_user! - method for Devise 2
• require_login - method for Sorcery
• some_method - from your Auth system

Using with any controller

class PagesController < ApplicationController
  before_filter :login_required, :except => [:index, :show]
  before_filter :role_required,  :except => [:index, :show]

  before_filter :find_page,      :only   => [:edit, :update, :destroy]
  before_filter :owner_required, :only   => [:edit, :update, :destroy]

  private

  def find_page
    @page = Page.find params[:id]
    @ownership_checking_object = @page
  end
end

Ownership checking

owner_required method require @ownership_checking_object variable, with cheked object.

You should to define @ownership_checking_object before invoke of owner_required method.

Using with Views

<% if @user.has_role?(:twitter, :button) %>
  Twitter Button is Here
<% else %>
  Access Denied
<% end %>

Way to set default role for new User

class User
  after_create :set_default_role

  private

  def set_default_role
    self.role = Role.where(:name => :user).first
    self.save
  end
end

Who is Administrator?

Administrator it's a user who can access any section and the rules of your application.

Administrator is the owner of any objects in your application.

Administrator it's a user, which has virtual section system and rule administrator in the role-hash.

admin_role_fragment = {
  :system => {
    :administrator => true
  }
}

Who is Moderator?

Moderator it's a user, which has access to any actions of some section(s).

Moderator is's owner of any objects of some class.

Moderator it's a user, which has a virtual section moderator, with section name as rule name.

There is Moderator of Pages (controller) and Twitter (virtual section)

moderator_role_fragment = {
  :moderator => {
    :pages   => true,
    :blogs   => false,
    :twitter => true
  }
}

Who is Owner?

Administrator is owner of any object in system.

Moderator of pages is owner of any page.

User is owner of object, when Object#user_id == User#id.

User Model methods

Has a user an access to rule of section (action of controller)?

current_user.has_role?(:pages,    :show)  => true | false
current_user.has_role?(:blogs,    :new)   => true | false
current_user.has_role?(:articles, :edit)  => true | false

Is it Moderator?

current_user.moderator?(:pages)           => true | false
current_user.moderator?(:blogs)           => true | false
current_user.moderator?(:articles)        => true | false

Is it Administrator?

current_user.admin?                       => true | false

Is it Owner of object?

current_user.owner?(@page)                => true | false
current_user.owner?(@blog)                => true | false
current_user.owner?(@article)             => true | false

Base Role methods

# User's role
@role = current_user.role

# Find a Role by name
@role = Role.find_by_name(:user)

@role.has?(:pages, :show)       => true | false
@role.moderator?(:pages)        => true | false
@role.admin?                    => true | false

CRUD API (for console users)

CREATE

# Create a section of rules
@role.create_section(:pages)

# Create rule in section (false value by default)
@role.create_rule(:pages, :index)

READ

@role.to_hash => Hash

# JSON string
@role.to_json => String

# JSON string
@role.to_s => String

# check method
@role.has_section?(:pages) => true | false

# check method
@role.has_rule?(:pages, :index) => true | false

UPDATE

# Incoming hash is true-mask-hash
# All rules of Role will be reset to false
# Only rules from true-mask-hash will be set on true
new_role_hash = {
  :pages => {
    :index => true,
    :show => true
  }
}

@role.update_role(new_role_hash)

# set this rule on true
@role.rule_on(:pages, :index)

# set this rule on false
@role.rule_off(:pages, :index)

DELETE

# delete a section
@role.delete_section(:pages)

# delete rule in section
@role.delete_rule(:pages, :show)

Changelog

• 1.6.5 - has_section?, fixes, tests (alpha 0.3)
• 1.6.4 - En locale (alpha 0.2)
• 1.6.3 - notifications
• 1.6.0 - stabile release (alpha 0.1)

Copyright (c) 2012 [Ilya N.Zykin]

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.