Rails Devise: Set password reset token and redirect user

Question

In my app for a certain use case I create a new user (programmatically set the password) and send them a confirmation email.

I would like them to be able to change their password immediately after confirming (without having to enter the system generated one which I don't want to send them)

In effect I would like
1) System creates a new user account with generated password.
2) System sends confirmation email.
3) User clicks confirmation and is redirected to enter in their password (effectively send them to a URL like below)

<a href="http://localhost:3000/users/password/edit?reset_password_token=v5Q3oQGbsyqAUUxyqLtb">Change my password</a>

Any help / pointers would be great.

Answer 1

A simple way to have just one step for users to confirm email address and set initial password using the link you proposed...

Send one email your app generates, including a reset_password_token, and consider user's possession of that token confirmation of the validity of that email address.

In system account generation code, assuming User model is set up with :recoverable and :database_authenticatable Devise modules...

acct = User.new
acct.password = User.reset_password_token #won't actually be used...  
acct.reset_password_token = User.reset_password_token 
acct.email = "user@usercompany.com" #assuming users will identify themselves with this field
#set other acct fields you may need
acct.save

Make the devise reset password view a little clearer for users when setting initial password.

views/devise/passwords/edit.html.erb

...
<%= "true" == params[:initial] ? "Set your password" : "Reset your password" %>
...  

Generated Email

Hi <%= @user.name %>
An account has been generated for you.
Please visit www.oursite.com/users/password/edit?initial=true&reset_password_token=<%= @user.reset_password_token %> to set your password.

No need to include :confirmable Devise module in your User model, since accounts created by your app won't get accessed without the reset_password_token in the email.

Devise will handle the submit and clear the reset_password_token field.

See devise_gem_folder/lib/devise/models/recoverable.rb and database_authenticatable.rb for details on reset_password_token method and friends.

If you want to use Devise :confirmable module rather than this approach, see the Devise wiki page.

Answer 2

In Rails 4.1, the following modification of Anatortoise House's reply works:

user = User.new
user.password = SecureRandom.hex #some random unguessable string
raw_token, hashed_token = Devise.token_generator.generate(User, :reset_password_token)
user.reset_password_token = hashed_token
user.reset_password_sent_at = Time.now.utc
user.email = 'user@usercompany.com'
user.save!
# Use a mailer you've written, such as:
AccountMailer.set_password_notice(user, raw_token).deliver

The email view has this link:

www.oursite.com/users/password/edit?initial=true&reset_password_token=<%= @raw_token %>

Answer 3

You can call

user.send(:set_reset_password_token)

It may not be stable, as it's a protected method but it can work for your case. Just cover it with a test.

(tested on Devise v. 3.4)

Answer 4

Here is my snippet for mailer preview

class Devise::MailerPreview < ActionMailer::Preview
  def reset_password_instructions
    user = User.last
    token = user.send(:set_reset_password_token)
    Devise::Mailer.reset_password_instructions(user, token)
  end
end