Convert Flash to Image

rubyonrails-talk
1

I am currently in the process of converting a report rendered in HTML to PDF using the PDF::Writer tool.

In the report is a Flash object called FushionChart which is a dynamic chart that is rendered client side by the flash player using a given XML feed. Now I would like to create an image from this chart and place it in the PDF file.

I already have code that generate the needed HTML to draw the flash and the XML feed in a helper so I am going to guess that I need to draw this flash object serverside, and then export the image.

How am I going to do this in Ruby on Rails?

2

Chris Dekker wrote:

I am currently in the process of converting a report rendered in HTML to PDF using the PDF::Writer tool.

In the report is a Flash object called FushionChart which is a dynamic chart that is rendered client side by the flash player using a given XML feed. Now I would like to create an image from this chart and place it in the PDF file.

I already have code that generate the needed HTML to draw the flash and the XML feed in a helper so I am going to guess that I need to draw this flash object serverside, and then export the image.

How am I going to do this in Ruby on Rails?

I suggest looking in the FusionCharts documentation. There's a folder called "Saving Chart as Image" that can probably help you out. You'll probably have to use javascript for converting it to an image, but that's a good place to start.

3

Mark Mr wrote:

I suggest looking in the FusionCharts documentation. There's a folder called "Saving Chart as Image" that can probably help you out. You'll probably have to use javascript for converting it to an image, but that's a good place to start.

Thanks for your reply, I actually first looked into that possibility but the problem is that that requires an invocation from the client side after the rendering has been done. This is not possible when the PDF is generated purely serverside.

I have found 1 topic that talks about the possibility to render a static image serverside, in ruby even, but that solution has a lot of problems on Windows machines and lacks documentation in crucial areas which I was unable to figure out on my own. http://www.fusioncharts.com/forum/Topic724-28-3.aspx?Highlight=ruby