Login and logout flow in Ruby on Rails - Mini Project: Build & Apply

Login and logout flow

📖 Scenario: You are building a simple web app where users can log in and log out. This helps users access their personal dashboard securely.

🎯 Goal: Create a basic login and logout flow using Rails. You will set up user data, configure session handling, implement login logic, and add logout functionality.

📋 What You'll Learn

Create a hash called users with usernames as keys and passwords as values

Create a variable called session as an empty hash to store login state

Write a method login that takes username and password, checks credentials, and sets session[:user] if valid

Write a method logout that clears the session[:user] to log out the user

💡 Why This Matters

🌍 Real World

Login and logout flows are essential for any web app that needs user accounts and personalized access.

💼 Career

Understanding session management and authentication basics is key for backend and full-stack developers working with Rails.

1

DATA SETUP: Create user data

Create a hash called users with these exact entries: 'alice' => 'password123', 'bob' => 'secure456', and 'carol' => 'qwerty789'.

Ruby on Rails

# Create the users hash with usernames and passwords
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Use a Ruby hash with string keys and string values for passwords.

2

CONFIGURATION: Create session hash

Create an empty hash called session to store the login state.

Ruby on Rails

users = { 'alice' => 'password123', 'bob' => 'secure456', 'carol' => 'qwerty789' }
# Create an empty session hash
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Just create an empty hash named session.

3

CORE LOGIC: Implement login method

Write a method called login that takes username and password. Inside, check if users[username] equals password. If yes, set session[:user] = username. Otherwise, do nothing.

Ruby on Rails

users = { 'alice' => 'password123', 'bob' => 'secure456', 'carol' => 'qwerty789' }
session = {}
# Define login method
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Use an if statement to compare the password and assign session[:user].

4

COMPLETION: Implement logout method

Write a method called logout that removes the :user key from the session hash to log out the user.

Ruby on Rails

users = { 'alice' => 'password123', 'bob' => 'secure456', 'carol' => 'qwerty789' }
session = {}

def login(username, password)
  if users[username] == password
    session[:user] = username
  end
end

# Define logout method
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Use session.delete(:user) inside the logout method.