Ruby on rails, new POST to API and refresh page

Question

I am new to ruby on rails. On our site user gets to search and then get a list of results.

Now I want to add the ability to view results sorted (by price, rating, etc). The API does the sorting so all I have to do is sent a new post request to API with the new option (ie &sort=PRICE ) then it will return results in order.

My issue is I don't know how to do this, I've tried button_tag and button_to , with button_to if clicked and then manually refreshed it works, but if I add multiple button_to tags it won't.

I have made $sort as global variable (with default sort value in API docs ie no_sort) so when a button is pressed I try to change that variable to desired name then post, this is what I have in view:

<%= button_to 'price', :controller => 'database', :action => 'getList', :method => 'post' do %>
                        <% $sort="PRICE" %>
                        <% end %>
<%= button_to 'rating', :controller => 'database', :action => 'getList', :method => 'post' do %>
                        <% $sort="QUALITY" %>
                        <% end %>
<%= button_to 'distance', :controller => 'database', :action => 'getList', :method => 'post' do %>
                        <% $sort="PROXIMITY" %>
                        <% end %>

my controller :

def getList()

    #search parameters

    destinationString = params[:poi].gsub(' ', '+')
    propertyName = params[:name].gsub(' ', '+')
    stateProvinceCode = params[:state].gsub(' ', '+')
    city = params[:city].gsub(' ', '+')

    arrival =  DateFormat(params[:start_date])
    departure = DateFormat(params[:departure])
    @arrivalDate = params[:start_date]
    @departureDate = params[:departure]


    #construct http request
    request = $gAPI_url + "/list?" \
            + "cid=" + $gCid \
            + "&apiKey=" + $gApiKey \
            + "&sort=" + $sort \
            + "&numberOfResults=" + $gNumberOfResults \
            + "&destinationString=" + destinationString \
            + "&propertyName=" + propertyName \
            + "&stateProvinceCode=" + stateProvinceCode \
            + "&city=" + city \
            + "&arrivalDate=" + arrival \
            + "&departureDate=" + departure


    response = JSON.parse(HTTParty.get(request).body)
    puts request

    # Check for EanWsError
    if response["HotelListResponse"]["EanWsError"] then
          hotelError = response["HotelListResponse"]["EanWsError"]

          #Multiple possible destination error.
        if hotelError["category"] == $gERROR_CATEGORY_DATA_VALIDATION then
              #create list of suggested destinations


              #We are not yet implementing the suggestions list functionality.
              #@destinationList = []
              #@destinationListSize = Integer(response["HotelListResponse"]["LocationInfos"]["@size"]) -1

              #(0..(@destinationListSize)).each do |i|
                #destinationInfo = response["HotelListResponse"]["LocationInfos"]["LocationInfo"][i]
                #@destinationList << Destination.new(destinationInfo)
              #end

              redirect_to '/database/errorPage'


          #No results were returned
          elsif hotelError["category"] == $gERROR_CATEGORY_RESULT_NULL then


                #TODO: Figure out what to do if no results were found.
                #      Currently sending them back to the homepage
                redirect_to '/database/errorPage'
          end

    #We got a valid response. Parse the response and create a list of hotel objects
    else

        #Our hotelListSize is subtracted by 1 because we only want up to last index
        @hotelList = []
        @hotelListSize = Integer(response["HotelListResponse"]["HotelList"]["@size"]) -1

        (0..(@hotelListSize)).each do |i|
            hotelSummary = response["HotelListResponse"]["HotelList"]["HotelSummary"][i]
            @hotelList << Hotel.new(hotelSummary)
            @hotelList[i].thumbNailUrl = "http://images.travelnow.com" + response["HotelListResponse"]["HotelList"]["HotelSummary"][i]["thumbNailUrl"]
      end

      end

  end

or could something simpler work?, like:

<input type="button" value="Reload Page" onClick="document.location.reload(true)";"$sort=PRICE"> >

Answer 1

Short part

You have several problems, but to solve your main problem, try:

<%= button_to 'price', :controller => 'database', :action => 'getList', :method => 'post', :params => {:sort => 'PRICE'} %>
<%= button_to 'quality', :controller => 'database', :action => 'getList', :method => 'post', :params => {:sort => 'QUALITY'} %>
<%= button_to 'distance', :controller => 'database', :action => 'getList', :method => 'post', :params => {:sort => 'PROXIMITY'} %>

In your controller:

def getList()
  $sort = ['PRICE', 'QUALITY', 'PROXIMITY'].find{|s| s == params[:sort]}
  $sort ||= 'PRICE' # sort by price by default

  # your code...

Long part

After short part works.