Rails 3 AJAX solution for updating tables?

Question

I know this is a popular topic, but I\'ve been searching quite a bit trying to find the answer and strangely haven\'t found anything that has been able to help...

I\'ve

Answer 1

First create a rails endpoint that can get the new entries:

# config/routes.rb
match '/records/new_since/:time', :to => 'records#new_since'

# app/controllers/records_controller.rb
class RecordsController < ApplicationController
  def new_since 
    @records = Record.where('created_at > ?', Time.parse(params[:time]))
    respond_to do |format|
      format.json do
       @records[:time] = Time.now.to_s(:db)
       render :json => @records.to_json
      end
    end
  end
end

Then, a little javascript on the client side (prototype here):

setInterval(
  function(){
    new Ajax.Request('/records/new_since/' + $('time') + '.json', {
      method: 'get',
      onSuccess: function(transport){
        var records = transport.response.responseJSON;
        // insert the last checked time into 

        $('time').innerHTML = records.time;
        // loop over response JSON and do what you want with the data
        records.each(function(record){
          $$('table#records').insert({
            bottom: ''+record.attribute+'';
          });
        });
      }
    });
  },
  30000
);

Alternately, instead of sending down json, you can render a template of all the new table rows, and just throw that in too. Less flexible, but a little simpler if you just want to throw the responses at the bottom:

def new_since
  @records = Record.where('created_at > ?', Time.parse(params[:time]))
  respond_to do |format|
    format.json {} # renders json template
  end
end

# app/views/records/new_since.html.json.erb
<% records.each do |record| %>
  <%= record.attribute %>
<% end %>

setInterval(
  function(){
    new Ajax.Request('/records/new_since/' + $('time') + '.json', {
      method: 'get',
      onSuccess: function(transport){
        var record_rowss = transport.response.responseText;
        $('time').innerHTML = records.time;
        $$('table#records').insert({bottom: record_rows});
      }
    });
  },
  30000
);