Updating wp_options with an array on save_post results in duplicated entries

Question

I'm not entirely sure this is Wordpress' fault, but I figure I'd ask anyway and see if anyone else has experienced any problems like this before.

I'm trying to save an array to a wp_options table row. The data is coming from a custom metabox and is being saved when the save_post hook is triggered. I assumed this should do the trick:

update_option("myOptionName", $myArray);

I started getting 4(?!) of each value I saved. For instance:

$myArray = array("option1");
update_option("myOptionName", $myArray);
get_option("myOptionName"); 
// array([0]=>"option1", [1]=>"option1", [2]=>"option1", [3]=>"option1");

Needless to say, this behavior is extremely annoying. It works perfectly well with strings, but never arrays. I've tried to get around this by trying json_encode to store it as a string-y entity, but even that isn't working. The problem could very well be the legacy code I've inherited by taking on this project, but I see nothing pointing to save_post.

Has anyone ever seen a situation like this before?

EDIT: As requested ... the save function:

# SAVE BRICK DATA
function brick_update() {

// Verify if this is an auto save routine.
if ( defined( 'DOING_AUTOSAVE' ) && DOING_AUTOSAVE ) {
    return;
}

// Check permissions
if ( !current_user_can( 'publish_posts' ) ) { // Check for capabilities
    wp_die( 'Sorry, you do not have the capabilities access to this page. :(' );
}

if (!wp_verify_nonce($_REQUEST['brickupdate'], 'brickupdate')) {
    return;
}

$newView = array();
$currentView = get_option('ci_guidesbrick_posts');

if (!is_array($currentView)) {
    $currentView = (array)$currentView;
}

for (var i = 0, i < count($currentView), i++) {
    $newView[i] = $currentView[i];
}

$newView[] = $_REQUEST['postID'];

update_option('ci_guidesbrick_posts', $newView );   

}

Answer 1

Like MZAweb said it's (probably) the auto save.
You should edit your code that when the hooks triggers it checks for auto save:

add_action('save_post', 'my_save_post', 10, 2);
function my_save_post($post_id, $post) {
    // stop on autosave
    if ( defined( 'DOING_AUTOSAVE' ) && DOING_AUTOSAVE ){
        return;
    }
    // do your magic
}

Answer 2

As you recreate the whole array each time from reading it, I would just erase the option before creating it again :

$newView[] = $_REQUEST['postID'];
delete_option( 'ci_guidesbrick_posts' );
update_option('ci_guidesbrick_posts', $newView ); 

Answer 3

save_post is called multiple times while you edit a post (autosave). That's a common gotcha, but it'd be cool if you can post your function's code to see whats going on.