Building search REST API - ruby-on-rails

Question

I'm using a gem called gem 'open_taobao'
The following is how i get my data in json
class SearchController < ApplicationController
layout 'layouts/frontend_base'
def index
#searchterm = "basketball"
#search = OpenTaobao.get(
:method => "taobao.tbk.item.get",
:fields => "num_iid,title,nick,pict_url,cid,price,type,delist_time,post_fee,score,volume",
:q => #searchterm,
:page_size => 1,
:sort => "_des",
)
end
end
What I am trying to do from my view is have a input field with submit and whatever is in the input box will replace my query variable below
:q => #searchterm
What would be the best way of accomplishing this?

Answer 1

You can have your form like this:
<%= form_tag search_path do %>
<%= input_field_tag :q, params[:q] %>
<%= submit_tag "Submit" %>
<% end %>
in your controller, you shouldn't need to set another instance variable #searchterm
You could do:
def index
#search = OpenTaobao.get(
:method => "taobao.tbk.item.get",
:fields => "num_iid,title,nick,pict_url,cid,price,type,delist_time,post_fee,score,volume",
:q => params[:q],
:page_size => 1,
:sort => "_des",
)
# what you do depends on the data type returned here. if it's a JSON string, you should parse it and reassign to #search, if not you may not need to do anything
end
In your view,
#search/index.html.erb
<% #search.each do |result_key, result_value| %>
# you can deal with the html here
<%= result_key %>
<%= result_value %>
<% end %>