The edit feature on my rails app is duplicating my data - ruby-on-rails

Question

I am building a recipe book for my rails app. I have ingredients nested under recipes. I can create a recipe and add the ingredients in just fine. However, when I go to edit a recipe, it will duplicate all the ingredients in the form. It will then show all the ingredients duplicated in the views pages and when I delete one of the duplicated ingredient items to only have one, it deletes both items. We are also not allowed to use accepts_nested_forms_for for this project, hence why I have the custom writer
Recipe Model
class Recipe < ApplicationRecord
belongs_to :user, required: false
has_many :recipe_ingredients
has_many :ingredients, through: :recipe_ingredients
validates :name, presence: true
validates :instructions, length: {minimum: 5}
validates :cooktime, presence: true
def self.alphabetical
self.order(name: :asc)
end
def ingredients_attributes=(ingredients_attributes)
ingredients_attributes.values.each do |ingredients_attribute|
if !ingredients_attribute.empty? &&
new_ingredient =
Ingredient.find_or_create_by(ingredients_attribute)
self.ingredients << new_ingredient
end
end
end
end
Ingredient Model
class Ingredient < ApplicationRecord
has_many :recipe_ingredients
has_many :recipes, through: :recipe_ingredients
def self.alphabetical
self.order(name: :asc)
end
end
Recipe_Ingredient Model
class RecipeIngredient < ApplicationRecord
belongs_to :recipe, required: false
belongs_to :ingredient, required: false
end
Recipe Controller
class RecipesController < ApplicationController
before_action :authenticate_user!
def new
#recipe = Recipe.new
3.times do
ingredient = #recipe.ingredients.build
end
end
def index
#recipes = current_user.recipes.alphabetical
end
def create
#recipe = current_user.recipes.new(recipe_params)
if #recipe.save
redirect_to recipe_path(#recipe)
else
render :new
end
end
def show
#recipe = Recipe.find(params[:id])
#ingredients = #recipe.ingredients.alphabetical
end
def edit
#recipe = Recipe.find(params[:id])
end
def update
#recipe = Recipe.find(params[:id])
if #recipe.update(recipe_params)
redirect_to #recipe
else
render :edit
end
end
def destroy
#recipe = Recipe.find(params[:id])
#recipe.delete
redirect_to recipes_path
end
private
def recipe_params
params.require(:recipe).permit(:name, :instructions, :cooktime,
:ingredient_ids => [], ingredients_attributes: [:recipe_id, :name])
end
end
Recipe Show Page
<h1> Recipe for <%=#recipe.name%></h1>
<h4>Recipe Instructions: <%=#recipe.instructions%></h4>
<h4>Cook Time: <%=#recipe.cooktime%></h4>
</ul>
<h4> Ingredients: </h4>
<% #ingredients.each do |ingredient|%>
<li><%=ingredient.name %></li>
<%end%>
</ul>
<%=link_to "Ingredients", recipe_ingredients_path(#recipe,
#ingredients)%>
<br>
<%=link_to "Delete Recipe", recipe_path(#recipe), :method => "delete"
%>
<br>
<%=link_to "Edit Recipe", edit_recipe_path(#recipe) %>
<br>
<%=link_to "All Recipes", recipes_path %>
<br>
Here are the edit and new form
<%= form_for #recipe do |f| %>
<%=f.label :name, "Name" %>
<%=f.text_field :name %>
<br>
<%=f.label :instructions, "Instructions" %>
<%=f.text_area :instructions, :rows => 3 %>
<br>
<%=f.label :cooktime, "Cook Time" %>
<%=f.text_field :cooktime %>
<br>
<%#= f.collection_check_boxes :ingredient_ids, Ingredient.all, :id,
:name %>
<%= f.fields_for :ingredients, #ingredient do |ingredient_fields| %>
<br>
<div class = >
<%= ingredient_fields.label :name, "Ingredient" %>
<%= ingredient_fields.text_field :name %>
<% end %>
<%=f.submit%>
Any help is greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

This code adds all the ingredients on the form to the recipe's ingredients relationship EVERY time.
def ingredients_attributes=(ingredients_attributes)
ingredients_attributes.values.each do |ingredients_attribute|
if !ingredients_attribute.empty? &&
new_ingredient =
Ingredient.find_or_create_by(ingredients_attribute)
self.ingredients << new_ingredient
end
end
end
You should clear down the ingredients relationship before you start pushing in the returned attributes
def ingredients_attributes=(ingredients_attributes)
self.ingredients.destroy_all # <- this will clear down ingredients
ingredients_attributes.values.each do |ingredients_attribute|
if !ingredients_attribute.empty? &&
new_ingredient =
Ingredient.find_or_create_by(ingredients_attribute)
self.ingredients << new_ingredient
end
end
end

Answer 2

The only thing you need to do is check if the new_ingredient is already included in the recipe's ingridients before (re)adding it.
You could do this like that:
#recipe.rb
def ingredients_attributes=(ingredients_attributes)
ingredients_attributes.values.each do |ingredients_attribute|
if !ingredients_attribute.empty? &&
new_ingredient =
Ingredient.find_or_create_by(ingredients_attribute)
self.ingredients << new_ingredient if !self.ingredients.include?(new_ingredient)
end
end
end