Error making duplicate get requests - ruby-on-rails

Question

I have a problem where my controller action is creating duplicate records. I have a search form that checks the database for a record, or if its not in the database, scrapes a website to create the record. This same action (not restful i know) is also creating a record of the search itself with a value of "success" or "failure" depending on if the record could be found. However, it is consistently duplicating the record of the search. Here is the form_tag:
<%= form_tag new_search_path, remote: true, method: :get, id: 'etf-lookup-form' do %>
...
<%= text_field_tag :etf, params[:etf], placeholder: "ETF ticker symbol EX: SPY", autofocus: true, class: 'form-control search-box input-lg', style: "text-transform: uppercase" %>
and the controller:
class SearchesController < ApplicationController
def new
if params[:etf]
#etf = Etf.find_by_ticker(params[:etf].upcase)
#etf ||= Scraper.new_from_lookup(params[:etf].upcase)
end
if #etf.present?
Search.create(ticker: params[:etf].upcase, user_id: current_user.id, status: "success" )
render :js => "window.location = '#{etf_path(#etf)}'"
else
Search.create(ticker: params[:etf].upcase, user_id: current_user.id, status: "failure" )
render :js => "window.location = '#{search_path}'"
end
end
The terminal output always shows the get request being made twice before rendering the new page. How can I solve this problem? And/or what is a better way to organize these controller actions? I also have an EtfsController which contains a show action. Here are a couple fragments of from the terminal:
Started GET "/search/new?utf8=%E2%9C%93&etf=spy&button=" for ::1 at 2017-05-01 20:05:49 -0400
Processing by SearchesController#new as JS
Parameters: {"utf8"=>"✓", "etf"=>"spy", "button"=>""}
.......
Completed 200 OK in 10ms (Views: 0.1ms | ActiveRecord: 2.0ms)
Started GET "/search/new?utf8=%E2%9C%93&etf=spy&button=" for ::1 at 2017-05-01 20:05:49 -0400
Processing by SearchesController#new as JS
...
Completed 200 OK in 9ms (Views: 0.1ms | ActiveRecord: 2.7ms)
Started GET "/etfs/1" for ::1 at 2017-05-01 20:05:49 -0400
Processing by EtfsController#show as HTML
...
Completed 200 OK in 126ms (Views: 117.9ms | ActiveRecord: 1.2ms)

Answer 1

Probably you can refactor your code to look like this and the problem should be gone:
before_action :set_etf, only: [:new]
after_action :create_search, only: [:new]
def new
render js: window_location
end
private
def create_search
Search.create(ticker: etf_params, user_id: current_user.id, status: "success" )
end
def etf_params
#etf_params ||= params[:etf].to_s.upcase
end
def set_etf
#etf = (Etf.find_by_ticker(etf_params) || Scraper.new_from_lookup(etf_params) if etf_params.present?
end
def window_location
return "window.location = '#{etf_path(#etf)}'" if #etf.present?
"window.location = '#{search_path}'"
end
This should do the trick, let me know how it goes!