"Unpermitted parameters: name"and "Can't mass assign protected attributes for User: email" Do I need a User controller?

Question

I am using Rails 4 and Devise 3. I have added a custom field of "name." When I submit a name, I receive the "unpermitted parameters: name" and "can't mass assign protected attributes for User: email" errors.

I have been told to add code to a users controller, however Devise did not create one. Am I supposed to create a users_controller.rb on my own, or is there something I am missing here?

My User model looks like this:

class User < ActiveRecord::Base
  # Include default devise modules. Others available are:
  # :confirmable, :lockable, :timeoutable and :omniauthable

  devise :database_authenticatable, :registerable, #:recoverable,
          :rememberable, :trackable, :validatable

  #attr_accessible :name, :password, :password_confirmation, :remember_me, :email
end

As you can see, I have tried to use attr_accessible, but commented it out since it's not supported in Rails 4.

Answer 1

Devise uses its own controllers to process your data, so you'd ideally add your extra params to those controllers. However, there are a number of ways you can do it

---

From Devise's Github:

In case you want to permit additional parameters (the lazy way™) you can do with a simple before filter in your ApplicationController:

class ApplicationController < ActionController::Base
  before_filter :configure_permitted_parameters, if: :devise_controller?

  protected

  def configure_permitted_parameters
    devise_parameter_sanitizer.for(:sign_up) << :username
  end
 end

---

From Strong parameters with Rails and Devise

# config/routes.rb
devise_for :users, :controllers => {:registrations => 'registrations'}


# controllers/users/registrations_controller.rb
class Users::RegistrationsController < Devise::RegistrationsController

  before_filter :configure_permitted_parameters

  protected

  # my custom fields are :name, :heard_how
  def configure_permitted_parameters
    devise_parameter_sanitizer.for(:sign_up) do |u|
      u.permit(:name, :heard_how,
        :email, :password, :password_confirmation)
    end
    devise_parameter_sanitizer.for(:account_update) do |u|
      u.permit(:name,
        :email, :password, :password_confirmation, :current_password)
    end
  end

end