Generate table in pdf with prawn

Question

I have successfully generated pdf file using prawn pdf gem inside the controller , but I want to separate class files and call the method of the class to make the controller code look clean. Here is my in-controller method

  def download_pdf
if Subscriber.count<50
  addSubscribers()
else
  @subscribers=Subscriber.all.order("name ASC")
end
  respond_to do |format|
    format.pdf do
      pdf = Prawn::Document.new
      table_data = Array.new
      table_data << ["Name","E-mail","Phone"]
      @subscribers.each do |p|
        table_data << [p.name, p.email,p.phone]
      end
      pdf.table(table_data, :width => 500, :cell_style => { :inline_format => true })
      send_data pdf.render, filename: 'test.pdf', type: 'application/pdf', :disposition => 'inline'
    end
  end

end

But when I try to use the following code->

def download_pdf
  @subscribers=Subscriber.all.order("name ASC")
  PdfCreator.new(@subscribers)
end

And the PdfCreator class is ->

    class PdfCreator

  def initialize(subscribers)
    @subs=subscr
    download_pdf()
  end

  def download_pdf()
      pdf = Prawn::Document.new
      table_data = Array.new
      table_data << ["Name","E-mail","Phone"]
      @subs.each do |p|
        table_data << [p.name, p.email,p.phone]
      end
      pdf.table(table_data, :width => 500, :cell_style => { :inline_format => true })
    send_data pdf.render, filename: 'test.pdf', type: 'application/pdf', :disposition => 'inline'
  end

end

respond to is not resolving as a method. I found some codes on generating pdf from an outside class but only for normal texts not for tables- Any help regarding how to do it for tables , that will be a great help

What is your actual error? One thing I will note is that send_data is going to be an issue in that class and should be left in the controller but "code is obviously errorenous" does not really help us solve any other issues you may be experiencing — engineersmnky

Unixmonkey Unixmonkey · Accepted Answer · 2019-07-29T15:57:13

send_data is a controller-level method, and won't work inside your custom class, and the respond_to might be needed for your route to respond appropriately.

Let's try keeping what's needed in the controller and extract only PDF-generating logic to the new PdfCreator class:

def download_pdf
  @subscribers=Subscriber.all.order("name ASC")

  respond_to do |format|
    format.pdf do
      pdf = PdfCreator.new(@subscribers)
      send_data pdf.render, filename: 'test.pdf', type: 'application/pdf', disposition: 'inline'
    end
  end
end


class PdfCreator
  def initialize(subscribers)
    @subs=subscribers
  end

  def render()
    pdf = Prawn::Document.new
    table_data = Array.new
    table_data << ["Name","E-mail","Phone"]
    @subs.each do |p|
      table_data << [p.name, p.email,p.phone]
    end
    pdf.table(table_data, :width => 500, :cell_style => { inline_format: true })
    pdf.render
  end
end

Generate table in pdf with prawn

1 Answers