---
title: "Rails 6 allows configurable attribute on #has_secure_password"
description: "Rails 6 allows configurable attribute name on has_secure_password"
canonical_url: "https://www.bigbinary.com/blog/rails-6-allows-configurable-attribute-name-on-has_secure_password"
markdown_url: "https://www.bigbinary.com/blog/rails-6-allows-configurable-attribute-name-on-has_secure_password.md"
---

# Rails 6 allows configurable attribute on #has_secure_password

Rails 6 allows configurable attribute name on has_secure_password

- Author: Amit Choudhary
- Published: April 23, 2019
- Categories: Rails 6, Rails

[has_secure_password](https://api.rubyonrails.org/v5.2/classes/ActiveModel/SecurePassword/ClassMethods.html#method-i-has_secure_password)
is used to encrypt and authenticate passwords using
[BCrypt](https://github.com/codahale/bcrypt-ruby) . It assumes the model has a
column named `password_digest`.

Before Rails 6,
[has_secure_password](https://api.rubyonrails.org/v5.2/classes/ActiveModel/SecurePassword/ClassMethods.html#method-i-has_secure_password)
did not accept any attribute as a parameter. So, if we needed
[BCrypt](https://github.com/codahale/bcrypt-ruby) encryption on a different
column other than `password_digest`, we would have to manually encrypt the value
before storing it.

Rails 6 makes it easy and allows custom attributes as a parameter to
`has_secure_password`. `has_secure_password` still defaults to `password` so it
works with previous versions of Rails. `has_secure_password` still needs the
column named `column_name_digest` defined on the model.

`has_secure_password` also adds the `authenticate_column_name` method to
authenticate the custom column.

Let's check out how it works.

#### Rails 5.2

```ruby
>> class User < ApplicationRecord
>>   has_secure_password
>> end

=> [ActiveModel::Validations::ConfirmationValidator]

>> user = User.create(email: 'amit.choudhary@bigbinary.com', password: 'amit.choudhary')
BEGIN
User Create (0.8ms)  INSERT INTO "users" ("email", "password_digest", "created_at", "updated_at") VALUES ($1, $2, $3, $4) RETURNING "id"  [["email", "amit.choudhary@bigbinary.com"], ["password_digest", "$2a$10$g6ZJNgakn4I1w/qjAx3vM.I76QSNjFCHtTtT9ovko/9Th50SEmIBO"], ["created_at", "2019-03-17 23:30:13.754379"], ["updated_at", "2019-03-17 23:30:13.754379"]]
COMMIT

=> #<User id: 1, email: "amit.choudhary@bigbinary.com", password_digest: "$2a$10$g6ZJNgakn4I1w/qjAx3vM.I76QSNjFCHtTtT9ovko/9...", created_at: "2019-03-17 23:30:13", updated_at: "2019-03-17 23:30:13">

>> user.authenticate('amit.choudhary')

=> #<User id: 1, email: "amit.choudhary@bigbinary.com", password_digest: "$2a$10$g6ZJNgakn4I1w/qjAx3vM.I76QSNjFCHtTtT9ovko/9...", created_at: "2019-03-17 23:30:13", updated_at: "2019-03-17 23:30:13">

>> class User < ApplicationRecord
>>   has_secure_password :transaction_password
>> end

=> NoMethodError: undefined method 'fetch' for :transaction_password:Symbol
	from (irb):9:in '<class:User>'
	from (irb):8
```

#### Rails 6.0.0.beta2

```ruby
>> class User < ApplicationRecord
>>   has_secure_password
>>   has_secure_password :transaction_password
>> end

=> [ActiveModel::Validations::ConfirmationValidator]

>> user = User.create(email: 'amit.choudhary@bigbinary.com', password: 'amit.choudhary', transaction_password: 'amit.choudhary')
BEGIN
User Create (0.5ms)  INSERT INTO "users" ("email", "password_digest", "transaction_password_digest", "created_at", "updated_at") VALUES ($1, $2, $3, $4, $5) RETURNING "id"  [["email", "amit.choudhary@bigbinary.com"], ["password_digest", "$2a$10$nUiO7E2XrIJx/sSdpG0JAOL00uFvPRH7kXHLk5f/6qA1zLPHIrpPy"], ["transaction_password_digest", "$2a$10$l6cTpHwV9xOEn2.OumI29OnualGpvr1CgrNrbuMuHyGTltko8eBG2"], ["created_at", "2019-03-17 23:42:28.723431"], ["updated_at", "2019-03-17 23:42:28.723431"]]
COMMIT

=> #<User id: 5, email: "amit.choudhary@bigbinary.com", password_digest: [FILTERED], transaction_password_digest: [FILTERED], created_at: "2019-03-17 23:42:28", updated_at: "2019-03-17 23:42:28">

>> user.authenticate('amit.choudhary')

=> #<User id: 5, email: "amit.choudhary@bigbinary.com", password_digest: [FILTERED], transaction_password_digest: [FILTERED], created_at: "2019-03-17 23:42:28", updated_at: "2019-03-17 23:42:28">

>> user.authenticate_transaction_password('amit.choudhary')

=> #<User id: 5, email: "amit.choudhary@bigbinary.com", password_digest: [FILTERED], transaction_password_digest: [FILTERED], created_at: "2019-03-17 23:42:28", updated_at: "2019-03-17 23:42:28">
```

Here is the relevant [pull request](https://github.com/rails/rails/pull/26764).

## Links

- [Human page](https://www.bigbinary.com/blog/rails-6-allows-configurable-attribute-name-on-has_secure_password)