Save data from api request to a model (JSON) - ruby-on-rails

Question

Ok, so over the last week or so I have been getting to grips with making api calls and then having the response returned as JSON and then outputting the parts I want to my view (getting there i think, albeit slowly). The next part of my learning curve is to take this data and save it to a model so that i can use it elsewhere in my app.
What i want to achieve is after the api request has been made and the results are displayed I want to click a button that will then post the data to my model
In this example I am getting data for books via its ISBN number from the itunes api
here is an example of the data returned
{
"resultCount":1,
"results": [
{"kind":"ebook", "artistId":545975179, "artistName":"Gareth Halfacree", "price":9.99,
"description":"<p><b>Make the most out of the world’s first truly compact computer<\/b><\/p><p>It's the size of a credit card, it can be charged like a smartphone, it runs on open-source Linux, and it holds the promise of bringing programming and playing to millions at low cost. And now you can learn how to use this amazing computer from its co-creator, Eben Upton, in <i>Raspberry Pi User Guide<\/i>. Cowritten with Gareth Halfacree, this guide gets you up and running on Raspberry Pi, whether you're an educator, hacker, hobbyist, or kid. Learn how to connect your Pi to other hardware, install software, write basic programs, and set it up to run robots, multimedia centers, and more.<\/p><ul><li>Gets you up and running on Raspberry Pi, a high-tech computer the size of a credit card <\/li><li>Helps educators teach students how to program <\/li><li>Covers connecting Raspberry Pi to other hardware, such as monitors and keyboards, how to install software, and how to configure Raspberry Pi <\/li><li>Shows you how to set up Raspberry Pi as a simple productivity computer, write basic programs in Python, connect to servos and sensors, and drive a robot or multimedia center <\/li><\/ul><p>Adults, kids, and devoted hardware hackers, now that you've got a Raspberry Pi, get the very most out of it with <i>Raspberry Pi User Guide<\/i>.<\/p>", "genreIds":["10017", "38", "9027"], "releaseDate":"2012-08-30T07:00:00Z", "currency":"USD", "genres":["Computers", "Books", "Computers & Internet"], "trackId":559783692, "trackName":"Raspberry Pi User Guide", "artistIds":[545975179], "artworkUrl60":"http://a2.mzstatic.com/us/r30/Publication/v4/ba/a8/2c/baa82ce0-2ac7-7026-04da-6f74bc97b403/9781118464496.60x60-50.jpg", "artistViewUrl":"https://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/gareth-halfacree/id545975179?mt=11&uo=4", "trackCensoredName":"Raspberry Pi User Guide", "formattedPrice":"$9.99", "artworkUrl100":"http://a4.mzstatic.com/us/r30/Publication/v4/ba/a8/2c/baa82ce0-2ac7-7026-04da-6f74bc97b403/9781118464496.100x100-75.jpg", "trackViewUrl":"https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/raspberry-pi-user-guide/id559783692?mt=11&uo=4", "averageUserRating":2.5, "userRatingCount":5}]
}
I would like to save the artistName, Description, an image (would i need paperclip for this?) and the trackName
Can anyone offer some advice on how i go about this, obviously I create a model and setup the table columns (I understand that the column names can be anything?) but after this Im a little lost
If anyone could proviede an Example that would be great as I could then follow the process and understand what is going on
Any help appreciated

Answer 1

One option would be to create a before_filter on your controller, you can list the controller actions that you want it performed for, ie. your API calls.
Within the method called from the before filter you can save the details of the request to a model. This would avoid the need for manually saving the information.
The image based on your example response has a URL to the image so you could just save that to your model assuming you are confident the image URL will not change. Should you want to save the image itself, yes I would recommend something like paperclip or carrierwave.
If you don't want to do it this way then an alternative, and in my opinion less tidy way would be to post the JSON back with a button to a controller action that does what I mentioned above.
EDIT: So to save to you model, for example called ApiCall you could create a new db entry each time your controller action is hit. Say your controller action is called get_info and it is passed the params that enables you to build the JSON response that you have described. You could do something like below.
json_response = JSON.parse(your_response_object)
ApiCall.create(:artist_name => json_response["results"]["artistName"])
You could obviously include any/all the information you had. Alternatively you could store the whole response as a YAML string in one db attribute and parse the information when retrieving it, up to you.
yaml = your_response_object.to_yaml
ApiCall.create(:payload => yaml)