This is how the said problem got solved:

* Created a before_filter which checks if there is filtering being done, which then sorts the hash and returns records.
* smart_filter helper is now a block helper, which means if the filtering is set up, it skips the content inside the block and shows the results.

Happy. :)

app/controllers/application_controller.rb

@@ -3,8 +3,20 @@
 
 class ApplicationController < ActionController::Base
   helper :all # include all helpers, all the time
+  before_filter :sort_smart_filter
   #protect_from_forgery # See ActionController::RequestForgeryProtection for details
 
   # Scrub sensitive parameters from your log
   # filter_parameter_logging :password
+  def sort_smart_filter
+    if params[:smart_filter]
+      search = params[:smart_filter]
+      hash = {}
+      search.delete_if {|column, value| value[:value] == "" }
+      search.each do |column, value|
+        hash.merge!({column.to_sym => {value[:criteria] => value[:value]}})
+      end
+      @filtered_results = AddressBook.smart_filter(hash)
+    end
+  end
 end

app/helpers/application_helper.rb

@@ -18,7 +18,8 @@ module ApplicationHelper
 </div>
 =end
 
-  def smart_filter(model, cols)
+  def smart_filter(model, cols, &block)
+    body = capture(&block)
     html = ""
     html << "<form action='/address_books' method='get'>"
     columns(cols).each do |column|
@@ -31,7 +32,9 @@ def smart_filter(model, cols)
     end
     html << "<input type='submit'>"
     html << "</form>"
-    html
+    html << render(:partial => 'shared/filtered_results') if @filtered_results
+    html << body unless @filtered_results
+    concat html
   end
 
   def columns(cols)

app/views/address_books/index.html.erb

@@ -1,42 +1,6 @@
 <h1>Listing address_books</h1>
 
-<%= smart_filter(AddressBook, :all) %>
-
-<% if params[:smart_filter] %>
-<table>
-  <tr>
-    <th>Name</th>
-    <th>Address</th>
-    <th>Zip Code</th>
-    <th>Company</th>
-    <th>Email</th>
-    <th>Phone</th>
-    <th>Domain</th>
-  </tr>
-  <%
-  search = params[:smart_filter]
-  hash = {}
-  search.delete_if {|column, value| value[:value] == "" }
-  search.each do |column, value|
-    hash.merge!({column.to_sym => {value[:criteria] => value[:value]}})
-  end
-  %>
-  <% AddressBook.smart_filter(hash).each do |address_book| %>
-    <tr>
-      <td><%=h address_book.name %></td>
-      <td><%=h address_book.address %></td>
-      <td><%=h address_book.zipcode %></td>
-      <td><%=h address_book.company %></td>
-      <td><%=h address_book.email %></td>
-      <td><%=h address_book.phone %></td>
-      <td><%=h address_book.domain %></td>
-      <td><%= link_to 'Show', address_book %></td>
-      <td><%= link_to 'Edit', edit_address_book_path(address_book) %></td>
-      <td><%= link_to 'Destroy', address_book, :confirm => 'Are you sure?', :method => :delete %></td>
-    </tr>
-  <% end %>
-</table>
-<% else %>
+<% smart_filter(AddressBook, :all) do %>
 
 <table>
   <tr>

app/views/shared/_filtered_results.html.erb

@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+<table>
+  <tr>
+    <th>Name</th>
+    <th>Address</th>
+    <th>Zip Code</th>
+    <th>Company</th>
+    <th>Email</th>
+    <th>Phone</th>
+    <th>Domain</th>
+  </tr>
+  <% @filtered_results.each do |address_book| %>
+    <tr>
+      <td><%=h address_book.name %></td>
+      <td><%=h address_book.address %></td>
+      <td><%=h address_book.zipcode %></td>
+      <td><%=h address_book.company %></td>
+      <td><%=h address_book.email %></td>
+      <td><%=h address_book.phone %></td>
+      <td><%=h address_book.domain %></td>
+      <td><%= link_to 'Show', address_book %></td>
+      <td><%= link_to 'Edit', edit_address_book_path(address_book) %></td>
+      <td><%= link_to 'Destroy', address_book, :confirm => 'Are you sure?', :method => :delete %></td>
+    </tr>
+  <% end %>
+</table>