send javascript function in PHP to be formatted as JSON (highcharts)

Question

Hi I am setting some variables for highcharts in a Zend Report controller script like so:

    $chartOptions = array(
        "chart"=> array(
            //chart type
            "type" => "bar",
                    "spacingBottom" => 25
        ),
        "height"=>1,
        "title" => array(
            "text" => $spm->getFullName()
        ),

etc.

the json I want to end up with also has this in:

exporting: {
    buttons: {
        exportButton: {
            menuItems: [{
                text: 'Export to PNG (with text)',
                onclick: function() {
                    this.exportChart({},{
                        labels: {
                            items:[{
                                html: "System: x.x.x, Date/Time: 30:05:2012 14:32:00",
                                style: {
                                    left: '50%',
                                    top: '250px'
                                }                                            
                            }]
                        }
                    });
                }
            }, {
                text: 'Export to PNG (default)',
                onclick: function() {
                    this.exportChart();
                }
            },
            null,
            null
            ]
        }
    }
}

So I need to setup the PHP array like so:

$chartOptions = array(
    "chart"=> array(
        //chart type
        "type" => "bar",
        "spacingBottom" => 25
     ),
    "height"=>1,
    "title" => array(
        "text" => $spm->getFullName()
    ),
    "exporting" => "buttons" =>

and so on. But I'm not sure how to do it because of the javascript function. The Zend report controller copies all the variables to the view script and I have no idea how it converts the php to json, but it does and it works :/ Sorry I can't be more helpful.

All I want is the outputted json to contain the javascript above, thanks!

Answer 1

Here's a solution that may help you: http://solutoire.com/2008/06/12/sending-javascript-functions-over-json/

Effectively the idea is to encode the function as a string and then decode it once it has been passed to javascript and before passing it into highcharts.

Answer 2

It seems it is possible to encode javascript call backs in to json data with Zend. More information here: http://framework.zend.com/manual/en/zend.json.advanced.html