CSC/ECE 517 Fall 2022 - E2252. Refactor auth controller.rb & password retrieval controller.rb

Overview of Expertiza

Expertiza is an open source software written using Ruby on Rails which functions as a learning management software system. It has man different functions and abilities including the ability to create assignments, quizzes, assignment groups and topics, and also a complete mechanism for providing peer reviews and feedback for other groups and other teammates. Part of its functionality is a system for user authentication with different user roles and permissions that determine how each user interacts with the content. The auth_controller.rb and password_retrieval_controller.rb which are the files primarily addressed in this project are both critical controllers in providing this functionality.

Description of Project

TODO: Describe the objectives of the project and what issues we were attempting to address.

Files Modified

Changes to app/controllers/password_retrieval_controller.rb

#	Change	Rationale	Commit Link
1	Updated check_reset_url method name to check_token_validity	The method validates that the password reset token is valid and present. The updated method name provides a more functionally descriptive name.	Commit
2	Replaced repeated code in lines 35-36 and 62-63	The use of repeated code violates the DRY principle and so it was moved to a new method.	Commit
3	Change token expiration time to constant in line 41	This time should not be hardwired; it should be a constant or a parameter.	Commit
4	Reload page if email is nil or empty on password_retrieval/forgotten view	An empty email parameter was causing the send password button to freeze.	Commit
5	Improve overall comments and rewrite error messages	The comments and error messages in the controller need to be more meaningful, specific and clear.	Commit

Changes to config/routes.rb

#	Change	Rationale	Commit Link
1	Updated URL path and controller action to updated method name check_token_validity	The action and URL path must be renamed to generate pathing to the controller method and views.	Commit

Changes to app/controllers/auth_controller.rb

#	Change	Rationale	Commit Link
1	Move logger messages to before_action blocks wherever possible	Logger messages are inserted to log important events occurring in the code and do not relate directly to the logic. When possible, moving them to either before_action or after_action blocks makes the code more readable and easier to understand. It also separates the functionality of the method itself and the logging functionality.	Commit
2	Replaced repeated code for both handling a failed login and re-caching the user role	We noticed that although not listed on the recommended changes, these two actions involved exactly repeated code in the controller. The use of repeated code violates the DRY principle and so it was moved to a new method.	Commit
3	Improved helper function names	Originally we made the new helper functions used in logging have unhelpful, confusing names. Making them more clear helps the code to be more understandable.	Commit

Testing

TODO: Show how the existing testing suite was passing before and after our refactoring - preserving functionality.

Testing password_retrieval_controller.rb

TODO: Add testing description for password_retrieval_controller.rb

Relevant Links

• Github Repository: https://github.com/greyfiles/expertiza
• Pull Request: https://github.com/expertiza/expertiza/pull/2460