Account switching

The Teams component gives your Rails application a system users to belong to (or own) multiple accounts. For more on the relationship between User and Account through AccountUser, see the Accounts & Users documentation.

When you install the Teams component, it inserts the following into the _user_menu.html.erb partial:

  • The current account's name
  • Link to the current account's settings
  • Link to the current account's team members list
  • A UI for switching between accounts
  • A link to create a new account

The current_account helper

The current_account helper is inserted into the application_controller.rb file. It returns the Account record that the current user is currently in.

Copy 
def current_account
  return @current_account if defined?(@current_account)

  if cookies[:current_account].present?
    account = Account.find_by(slug: cookies[:current_account])
    if account && account.users.include?(current_user)
      return @current_account = account
    end
  end

  # Fallback: User's most recently created account
  @current_account = if current_user.present? && current_user.accounts.any?
                        current_user.accounts.order(created_at: :desc).first
                      else
                        return nil
                      end
end

When the user creates a new account, or switches to an account, a cookie is saved on the user's browser with the account's slug. This is used to "remember" the account that the user is currently in, and returns to the next time this user logs in (on this browser).

When that cookie isn't present, current_account falls back to the user's most recently created account.

Instrumental Components

I created Instrumental Components to make designing and building professional apps with Ruby on Rails easy, fast, and fun. I use it on all of my projects and I hope it helps you build something great.

Brian Casel
Brian Casel
Creator of Instrumental Components
Learn more Send me a question or request