Models should be blissfully unaware that they are attached to a web
app. For example, if you use your models from the console, or a rake
task, there is no web app, so if your models assume that a controller
exists you're asking for trouble.
In this case, however, you can simply feed the :last_known_up
and :last_known_user_agent to your model this way:
class UserController
def some_action
@user = User.find(params[:id])
@user.update_metadata(:last_known_up =>
request.remote_ip, :last_known_user_agent => request.user_agent)
end
end
class User
def update_metadata(options = {})
options.reverse_merge!(:last_login_at => Time.now)
self.update_attributes(options)
end
end
Brent