Rails4 422 (Unprocessable Entity) in devise model AJAX call - ruby-on-rails

Question

I have a form_for that uses AJAX to update custom fields I added to the devise user model. However, upon submit (with valid input), I get a POST 422 (Unprocessable Entity) error. This occurs because of the validations in my user model below:
class User < ActiveRecord::Base
validates_presence_of :annual_income, :current_savings, :retirement_savings, :if => :enable_strict_validation
validates_numericality_of :annual_income, :current_savings, :retirement_savings, :if => :enable_strict_validation
# Include default devise modules. Others available are:
# :confirmable, :lockable, :timeoutable and :omniauthable
devise :database_authenticatable, :registerable,
:recoverable, :rememberable, :trackable, :validatable
end
Here is the form:
<div class="main_form">
<h1>Income & Savings First...</h1>
<%= form_for #user, url: { action: :persist_data }, method: :post, remote: true, html: { id: "insurance_form" } do |f| %>
<%= f.label "Total Annual Income" %>
<%= f.text_field :annual_income, autofocus: true, placeholder: "Enter $" ,value: "", class: "format_me" %><br/>
<%= f.label "Savings" %>
<%= f.text_field :current_savings, placeholder: "Enter $", value: "", class: "format_me" %><br/>
<%= f.label "Saved for Retirement?" %>
<%= f.text_field :retirement_savings, placeholder: "Enter $", value: "", class: "format_me" %><br/>
<%= f.submit "Calculate", class: "btn btn-primary" %>
<% end %>
</div>
The call is made to the HomeController below:
class HomeController < ApplicationController
before_filter :authenticate_user!
def index
#user = current_user
end
# TODO: refactor as update in a custom devise controller for user
def persist_data
user_params.each {|key, val| val.gsub!("$", "") }
# Make sure user model validations are run
current_user.enable_strict_validation = true
current_user.save!
current_user.update_attributes( user_params )
render json: {status: "OK"}
end
private
def user_params
params.require(:user).permit(:annual_income, :current_savings, :retirement_savings, :recommended_insurance)
end
end
And lastly, here is the server log with the error:
Started POST "/home/persist_data" for 127.0.0.1 at 2014-03-12 12:11:34 -0400
Processing by HomeController#persist_data as JS
Parameters: {"utf8"=>"✓", "user"=>{"annual_income"=>"$4.00", "current_savings"=>"$4.00", "retirement_savings"=>"$4.00"}, "commit"=>"Calculate"}
User Load (0.2ms) SELECT "users".* FROM "users" WHERE "users"."id" = 2 ORDER BY "users"."id" ASC LIMIT 1
(0.1ms) begin transaction
(0.1ms) rollback transaction
Completed 422 Unprocessable Entity in 35ms
ActiveRecord::RecordInvalid (Validation failed: Annual income can't be blank, Annual income is not a number, Current savings can't be blank, Current savings is not a number, Retirement savings can't be blank, Retirement savings is not a number):
app/controllers/home_controller.rb:13:in `persist_data'
Thanks for the help.

Answer 1

Update persist_data as below:
def persist_data
## Set the user_params value
user_params = user_params.each {|key, val| val.gsub!("$", "") }
# Make sure user model validations are run
current_user.enable_strict_validation = true
## Remove below line, as you are updating in the very next line with user_params
## current_user.save!
current_user.update_attributes( user_params )
render json: {status: "OK"}
end