Now, with dynamic data, you can’t predict what your data will look like, and your code needs to be flexible enough to handle any situation without causing headaches for the user.  With ChartDirector, you pass in datasets via arrays across the chart, so for example the above datasets would be created by:

$data0 = array(100, 125, 245, 147, 67);
$data1 = array(85, 156, 179, 211, 123);
$data2 = array(97, 87, 56, 267, 157);

Such that, the numbers line up in the arrays (vertically) in how they correspond to the resulting chart. In my situation and test data, I found I had a situation like the following:

$data0 = array(100, 125, 0, 147, 67);
$data1 = array(85, 156, 0, 211, 123);
$data2 = array(97, 87, 0, 267, 157);

So, the bar for the 3rd item in the chart would be distributed equally as 33.33% when, in fact, there was no data. I assumed the chart would display a blank spot for that bar. After searching the less than optimal support forums (to no fault of the creators / maintainers), I found I needed to instead use a constant defined in the ChartDirector code – ‘NoValue’, where I had…wait for it….no value. Putting a small check in my code to replace zeros with ‘NoValue’ proved to produce the results I was after.

Note to fellow developers: If you’re posting in a forum for assistance, please be more verbose in your subject line. It really helps with searching if the subject can provide some bit of context around what the problem is.

The implementation is fairly simple, upon login, we use cURL or something similar and generate a POST request, using the username and password. The remote script grabs the session ID and user ID and returns the values to the originating server. We then, set the cookie values.

Now, the interesting bit. phpBB has multiple layers by which it validates the session. Since our remote server is originating the request, we don’t have the same IP as the user. Second, it uses the User-Agent string of the browser to validate the session. Using cURL, we don’t have a browser. Now, with cURL, you can set various settings (User-Agent string, X-Forwarded-For header, etc) – but if you’d rather not depend on that, you can simply un-check those settings in phpBB.

Of course, I’d recommend using the cURL settings, but to get you started and ensure the connectivity is working.

$export = $this->getRequest ()->getParam ( 'export' );
 
switch ($export)
{
    case 'odt' :
        $grid = "Bvb_Grid_Deploy_Odt";
        break;
    case 'ods' :
        $grid = "Bvb_Grid_Deploy_Ods";
        break;
    case 'xml' :
        $grid = "Bvb_Grid_Deploy_Xml";
        break;
    case 'csv' :
        $grid = "Bvb_Grid_Deploy_Csv";
        break;
    case 'excel' :
        $grid = "Bvb_Grid_Deploy_Excel";
        break;
    case 'word' :
        $grid = "Bvb_Grid_Deploy_Word";
        break;
    case 'wordx' :
        $grid = "Bvb_Grid_Deploy_Wordx";
        break;
    case 'pdf' :
        $grid = "Bvb_Grid_Deploy_Pdf";
        break;
    case 'print' :
        $grid = "Bvb_Grid_Deploy_Print";
        break;
    default :
        $grid = "Bvb_Grid_Deploy_Table";
        break;
}
 
$grid = new $grid (false, 'DataGrid Example', '/tmp', array('download'));
$grid->setDataFromCsv(dirname(__FILE__).'/Detail_Limited.csv');
$grid->imagesUrl = '/images/';
 
$this->view->grid = $grid->deploy();

The code at the end is mine, which basically tells the DataGrid where to render/save the exported file, which is then immediately sent for download. I also am not using the Zend_Db stuff for the data. As a proof-of-concept, I’m using a simple dataset in CSV, which works amazingly well. The filters, sorting, and pagination still work with CSV.

I’m thinking about writing an adapter for Doctrine, such that one could construct a Doctrine query object, pass it into the DataGrid, and everything would work, as it does with the Zend_Db counterparts.