Ember computed.alias in nested views - ember.js

Question

I'm trying to create a reusable generated element that can react to changing outside data. I'm doing this in an included view and using computed.alias, but this may be the wrong approach, because I can't seem to access the generic controller object at all.
http://emberjs.jsbin.com/nibuwevu/1/edit
App = Ember.Application.create();
App.AwesomeChartController = Ember.Object.extend({
data: [],
init: function() {
this.setData();
},
setData: function() {
var self = this;
// Get data from the server
self.set('data', [
{
id: 1,
complete: 50,
totoal: 100
},
{
id: 2,
complete: 70,
total: 200
}
]);
}
});
App.IndexController = Ember.Controller.extend({
needs: ['awesome_chart']
});
App.ChartView = Ember.View.extend({
tagName: 'svg',
attributeBindings: 'width height'.w(),
content: Ember.computed.alias('awesome_chart.data'),
render: function() {
var width = this.get('width'),
height = this.get('height');
var svg = d3.select('#'+this.get('elementId'));
svg.append('text')
.text('Got content, and it is ' + typeof(content))
.attr('width', width)
.attr('height', height)
.attr('x', 20)
.attr('y', 20);
}.on('didInsertElement')
});
And the HTML
<script type="text/x-handlebars">
<h2> Welcome to Ember.js</h2>
{{outlet}}
</script>
<script type="text/x-handlebars" data-template-name="index">
<h2>Awesome chart</h2>
{{view App.ChartView width=400 height=100}}
</script>
For what it's worth, this didn't seem to work as a component, either. Is the ApplicationController the only place for code that will be used on multiple pages? The 'needs' seems to work, but the nested view can't access it. If I make a proper Ember.Controller instance to decorate the view, that doesn't seem to work either.
Any help is much appreciated.
Update:
I can't edit my comment below, but I found a good answer on how to use related, and unrelated, models in a single route.
How to use multiple models with a single route in EmberJS / Ember Data?

Answer 1

Firstly, your controllers should extend ObjectController/ArrayController/Controller
App.AwesomeChartController = Ember.Controller.extend({...});
Secondly when you create a view the view takes the controller of the parent, unless explicitly defined.
{{view App.ChartView width=400 height=100 controller=controllers.awesomeChart}}
Thirdly you already had set up the needs (needed a minor tweak), but just as a reminder for those reading this, in order to access a different controller from a controller you need to specify the controller name in the needs property of that controller.
App.IndexController = Ember.Controller.extend({
needs: ['awesomeChart']
});
Fourthly from inside the view your computed alias changes to controller.data. Inside the view it no longer knows it as AwesomeChart, just as controller
content: Ember.computed.alias('controller.data')
Fifthly inside your on('init') method you need to actually get('content') before you attempt to display what it is. content doesn't live in the scope of that method.
var content = this.get('content');
http://emberjs.jsbin.com/nibuwevu/2/edit

Answer 2

First, AwesomeChart does sound like it's gonna be a reusable self-contained component. In which case you should better user Ember.Component instead of Ember.View (as a bonus, you get a nice helper: {{awesome-chart}}).
App.AwesomeChartComponent = Ember.Component.extend({ /* ... */ });
// instead of App.ChartView...
Second, for AwesomeChart to be truly reusable, it shouldn't be concerned with getting data or anything. Instead, it should assume that it gets its data explicitly.
To do this, you basically need to remove the "content:" line from the awesome chart component and then pass the data in the template:
{{awesome-chart content=controllers.awesomeChart.data}}
Already, it's more reusable than it was before. http://emberjs.jsbin.com/minucuqa/2/edit
But why stop there? Having a separate controller for pulling chart data is odd. This belongs to model:
App.ChartData = Ember.Object.extend();
App.ChartData.reopenClass({
fetch: function() {
return new Ember.RSVP.Promise(function(resolve) {
resolve([
{
id: 1,
complete: 50,
total: 100
},
{
id: 2,
complete: 70,
total: 200
}
]);
// or, in case of http request:
$.ajax({
url: 'someURL',
success: function(data) { resolve(data); }
});
});
}
});
And wiring up the model with the controller belongs to route:
App.IndexController = Ember.ObjectController.extend();
App.IndexRoute = Ember.Route.extend({
model: function() {
return App.ChartData.fetch();
}
});
Finally, render it this way:
{{awesome-chart content=model}}
http://emberjs.jsbin.com/minucuqa/3/edit