Current Attributes

Abstract super class that provides a thread-isolated attributes singleton, which resets automatically before and after each request. This allows you to keep all the per-request attributes easily available to the whole system.

The following full app-like example demonstrates how to use a Current class to facilitate easy access to the global, per-request attributes without passing them deeply around everywhere:

# app/models/current.rb
class Current < ActiveSupport::CurrentAttributes
  attribute :account, :user
  attribute :request_id, :user_agent, :ip_address

  resets { Time.zone = nil }

  def user=(user)
    super
    self.account = user.account
    Time.zone    = user.time_zone
  end
end

# app/controllers/concerns/authentication.rb
module Authentication
  extend ActiveSupport::Concern

  included do
    before_action :authenticate
  end

  private
    def authenticate
      if authenticated_user = User.find_by(id: cookies.encrypted[:user_id])
        Current.user = authenticated_user
      else
        redirect_to new_session_url
      end
    end
end

# app/controllers/concerns/set_current_request_details.rb
module SetCurrentRequestDetails
  extend ActiveSupport::Concern

  included do
    before_action do
      Current.request_id = request.uuid
      Current.user_agent = request.user_agent
      Current.ip_address = request.ip
    end
  end
end

class ApplicationController < ActionController::Base
  include Authentication
  include SetCurrentRequestDetails
end

class MessagesController < ApplicationController
  def create
    Current.account.messages.create(message_params)
  end
end

class Message < ApplicationRecord
  belongs_to :creator, default: -> { Current.user }
  after_create { |message| Event.create(record: message) }
end

class Event < ApplicationRecord
  before_create do
    self.request_id = Current.request_id
    self.user_agent = Current.user_agent
    self.ip_address = Current.ip_address
  end
end

A word of caution: It’s easy to overdo a global singleton like Current and tangle your model as a result. Current should only be used for a few, top-level globals, like account, user, and request details. The attributes stuck in Current should be used by more or less all actions on all requests. If you start sticking controller-specific attributes in there, you’re going to create a mess.