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Active Record Signed Id

Namespace
Methods
S

Instance Public methods

signed_id(expires_in: nil, purpose: nil)

Returns a signed id that's generated using a preconfigured ActiveSupport::MessageVerifier instance. This signed id is tamper proof, so it's safe to send in an email or otherwise share with the outside world. It can furthermore be set to expire (the default is not to expire), and scoped down with a specific purpose. If the expiration date has been exceeded before find_signed is called, the id won't find the designated record. If a purpose is set, this too must match.

If you accidentally let a signed id out in the wild that you wish to retract sooner than its expiration date (or maybe you forgot to set an expiration date while meaning to!), you can use the purpose to essentially version the signed_id, like so:

user.signed_id purpose: :v2

And you then change your find_signed calls to require this new purpose. Any old signed ids that were not created with the purpose will no longer find the record.

# File activerecord/lib/active_record/signed_id.rb, line 112
def signed_id(expires_in: nil, purpose: nil)
  self.class.signed_id_verifier.generate id, expires_in: expires_in, purpose: self.class.combine_signed_id_purposes(purpose)
end