title: AJAX GET request in Rails without rendering views/json
body: <p>Making a <code>GET</code> request to check whether or not to send a followup <code>POST</code> request and don't need to render anything following the first request.  I'm using <code>render nothing: true</code> at the base of my controller action, so I'm not sure what's causing the <code>ActionView::MissingTemplate at /able_to_claim</code> error when I sent the request through the browser console:</p>
  
  <pre><code> def able_to_claim
      role, user_id = params[:role], params[:user_id]
      if role == "Senior Editor" or role == "Admin"
        return true 
      else
        active_essays = 0
        Claim.where(:user_id =&gt; user_id).each {|claim| active_essays += 1 if Essay.find(claim.essay_id).status != "Complete"}
          if role == "Editor" and active_essays &lt; 5
            return true
          elsif role == "Managing Editor" and active_essays &lt; 15  
            return true
          else 
            return false 
          end 
      end
      render nothing: true
    end 
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Route: <code>get '/able_to_claim' =&gt; 'users#able_to_claim'</code></p>
  
  <p>js file: </p>
  
  <pre><code>response = $.ajax({
            type: 'GET',
            url : '/able_to_claim/?role=' + userRole + '&amp;user_id=' + userId,
            crossDomain: true,
            contentType:'application/json; charset=utf-8',
            dataType: 'json'
          });
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>userRole and userId defined in <code>application.html.erb</code>: </p>
  
  <pre><code>&lt;%= javascript_tag "var userId = #{current_user.id};" if current_user %&gt;
    &lt;%= javascript_tag "var userRole = '#{current_user.role}';" if current_user %&gt;
  </code></pre>