Strange controller behavior involving where some params break my app - ruby-on-rails

Question

I built a feature in my app to allow users to search for images that would search the image description,member who uploaded it, and image tags but I have this weird issue where if I search for the name 'jason' it breaks, but a name like 'jesse' works just fine.
Here is my controller
def search_results
#tattoos = Tattoo.where("description LIKE ?", "%#{params[:search]}%") | Tattoo.tagged_with("#{params[:search]}", :any => true ) | Member.where("membername LIKE ?", "%#{params[:search]}%").order("created_at DESC").page(params[:page]).per(10)
end
if i search for 'jason' my app breaks, giving me an 'undefined method' error and the console shows a bunch of stuff not shown if I searched for say, 'jesse'. Im not entirely sure how to word that but here is what I mean.
Search - Jason
Started GET "/search_results?utf8=%E2%9C%93&search=jason&commit=search" for 127.0.0.1 at 2012-05-23 20:48:26 -0400
Processing by IndexController#search_results as HTML
Parameters: {"utf8"=>"✓", "search"=>"jason", "commit"=>"search"}
SQL (0.7ms) SHOW TABLES
ActsAsTaggableOn::Tag Load (0.3ms) SELECT `tags`.* FROM `tags` WHERE (name LIKE 'jason')
Tattoo Load (0.2ms) SELECT `tattoos`.* FROM `tattoos` WHERE (description LIKE '%jason%')
Tattoo Load (0.2ms) SELECT `tattoos`.* FROM `tattoos` WHERE (1 = 0)
SQL (0.7ms) SHOW TABLES
SQL (0.5ms) SHOW TABLES
Member Load (0.3ms) SELECT `members`.* FROM `members` WHERE (membername LIKE '%jason%') ORDER BY fullname asc, created_at DESC LIMIT 10 OFFSET 0
Member Load (0.3ms) SELECT `members`.* FROM `members` WHERE `members`.`id` = 7 ORDER BY fullname asc LIMIT 1
ActsAsTaggableOn::Tag Load (0.3ms) SELECT `tags`.* FROM `tags` INNER JOIN `taggings` ON `tags`.id = `taggings`.tag_id WHERE ((`taggings`.taggable_id = 43) AND (`taggings`.taggable_type = 'Tattoo')) AND (taggings.context = 'styles' AND taggings.tagger_id IS NULL)
Rendered shared/_image_roll.html.erb (27.5ms)
Rendered index/search_results.html.erb within layouts/application (29.3ms)
Completed 500 Internal Server Error in 523ms
Processing by ErrorsController#internal_server_error as HTML
Parameters: {"utf8"=>"✓", "search"=>"jason", "commit"=>"search"}
SQL (0.7ms) SHOW TABLES
SQL (0.5ms) SHOW TABLES
Rendered shared/_register.html.erb (483.4ms)
Member Load (0.2ms) SELECT `members`.* FROM `members` WHERE `members`.`id` = 7 ORDER BY fullname asc LIMIT 1
MemberRole Load (0.2ms) SELECT `member_roles`.* FROM `member_roles` WHERE (`member_roles`.member_id = 7) LIMIT 1
SQL (0.6ms) SHOW TABLES
SQL (0.4ms) SELECT COUNT(*) FROM `tattoos` WHERE `tattoos`.`status` = 'pending'
SQL (0.2ms) SELECT COUNT(*) FROM `feedbacks` WHERE `feedbacks`.`approved` = 0
SQL (0.1ms) SELECT COUNT(*) FROM `tattoos` WHERE `tattoos`.`status` = 'reported'
Rendered shared/_navbar.html.erb (87.6ms)
Rendered shared/_login_form.html.erb (2.9ms)
Rendered errors/internal_server_error.html.erb within layouts/application (582.4ms)
Completed 500 Internal Server Error in 587ms (Views: 583.9ms | ActiveRecord: 3.5ms)
ActionView::Template::Error (undefined method `member' for #<Member:0x007f0b0ca077b0>):
1: <ol class="image_roll">
2: <% #tattoos.each do |t| %>
3: <li>
4: <% unless t.member.nil? %>
5:
6: <%= link_to image_tag(t.file.url(:small),:alt=>"#{strip_tags(t.description)}, #{t.style_list}, tattoos"), member_tattoo_path(t.member, t)%>
7: <% else %>
app/views/shared/_image_roll.html.erb:4:in `block in _app_views_shared__image_roll_html_erb__3185787815883689760_69842755443480_3152220748446100192'
app/views/shared/_image_roll.html.erb:2:in `each'
app/views/shared/_image_roll.html.erb:2:in `_app_views_shared__image_roll_html_erb__3185787815883689760_69842755443480_3152220748446100192'
app/views/index/search_results.html.erb:10:in `_app_views_index_search_results_html_erb___3497910042066847338_69842586729040__4333294961394575926'
Search - Jesse:
Started GET "/search_results?utf8=%E2%9C%93&search=jesse&commit=search" for 127.0.0.1 at 2012-05-23 20:48:36 -0400
Processing by IndexController#search_results as HTML
Parameters: {"utf8"=>"✓", "search"=>"jesse", "commit"=>"search"}
ActsAsTaggableOn::Tag Load (0.6ms) SELECT `tags`.* FROM `tags` WHERE (name LIKE 'jesse')
Tattoo Load (0.7ms) SELECT `tattoos`.* FROM `tattoos` WHERE (description LIKE '%jesse%')
Tattoo Load (0.1ms) SELECT `tattoos`.* FROM `tattoos` WHERE (1 = 0)
Member Load (0.5ms) SELECT `members`.* FROM `members` WHERE (membername LIKE '%jesse%') ORDER BY fullname asc, created_at DESC LIMIT 10 OFFSET 0
Rendered shared/_search.html.erb (0.8ms)
ActsAsTaggableOn::Tag Load (0.2ms) SELECT tags.*, taggings.tags_count AS count FROM `tags` JOIN (SELECT taggings.tag_id, COUNT(taggings.tag_id) AS tags_count FROM `taggings` INNER JOIN tattoos ON tattoos.id = taggings.taggable_id WHERE (taggings.taggable_type = 'Tattoo' AND taggings.context = 'styles') AND (taggings.taggable_id IN(SELECT tattoos.id FROM `tattoos`)) GROUP BY taggings.tag_id HAVING COUNT(taggings.tag_id) > 0) AS taggings ON taggings.tag_id = tags.id ORDER BY count DESC LIMIT 40
Rendered index/_tags_list.html.erb (19.7ms)
Rendered layouts/shared/_right_column_std.html.erb (22.3ms)
Rendered shared/_register.html.erb (5.7ms)
Member Load (0.3ms) SELECT `members`.* FROM `members` WHERE `members`.`id` = 7 ORDER BY fullname asc LIMIT 1
MemberRole Load (0.1ms) SELECT `member_roles`.* FROM `member_roles` WHERE (`member_roles`.member_id = 7) LIMIT 1
SQL (0.2ms) SELECT COUNT(*) FROM `tattoos` WHERE `tattoos`.`status` = 'pending'
SQL (0.1ms) SELECT COUNT(*) FROM `feedbacks` WHERE `feedbacks`.`approved` = 0
SQL (0.1ms) SELECT COUNT(*) FROM `tattoos` WHERE `tattoos`.`status` = 'reported'
Rendered shared/_navbar.html.erb (13.5ms)
Rendered shared/_login_form.html.erb (2.9ms)
Rendered index/search_results.html.erb within layouts/application (54.3ms)
Completed 200 OK in 64ms (Views: 57.9ms | ActiveRecord: 3.0ms)
And the view:
<% #tattoos.each do |t| %>
<% unless t.member.nil? %>
<%= link_to image_tag(t.file.url(:small),:alt=>"#{strip_tags(t.description)}, #{t.style_list}, tattoos"), member_tattoo_path(t.member, t)%>
<% else %>
<%= link_to image_tag(t.file.url(:small),:alt=>"#{strip_tags(t.description)}, #{t.style_list}, tattoos"), tattoo_path(t) %>
<% end %>
<% end %>

Answer 1

The "| vs ||" issue is not your problem. Doing this:
Tattoo.where(...) | Tattoo.tagged_with(...) | Member.where(...)
will result in an array that is the union of the three input results. Switching to ||:
Tattoo.where(...) || Tattoo.tagged_with(...) || Member.where(...)
will just give you Tattoo.where(...) since that query will never be false or nil and the || will short circuit as soon as it has non-falsey result; Tattoo.where(...) might might be empty but empty and falsey are different things.
Your problem is that you're mixing two different things in one array: Tattoo instances from the first two queries and Member instances from the last query. Then your ERB assumes that everything in #tattoos is a Tattoo (or something else that responds to member):
<% #tattoos.each do |t| %>
<% unless t.member.nil? %>
If your Member.where(...) finds anything, then you will have at least one Member instance in #tattoos and there is no Member#member method as the error message indicates:
ActionView::Template::Error (undefined method `member' for #<Member:0x007f0b0ca077b0>):
Stop mixing two different classes in #tattoos and your problem should go away. Or you could rename it to, say, #matches and smarten up your view logic to be able to display both Tattoo and Member instances.

Answer 2

One thing I noticed is that you are using | instead of || in
#tattoos = Tattoo.where("description LIKE ?", "%#{params[:search]}%") | Tattoo.tagged_with("#{params[:search]}", :any => true ) | Member.where("membername LIKE ?", "%#{params[:search]}%").order("created_at DESC").page(params[:page]).per(10)
perhaps that might be part of the issue?

Answer 3

I would also argue that you should move this logic into the model, which should make it easier to test.
# Controller
#search_results = Tattoo.results_for_search(params[:search])
#search_results << Member.results_for_search(params[:search])
# Tattoo Model
def results_for_search(search_term)
results = where("description LIKE ?", search_term).all
results << tagged_with(search_term, :any => true)
end
# Member Model
def results_for_search(search_term)
where("membername LIKE ?", search_term).order("created_at DESC")
end
# Search Results View
<% #search_results.each do |result| %>
<% if result.is_a?(Tattoo) %>
...
<% elsif result.is_a?(Member) %>
...
<% end %>
<% end %>