Devise: Create users without password

Question

In our application we have normal users. However, we want to be able to make invitations, to invite certain people. Note that an invitation is directly coupled to a user, as

Answer 1

There are at least two ways to do what you want:

Method 1:

Overload Devise's password_required? method

class User < ActiveRecord::Base
  attr_accessor :skip_password_validation  # virtual attribute to skip password validation while saving

  protected

  def password_required?
    return false if skip_password_validation
    super
  end
end

Usage:

@user.skip_password_validation = true
@user.save

Method 2:

Disable validation with validate: false option:

user.save(validate: false)

This will skip validation of all fields (not only password). In this case you should make sure that all other fields are valid.

...

But I advise you to not create users without password in your particular case. I would create some additional table (for example, invitations) and store all required information including the fields that you want to be assigned to a user after confirmation.

Answer 2

You can now use the DeviseInvitable gem for this.

It allows you to do exactly what you're asking.

Answer 3

TL;DR:

user.define_singleton_method(:password_required?) { false }

Fiddle:

class MockDeviseUser
  protected
  def password_required?
    true
  end
end

class User < MockDeviseUser
  def is_password_required?
    puts password_required?
  end
end

unrequired_password_user = User.new
unrequired_password_user.define_singleton_method(:password_required?) { false }
unrequired_password_user.is_password_required?
regular_user = User.new
regular_user.is_password_required?
#false
#true