Force validation of blank passwords in Authlogic

Question

I'm adding a password reset feature to my Rails application that uses Authlogic. I was following the guide here: http://www.binarylogic.com/2008/11/16/tutorial-reset-passwords-with-authlogic/ and everything works as I'd like except for one thing: the password reset form accepts blank passwords and simply doesn't change them. I've been searching around, and have learned that this is the intended default behavior because it allows you to make user edit forms that only change the user's password if they enter a new one, and ignore it otherwise. But in this case, I specifically want to enforce validation of the password like when a user initially registers. I've found two possible solutions for this problem but haven't been able to figure out how to implement either of them. 1) Someone asked this same question on Google Groups: User model saves with blank password Ben's response was to use `@user.validate_password = true` to force validation of the password. I tried this but I get an unde…

Accepted Answer

This what I did.

```
class User < ActiveRecord::Base
  attr_accessor :ignore_blank_passwords

# object level attribute overrides the config level
  # attribute
  def ignore_blank_passwords?
    ignore_blank_passwords.nil? ? super : (ignore_blank_passwords == true)
  end
end
```

Now in your controller, set the `ignore_blank_passwords` attribute to false.

```
user.ignore_blank_passwords = false
```

Here, you are working within the confines of AuthLogic. You don't have to change the validation logic.

Force validation of blank passwords in Authlogic

Solution

Problem