# Outputting graphs in a PDF from a Rails app?

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/outputting-graphs-in-a-pdf-from-a-rails-app/88857>\
**Category:** Rails\
**Created:** [March 15, 2007, 1:23am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/outputting-graphs-in-a-pdf-from-a-rails-app/88857 "2007-03-15T01:23:44Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![unknown](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/u/4bbf92/32.png) [@unknown](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/unknown)\
**Post date:** [March 15, 2007, 1:23am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/outputting-graphs-in-a-pdf-from-a-rails-app/88857/1 "2007-03-15T01:23:44Z")

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Hi there

I have a Rails app that is used to conduct surveys.

I now wish to be able to output a report in pdf format with graphs of  
the survey results.

The graphs themselves are quite simple bar charts, but is there a neat  
solution to getting graphs (scruffy, ziya etc) into a PDF from a Rails  
app?

Any clues appreciated.

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**Author:** ![unknown](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/u/4bbf92/32.png) [@unknown](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/unknown)\
**Post date:** [March 15, 2007, 1:28am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/outputting-graphs-in-a-pdf-from-a-rails-app/88857/2 "2007-03-15T01:28:44Z")

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I should add that I have a sample of what I am trying to achieve and  
that it was produced by a .NET component called ComponentOne PDF  
Generator.

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**Author:** ![unknown](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/u/4bbf92/32.png) [@unknown](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/unknown)\
**Post date:** [March 15, 2007, 1:38am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/outputting-graphs-in-a-pdf-from-a-rails-app/88857/3 "2007-03-15T01:38:45Z")

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This came out yesterday in my rails blog search feeds

[http://deliciousdayz.blogspot.com/2007/03/how-to-generate-pdf-in-ruby-on-rails.html](http://deliciousdayz.blogspot.com/2007/03/how-to-generate-pdf-in-ruby-on-rails.html)

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**Author:** ![unknown](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/u/4bbf92/32.png) [@unknown](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/unknown)\
**Post date:** [March 15, 2007, 1:39am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/outputting-graphs-in-a-pdf-from-a-rails-app/88857/4 "2007-03-15T01:39:45Z")

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And you might want to read about rmagick and gruff - I haven’t used  
them but they’re there

[http://www.robertvenema.nl/2007/02/06/create-beautiful-graphs-with-ruby-and-gruff/](http://www.robertvenema.nl/2007/02/06/create-beautiful-graphs-with-ruby-and-gruff/)

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**Author:** ![unknown](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/u/4bbf92/32.png) [@unknown](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/unknown)\
**Post date:** [March 18, 2007, 3:26am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/outputting-graphs-in-a-pdf-from-a-rails-app/88857/5 "2007-03-18T03:26:29Z")

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Thanks dysinger.

I notice that the Gruff developer mentions PDF::Writer support in a  
future release.