Exception occurs with empty string

[Capncavedan]

When saving a record where an encrypted field has a value of "" (empty string), as is common when a web form field is left blank, crypt_keeper raises an exception.

I've worked around it by setting the field to nil if it == "" in the controller but this is inelegant for sure.

Is there a cleaner workaround I'm not aware of?

Thanks,
-Dan

[jmazzi]

@Capncavedan which encryptor are you using?

[Capncavedan]

The default AES encryptor, like so:

crypt_keeper :social_security_number, encryptor: :aes, key: "super secret"

[jmazzi]

One option I can think of is creating a "strict" mode for the AES encryptor, and others really. That would be the default mode. In strict mode, you would receive errors for nil or empty values, like you currently do. In non strict mode:

crypt_keeper :social_security_number, encryptor: :aes, key: "super secret", strict: false

the original value you would be returned for nil or empty strings for decrypt and encrypt. It would look something like this:

def encrypt(value)
  if value.blank? && strict_mode
    value
  else
    # encryption
  end
end

def decrypt(value)
  if value.blank? && strict_mode
    value
  else
    # decryption
  end
end

How do you feel about creating a pull request to do that?

[jmazzi]

@Capncavedan let me know what you think about that.

[Capncavedan]

I think that sounds pretty good, @jmazzi.

I'll work on a pull request.

Note that nil and non-empty strings, e.g. " ", don't generate problems with AES, at least in my experience so far. Just the empty string.

[jmazzi]

Hmm, well I'm not sure that's a issue with crypt_keeper then. Non empty strings have a value.

On Friday, March 8, 2013 at 5:07 PM, Dan Buettner wrote:

I think that sounds pretty good, @jmazzi (https://github.com/jmazzi).
I'll work on a pull request.
Note that nil and non-empty strings, e.g. " ", don't generate problems with AES, at least in my experience so far. Just the empty string.

—
Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub (#31 (comment)).

[jmazzi]

closed by #35