Commit fa33b5ce authored by Evan Read's avatar Evan Read

Merge branch 'doc-jej/session-stored-globaly' into 'master'

Adds developer documentation for accessing session data in GitLab

See merge request gitlab-org/gitlab-ce!27996
parents e5d2e7e6 35658e1d
...@@ -44,6 +44,7 @@ description: 'Learn how to contribute to GitLab.' ...@@ -44,6 +44,7 @@ description: 'Learn how to contribute to GitLab.'
- [`Gemfile` guidelines](gemfile.md) - [`Gemfile` guidelines](gemfile.md)
- [Pry debugging](pry_debugging.md) - [Pry debugging](pry_debugging.md)
- [Sidekiq debugging](sidekiq_debugging.md) - [Sidekiq debugging](sidekiq_debugging.md)
- [Accessing session data](session.md)
- [Gotchas](gotchas.md) to avoid - [Gotchas](gotchas.md) to avoid
- [Avoid modules with instance variables](module_with_instance_variables.md) if possible - [Avoid modules with instance variables](module_with_instance_variables.md) if possible
- [How to dump production data to staging](db_dump.md) - [How to dump production data to staging](db_dump.md)
......
# Accessing session data
Session data in GitLab is stored in Redis and can be accessed in a variety of ways.
During a web request, for example:
- Rails provides access to the session from within controllers through [`ActionDispatch::Session`](https://guides.rubyonrails.org/action_controller_overview.html#session).
- Outside of controllers, it is possible to access the session through `Gitlab::Session`.
Outside of a web request it is still possible to access sessions stored in Redis. For example:
- Session IDs and contents can be [looked up directly in Redis](#redis).
- Data about the UserAgent associated with the session can be accessed through `ActiveSession`.
When storing values in a session it is best to:
- Use simple primitives and avoid storing objects to avoid marshaling complications.
- Clean up after unneeded variables to keep memory usage in Redis down.
## Gitlab::Session
Sometimes you might want to persist data in the session instead of another store like the database. `Gitlab::Session` lets you access this without passing the session around extensively. For example, you could access it from within a policy without having to pass the session through to each place permissions are checked from.
The session has a hash-like interface, just like when using it from a controller. There is also `NamespacedSessionStore` for storing key-value data in a hash.
```ruby
# Lookup a value stored in the current session
Gitlab::Session.current[:my_feature]
# Modify the current session stored in redis
Gitlab::Session.current[:my_feature] = value
# Store key-value data namespaced under a key
Gitlab::NamespacedSessionStore.new(:my_feature)[some_key] = value
# Set the session for a block of code, such as for tests
Gitlab::Session.with_session(my_feature: value) do
# Code that uses Session.current[:my_feature]
end
```
## Redis
Session data can be accessed directly through Redis. This can let you check up on a browser session when debugging.
```ruby
# Get a list of sessions
session_ids = Gitlab::Redis::SharedState.with do |redis|
redis.smembers("#{Gitlab::Redis::SharedState::USER_SESSIONS_LOOKUP_NAMESPACE}:#{user.id}")
end
# Retrieve a specific session
session_data = Gitlab::Redis::SharedState.with { |redis| redis.get("#{Gitlab::Redis::SharedState::SESSION_NAMESPACE}:#{session_id}") }
Marshal.load(session_data)
```
## Getting device information with ActiveSession
The [**Active Sessions** page on a user's profile](../user/profile/active_sessions.md) displays information about the device used to access each session. The methods used there to list sessions can also be useful for development.
```ruby
# Get list of sessions for a given user
# Includes session_id and data from the UserAgent
ActiveSession.list(user)
```
Markdown is supported
0%
or
You are about to add 0 people to the discussion. Proceed with caution.
Finish editing this message first!
Please register or to comment