CODEWITHSUNDEEP
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Gerhard
Gerhard

Reputation: 7061

Using Sinatra and ruby to interface to HTML buttons

Disclosure: I know nothing about web programming

Background to problem: I have an environmental testing chamber testing embedded computers at various temperatures. It is controlled by a windows application. I can control the chamber via ruby and the Win32API interface of the control application. The chamber is far from my office and I would remotely monitor the state and trigger a change via a Web interface. Sinatra makes it easy to show the state via a web server.

My problem: I want to click on a button on the status webpage and send a command via Sinatra and Ruby to the application without switching to a different page. I cant find any examples or information for something like that.

The Answer: You can use Ajax(as in the accepted answer) but I am going with post and reload the page. It is a lot simpler but not as smooth.

Upvotes: 0

Views: 1581

Answers (2)

BaroqueBobcat
BaroqueBobcat

Reputation: 10150

Do you already have a form that POSTs to a sinatra handler and does what you want?

If so, you could easily make it ajaxy by using jQuery.

  1. Add jquery.js to your public directory & require it from the layout

  2. Add some js to post to your handler when your button is clicked.

    // assuming your form has id=myform
// defines a callback on submission of the form #myform.
$("#myform").submit(function() {
  //posts the contents of the form to /action using ajax
  $.post("/action", $("#myform").serialize(), function(result){
    // assuming result is a string of the updated data in html
    // and assuming that your data goes in an element with the id data-table
    $("#data-table").html(result)
  });
  return false; // prevents the form from submitting normally
});

jquery docs for

Upvotes: 1

Quentin
Quentin

Reputation: 943579

I want to […] send a command via (the server) […] without switching to a different page

This is known as Ajax and is usually implemented using XMLHttpRequest.

Upvotes: 1

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