SSL Requirement

SSL requirement adds a declarative way of specifying that certain actions should only be allowed to run under SSL, and if they’re accessed without it, they should be redirected.

Example:

class ApplicationController < ActionController::Base
  include SslRequirement
end

class AccountController < ApplicationController
  ssl_required :signup, :payment 
  ssl_allowed :index

  def 
    # Non-SSL access will be redirected to SSL
  end

  def payment
    # Non-SSL access will be redirected to SSL
  end

  def index
    # This action will work either with or without SSL
  end

  def other
    # SSL access will be redirected to non-SSL
  end
end

If a majority (or all) of your actions require SSL, then use ssl_exceptions instead of ssl_required. You can list out the actions that you do NOT want to be SSL protected. Calling ssl_exceptions without any actions listed will make ALL actions SSL protected.

You can overwrite the protected method ssl_required? to rely on other things than just the declarative specification. Say, only premium accounts get SSL.

For SSL domains that differ from the domain of the redirecting site, add the following code to development.rb / test.rb / production.rb:

# Redirects to https://secure.example.com instead of the default 
# https://www.example.com.
config.after_initialize do
  SslRequirement.ssl_host = 'secure.example.com'
end

For non-SSL domains that differ from domain of redirecting site, add the following code to development.rb / test.rb / production.rb:

# Redirects to http://nonsecure.example.com instead of the default 
# http://www.example.com.
config.after_initialize do
  SslRequirement.non_ssl_host = 'nonsecure.example.com'
end

You are able to disable ssl redirects by adding the following to the environment configuration file:

SslRequirement.disable_ssl_check = true

You are able to the change the status code (defaults to 302) of the redirect by addng the following to the environment configuration file:

config.after_initialize do
  SslRequirement.redirect_status = :moved_permanently
end

P.S.: Beware when you include the SslRequirement module. At the time of inclusion, it’ll add the before_filter that validates the declarations. Some times you’ll want to run other before_filters before that. They should then be declared ahead of including this module.

SSL URL Helper

This plugin also adds a helper a :secure option to url_for and named_routes. This property allows you to set a url as secure or not secure. It uses the disable_ssl_check to determine if the option should be ignored or not so you can develop as normal. It also will obey if you override SslRequirement.ssl_host or SslRequirement.non_ssl_host (see above)

Here is an example of creating a secure url:

<%= url_for(:controller => "c", :action => "a", :secure => true) %>

If disable_ssl_check returns false url_for will return the following:

https://yoursite.com/c/a

Furthermore, you can use the secure option in a named route to create a secure form as follows:

<% form_tag session_path(:secure => true), :class => 'home_login' do -%>
  <p>
    <label for="name">Email</label>
    <%= text_field_tag 'email', '', :class => 'text', :tabindex => 1 %>
  </p>
  <p>
    <label for="password">Password</label>
    <%= password_field_tag 'password', '', :class => 'text', :tabindex => 2 %>
  </p>
  <p>
    <%= submit_tag "Login", :id => 'login_submit', :value => "", :alt => "Login" %>
  </p>
<% end -%>

Testing with Shoulda

If you are using Shoulda, a few contexts and macros are provided:

class RegistrationsControllerTest < ActionController::TestCase
  without_ssl_context do
    context "GET to :new" do
      setup do
        get :new
      end
      should_redirect_to_ssl
    end
  end

  with_ssl_context do
    context "GET to :new" do
      setup do
        get :new
      end
      # your usual testing goes here
    end
  end
end

Copyright

Copyright © 2005 David Heinemeier Hansson, released under the MIT license