Question

Rails 2.35 / Ruby 1.87

I’ve been trying jqplot.

With Fusion Charts, I was always using the builder files which rendered XML for the view . With jqPlot, if I can simply build a data string and insert it into the JavaScript that generates the graph, is there any reason to render JSON files (etc)?

Also, I couldn’t find any jqPlot Rails examples and just made something up. I was curious how what I did could have been written better (or if I did ok here).

Thanks!

  CONTROLLER
  ---------------------
 def provisioned_accounts
    sql = %Q{
          SELECT day_of, provisioned_accounts from daily_provisioned_accounts_rollup
          }
    graph_data = DailyProvisionedAccountsRollup.find_by_sql(sql)

    @graph_data = ''
    x = 0
    graph_data.each do |g|
      x += 1
      if x == 1
        @graph_data += "['" + g.day_of.to_s + "', "  + g.provisioned_accounts.to_s + "]"
      else
        @graph_data += ", ['" + g.day_of.to_s + "', "  + g.provisioned_accounts.to_s + "]"
      end
    end
  end

  VIEW
  ---------
  <div id="chart1" style="height:300px; width:800px;"></div>

  <script type="text/javascript">
    $(document).ready(function(){
      var line1=[<%= @graph_data %>];
      var plot1 = $.jqplot('chart1', [line1], {
          title:'Provisioned Accounts',
          axes:{
            xaxis:{
              renderer:$.jqplot.DateAxisRenderer,
              tickOptions:{
                formatString:'%b&nbsp;%#d'
              }
            },
            yaxis:{
              tickOptions:{
                formatString:'%.0f'
                }
            }
          }
      });
    });
</script>

Answer 1

There are a few things I’d do differently here.

Move your find_by_sql into a method on DailyProvisionedAccountsRollup called something like this:

class DailyProvisionedAccountsRollup < ActiveRecord::Base
  ...

  def self.summary
    all.map do |record|
      [ record.day_of, record.provisioned_accounts ]
    end
  end
end

Then, in your controller you can just do this:

def provisioned_accounts
  @graph_data = DailyProvisionedAccountsRollup.summary
end

Finally, in your view you just use @graph_data.to_json

<div id="chart1" style="height:300px; width:800px;"></div>

<script type="text/javascript">
  $(document).ready(function(){
    var line1=<%= @graph_data.to_json %>
    var plot1 = $.jqplot('chart1', [line1], {
        title:'Provisioned Accounts',
        ...

That’s all untested code, but it should get you started cleaning up your controllers.