Set Authlogic validate_login_field to false on user update

Question

We have a current database of users who can have any symbol in their username. We have started using authlogic for authentication. So, any current users updating any of their information fail validations because their login has unaccepted characters.

We want to prevent new users signing up from using symbols not accepted by authlogic, but those who have them already in their login to continue using them.

I know that I need to use something like this:

acts_as_authentic do |c|
  c.validate_login_field = false
end

My questions is how do I set validate_login_field to false for already existing users but leave it to default value of true for new users signing up? Thanks.

Answer 1

I would suggest forgetting about that particular validation feature in Authlogic for your particular case (i.e. keep it as c.validate_login_field = false) and use validates_format_of setting a :with clause to a regex to ensure Authlogic valid user names and an :if clause to some proc or method private method which returns true if the validation should be done at all (using some application specific logic of your own design)