Insert SVG using Catalyst Framework - perl

Question

I would like to add an SVG bar chart into my web application.
I have to use Catalyst Framework and Template::Toolkit view.
While searching cpan, I have found this module.
I followed the example instructions in the above web-page in order to create a simple graph.
Unfortunately, no chart is rendered in my application.
Firstly I created the view class
./script/myapp_create.pl view Chart SVG::TT::Graph
and added this code inside it
package myapp::View::Chart;
use Moose;
use namespace::autoclean;
use SVG::TT::Graph::BarHorizontal;
my #fields = qw(Jan Feb Mar);
my #data_sales_02 = qw(12 45 21);
my $graph = SVG::TT::Graph::BarHorizontal->new({
'height' => '500',
'width' => '300',
'fields' => \#fields,
});
$graph->add_data({
'data' => \#data_sales_02,
'title' => 'Sales 2002',
});
print "Content-type: image/svg+xml\n\n";
print $graph->burn();
Then I set the chart preferences in my config
<View::Chart>
format png
<chart_conf>
style_sheet /home/john/myapp/root/static/css/style2.css
show_graph_title 1
</chart_conf>
</View::Chart>
Finally I created the below subroutine in my controller
sub getchart :Local :Args(0){
my ( $self, $c ) = #_;
$c->stash->{chart_title} = 'Sales data'; # optional
$c->stash->{chart_type} = 'BarHorizontal'; # or Pie/Line/BarHorizontal
$c->stash->{chart_conf} = {
height => 400,
width => 600
};
$c->stash->{chart_fields} = [ qw(Jan Feb March) ];
$c->stash->{chart_data} = [ 12, 45, 21];
$c->forward($c->view('Chart'));
}
Obviously I am missing something fundamental but I am inexperienced with Catalyst. Any help is highly appreciated. Thanks

Answer 1

Your are printing your graph results to STDOUT. Perhaps this is ending up in your server logs or somewhere else, but if you want Catalyst to send something to a client you have to set the body of your server response. The message body is accessible through the Catalyst context.
There is already some sample code on how to print graphs using a Catalyst::View in the fabulous Catalyst Advent Calendar. At the end of the view's process subroutine you can see how to set the response body.
You could use this sample code and just replace the graph generator with some SVG creation module of your choice.