Simple Form: creating a new record from another controller

Question

I have a Home controller with an index view that acts like a search box that lets the user query a First Table or Second Table through a select box. After a user enters a search term, he will be redirected to the index page of the First or Second model with the search results for that model.

A Search record must be created each time a query is submitted with the search type and search term. However, I don't know how to create a new Search object using simple_form from a different controller, which is the Home controller in this case.

Home Controller

def index
  @find = Find.new

Home Index View

= simple_form_for @find, url: finds_path, method: :post do |f|
  = f.input :search_type, :collection => [['First', 'First'], ['Second', 'Second']]
  = f.input :search_term
  = f.button :submit

Finds Controller

def new
  @find = Find.new
end

def create
  @find = Find.new(find_params)
  if params[:search_type] == 'First'
    redirect_to first_path
  elsif params[:search_type] == 'Second'
    redirect_to second_path
  else
    redirect_to root_path
  end
end

private

def find_params
  params.permit(:search_term, :search_type, :utf8, :authenticity_token, 
    :find, :commit, :locale)
  # the params seem to come from the Home controller so I added them just to see if they will go through :(
end

It doesn't save. Instead it gives:

Started POST "/en/finds"
Processing by FindsController#create as HTML
Parameters: {"utf8"=>"✓", "authenticity_token"=>"..", "find"=>{"search_type"=>"First", "search_term"=>"Something"}, "commit"=>"Create Find", "locale"=>"en"}
Unpermitted parameter: :find
Redirected to http://localhost:3000/en

Answer 1

Unpermitted parameter: :find

Your find_params should be just

def find_params
  params.require(:find).permit(:search_type, :search_term)
end

You should access the search_type with params[:find][:search_type]

if params[:find][:search_type] == 'First'
  redirect_to first_path
elsif params[:find][:search_type] == 'Second'
  redirect_to second_path
  else
  redirect_to root_path
end

Also, I would suggest renaming the Find model as it conflicts with ActiveRecord#FinderMethods