javascript - How to output a PDF buffer to browser using NodeJS?

Javascript - How to output a PDF buffer to browser using NodeJS?

To output a PDF buffer to the browser using Node.js, you can use the Express.js framework along with the pdfkit library to create a PDF and the res (response) object to send the PDF as a response. Here's a basic example:

  1. Install Dependencies: Make sure to install the required dependencies using npm.

    npm install express pdfkit

  2. Create a Node.js Server: Create a simple Node.js server using Express. For example:

    const express = require('express'); const PDFDocument = require('pdfkit'); const app = express(); const port = 3000; app.get('/generate-pdf', (req, res) => { // Create a new PDF document const pdfDoc = new PDFDocument(); const buffers = []; // Pipe the PDF document to a buffer pdfDoc.on('data', (chunk) => { buffers.push(chunk); }); pdfDoc.on('end', () => { // Combine the buffers into a single buffer const pdfBuffer = Buffer.concat(buffers); // Set content type and send the PDF as the response res.setHeader('Content-Type', 'application/pdf'); res.setHeader('Content-Disposition', 'attachment; filename="output.pdf"'); res.send(pdfBuffer); }); // Add content to the PDF (customize as needed) pdfDoc.text('Hello, this is a PDF document!'); pdfDoc.end(); }); app.listen(port, () => { console.log(`Server is running on http://localhost:${port}`); });

    In this example, when you navigate to http://localhost:3000/generate-pdf, the server will dynamically generate a PDF document with some content and send it to the browser.

  3. Run the Server: Run your Node.js server.

    node server.js

  4. Access the PDF: Open your browser and navigate to http://localhost:3000/generate-pdf. The browser will download the dynamically generated PDF.

This is a basic example, and you can customize the content and styling of the PDF according to your requirements. The pdfkit library provides various methods to add text, images, and other elements to the PDF.

Examples

  1. "Node.js output PDF buffer to browser"

    • Code Implementation:
      const express = require('express'); const app = express(); app.get('/generate-pdf', (req, res) => { // Create or fetch your PDF buffer const pdfBuffer = generateYourPDF(); // Set headers for PDF response res.setHeader('Content-Type', 'application/pdf'); res.setHeader('Content-Disposition', 'inline; filename=your-file.pdf'); // Output PDF buffer to the browser res.send(pdfBuffer); }); app.listen(3000, () => { console.log('Server is running on port 3000'); });
    • Description: Create an Express route to generate and output a PDF buffer to the browser using the res.send method.

  2. "Node.js stream PDF buffer to browser"

    • Code Implementation:
      const express = require('express'); const app = express(); app.get('/generate-pdf', (req, res) => { // Create or fetch your PDF buffer const pdfBuffer = generateYourPDF(); // Set headers for PDF response res.setHeader('Content-Type', 'application/pdf'); res.setHeader('Content-Disposition', 'inline; filename=your-file.pdf'); // Stream PDF buffer to the browser const stream = new require('stream').Readable(); stream.push(pdfBuffer); stream.push(null); stream.pipe(res); }); app.listen(3000, () => { console.log('Server is running on port 3000'); });
    • Description: Use a readable stream to pipe the PDF buffer to the browser for efficient streaming.

  3. "Node.js send PDF buffer as attachment"

    • Code Implementation:
      const express = require('express'); const app = express(); app.get('/generate-pdf', (req, res) => { // Create or fetch your PDF buffer const pdfBuffer = generateYourPDF(); // Set headers for PDF attachment response res.setHeader('Content-Type', 'application/pdf'); res.setHeader('Content-Disposition', 'attachment; filename=your-file.pdf'); // Output PDF buffer to the browser res.send(pdfBuffer); }); app.listen(3000, () => { console.log('Server is running on port 3000'); });
    • Description: Set the Content-Disposition header to 'attachment' to force the browser to download the PDF instead of displaying it.

  4. "Node.js generate PDF and send to browser"

    • Code Implementation:
      const express = require('express'); const app = express(); const pdfkit = require('pdfkit'); app.get('/generate-pdf', (req, res) => { // Create a PDF using pdfkit (install it first with: npm install pdfkit) const pdfDoc = new pdfkit(); // Add content to the PDF pdfDoc.text('Hello, this is your PDF content!'); // Set headers for PDF response res.setHeader('Content-Type', 'application/pdf'); res.setHeader('Content-Disposition', 'inline; filename=your-file.pdf'); // Stream PDF document to the browser pdfDoc.pipe(res); pdfDoc.end(); }); app.listen(3000, () => { console.log('Server is running on port 3000'); });
    • Description: Use the pdfkit library to create a PDF document, stream it to the browser, and set headers for PDF response.

  5. "Node.js send PDF buffer with status code"

    • Code Implementation:
      const express = require('express'); const app = express(); app.get('/generate-pdf', (req, res) => { // Create or fetch your PDF buffer const pdfBuffer = generateYourPDF(); // Set custom status code for the response res.status(200).send(pdfBuffer); }); app.listen(3000, () => { console.log('Server is running on port 3000'); });
    • Description: Set a custom status code using res.status(200) before sending the PDF buffer to the browser.

  6. "Node.js PDF buffer download link"

    • Code Implementation:
      const express = require('express'); const app = express(); app.get('/generate-pdf', (req, res) => { // Create or fetch your PDF buffer const pdfBuffer = generateYourPDF(); // Set headers for PDF attachment response res.setHeader('Content-Type', 'application/pdf'); res.setHeader('Content-Disposition', 'attachment; filename=your-file.pdf'); // Output PDF buffer with a download link res.send(`<a href="/generate-pdf" download="your-file.pdf">Download PDF</a>`); }); app.listen(3000, () => { console.log('Server is running on port 3000'); });
    • Description: Provide a download link in the response HTML to enable users to download the PDF.

  7. "Node.js PDF buffer with Express"

    • Code Implementation:
      const express = require('express'); const app = express(); app.get('/generate-pdf', (req, res) => { // Create or fetch your PDF buffer const pdfBuffer = generateYourPDF(); // Set headers for PDF response res.setHeader('Content-Type', 'application/pdf'); res.setHeader('Content-Disposition', 'inline; filename=your-file.pdf'); // Output PDF buffer to the browser res.end(pdfBuffer); }); app.listen(3000, () => { console.log('Server is running on port 3000'); });
    • Description: Use the res.end method to send the PDF buffer to the browser in an Express route.

  8. "Node.js PDF buffer express download"

    • Code Implementation:
      const express = require('express'); const app = express(); app.get('/generate-pdf', (req, res) => { // Create or fetch your PDF buffer const pdfBuffer = generateYourPDF(); // Set headers for PDF attachment response res.setHeader('Content-Type', 'application/pdf'); res.setHeader('Content-Disposition', 'attachment; filename=your-file.pdf'); // Output PDF buffer to the browser res.download(pdfBuffer, 'your-file.pdf'); }); app.listen(3000, () => { console.log('Server is running on port 3000'); });
    • Description: Use the res.download method to prompt the browser to download the PDF with a specified filename.

  9. "Node.js send PDF buffer as binary"

    • Code Implementation:
      const express = require('express'); const app = express(); app.get('/generate-pdf', (req, res) => { // Create or fetch your PDF buffer const pdfBuffer = generateYourPDF(); // Set headers for PDF response res.setHeader('Content-Type', 'application/pdf'); res.setHeader('Content-Disposition', 'inline; filename=your-file.pdf'); // Output PDF buffer as binary to the browser res.end(Buffer.from(pdfBuffer, 'binary')); }); app.listen(3000, () => { console.log('Server is running on port 3000'); });
    • Description: Use Buffer.from(pdfBuffer, 'binary') to send the PDF buffer as binary data to the browser.

  10. "Node.js send PDF buffer with compression"

    • Code Implementation:
      const express = require('express'); const compression = require('compression'); const app = express(); app.use(compression()); app.get('/generate-pdf', (req, res) => { // Create or fetch your PDF buffer const pdfBuffer = generateYourPDF(); // Set headers for PDF response res.setHeader('Content-Type', 'application/pdf'); res.setHeader('Content-Disposition', 'inline; filename=your-file.pdf'); // Output compressed PDF buffer to the browser res.end(pdfBuffer); }); app.listen(3000, () => { console.log('Server is running on port 3000'); });
    • Description: Use the compression middleware to compress the PDF buffer before sending it to the browser.

More Tags

uitableview compilation sorting deterministic nimbus artifacts ms-word angular2-observables datareader zurb-foundation

More Programming Questions

More Financial Calculators

More Geometry Calculators

More Tax and Salary Calculators

More Organic chemistry Calculators