How to manually create a new user and user session in Devise?
I have a form where I collect a lot of information in Rails. Part of this form is fields for a new user to register. Since Devise has controllers/actions specifically to create a new user, I don't know how to programmatically create a user in an entirely different action that also creates another record. I really can't have the user registration form separate. I can't figure out how to create a user, and then log the user in, like I could easily do in Authlogic.
I have used both Authlogic and Devise, and think each has their strengths and weaknesses. With Devise, I love how quick it is to "get going" with a new project, but customizing it seems to be a pain. Authlogic had so many problems with Rails 3 a while back, that I switched to Devise. I'm now working on a new project and get to start from scratch.
So I think there are 2 potential answers to this question: (a) how to do this in Devise, or (b) why I should just switch to Authlogic with Rails 3 instead.
Answer
You can create a new Devise user simply by creating a new user model (see https://github.com/plataformatec/devise/wiki/How-To:-Manage-users-through-a-CRUD-interface)
@user = User.new(:email => '[email protected]', :password => 'password', :password_confirmation => 'password')
@user.save
To sign in your newly created user, use sign_in @user