Unable to pass params data to create a user - json

Question

I have a rails app that accepts json request to create a user. A sign_up basically which is a GET. I can't create a user when i pass in this url http://localhost:3000/sign_up.json?username=chalam&email=holy#yahoo.com&name=chalami&password=chalami
I know I am passing the password in the open but that is not my concern here. i checked the logs and this is what i see
Started GET "/sign_up.json?username=chalam&email=holy#yahoo.com&name=chalami&password=[FILTERED]" for 127.0.0.1 at 2013-05-28 10:37:37 +0700
Processing by UsersController#create as JSON
Parameters: {"username"=>"chalam", "email"=>"holy#yahoo.com", "name"=>"chalami", "password"=>"[FILTERED]"}
(0.1ms) begin transaction
User Exists (0.1ms) SELECT 1 AS one FROM "users" WHERE "users"."username" IS NULL LIMIT 1
User Exists (0.0ms) SELECT 1 AS one FROM "users" WHERE "users"."email" IS NULL LIMIT 1
(0.0ms) rollback transaction
(0.0ms) begin transaction
CACHE (0.0ms) SELECT 1 AS one FROM "users" WHERE "users"."username" IS NULL LIMIT 1
CACHE (0.0ms) SELECT 1 AS one FROM "users" WHERE "users"."email" IS NULL LIMIT 1
(0.0ms) rollback transaction
Completed 200 OK in 6ms (Views: 0.1ms | ActiveRecord: 0.3ms)
As you can see although the parameter Parameters: {"username"=>"chalam", "email"=>"holy#yahoo.com", "name"=>"chalami", "password"=>"[FILTERED]"} clearly show that parameters are being passed, they are not being entered into the database CACHE (0.0ms) SELECT 1 AS one FROM "users" WHERE "users"."username" IS NULL LIMIT 1
CACHE (0.0ms) SELECT 1 AS one FROM "users" WHERE "users"."email" IS NULL LIMIT 1
Main problem is data from the params is not being "used" to create a User
One thing to note is I can create a user through the console in terminal. I will try to include all relevant information
rails version: 3.2.13 and
I am using thin instead of WEBBRICK
My user.rb
class User < ActiveRecord::Base
attr_accessible :email, :name, :username
attr_accessor :password
before_save :encrypt_password
validates_uniqueness_of :username, :email
validates_presence_of :password, :on => :create
validates_presence_of :email, :username
def encrypt_password
if password.present?
self.password_salt = BCrypt::Engine.generate_salt
self.password_hash = BCrypt::Engine.hash_secret(password, password_salt)
end
end
def self.authenticate(username, password)
user = find_by_username(username)
if(user && user.password_hash == BCrypt::Engine.hash_secret(password, user.password_salt))
user
else
nil
end
end
end
My Controller
class UsersController < ApplicationController
respond_to :json
def new
#user = User.new
end
def create
#user = User.new(params[:user])
#user.save
if #user.save
respond_to do |format|
format.json { render :json => {:status => "200", :message => "Signed up successfully"}}
end
else
respond_to do |format|
puts #user.errors.inspect
format.json { render :json => {:status => "400", :message => "Failed"}}
end
end
end
def index
#user = User.all
render :json =>#user
end
end

Answer 1

Okay, so I have come up with a solution and I thought I should post it, it might help people
Problem: I could not create a user using a Json response although I could do it through rails console
Mistakes:
I created a GET route to create a User which compromises security
I added the password field to attr_accessor and not to attr_accessible
Solutions:
changed the action from GET to POST(in the routes.rb). To create a user(for a POST) I used curl. In my case my curl statement was
curl -v -H "Accept: application/json" -H "Content-type: application/json" -X POST -d ' {"user":{"name":"name","username":"username","email":"email#email.com","password":"app123"}}' http://localhost:3000/sign_up. Here is a useful post about curl
2.In my user model I included attr_accessor :password as well as attr_accessible :password