Rails render array to pdf with prawn - ruby-on-rails

Question

I need to render my #manufacturers array to pdf, but do it only via click on some link in view...
Now i have such code
def index
#manufacturers = Manufacturer.all
respond_to do |format|
format.html # index.html.erb
format.json { render json: #manufacturers }
format.pdf { render :layout => false }
end
end
I see a lot of examples in web, but i didn't found clear and actual example... Just how simple do in a4 pdf table with my array #manufacturers ?

Answer 1

In addition to prawn, use the prawnto rails plugin to help with rendering the PDF as a template.
See https://github.com/prior/prawnto for the plugin and http://railscasts.com/episodes/153-pdfs-with-prawn for how to use it.

Answer 2

[Note: the Report gem currently only generates on letter-size paper, patch for A4 would be welcome!]
You can use the Report gem, which generates PDF using Prawn but also XLSX and CSV.
# a fake Manufacturer class - you probably have an ActiveRecord model
Manufacturer = Struct.new(:name, :gsa)
require 'report'
class ManufacturerReport < Report
table 'Manufacturers' do
head do
row 'Manufacturer report'
end
body do
rows :manufacturers
column 'Name', :name
column 'GSA?', :gsa
end
end
# you would want this so that you can pass in an array
# attr_reader :manufacturers
# def initialize(manufacturers)
# #manufacturers = manufacturers
# end
def manufacturers
[
Manufacturer.new('Ford', true),
Manufacturer.new('Fischer', false),
Manufacturer.new('Tesla', nil),
]
end
end
When you call report.pdf.path, a PDF is generating in the tmp directory:
report = ManufacturerReport.new
puts report.pdf.path #=> /tmp/185051406_Report__Pdf.pdf
puts report.xlsx.path #=> /tmp/185050541_Report__Xlsx.xlsx
You can do it in your controller like:
#manufacturers = Manufacturer.all
respond_to do |format|
format.html # index.html.erb
format.json { render json: #manufacturers }
format.pdf do
report = ManufacturerReport.new(#manufacturers) # using the commented-out code
send_file report.pdf.path, :type => 'application/pdf', :disposition => 'attachment', :filename => 'ManufacturersReport.pdf'
# tmp files are periodically cleaned up by the operating system, but if you want to be extra clean you can call
# report.cleanup
# but this may remove the tmp files before apache/nginx/etc. finishes delivering the file
end
end
End result:
PDF
XLSX
Note that the XLSX has an autofilter added for you automatically.