AngularJS Display PDF (byte[]) received from Spring @RestController

Question

My my requirement is to either display(new tab)/download/embed a PDF in my angular js app on form submit/post.

I do not want the server to return a unique identifier of the generated PDF and than use $window service to open a new window with it's url pointing to a server-side endpoint which returns PDf based on unique identifier. Because I need to generate the pdf on the fly (no storing in file system).

Similar question to this one AngularJS: Display blob (.pdf) in an angular app But it is not working for me.

My controller

angular.module('EvaluationResultsModule').controller('CA_EvaluationResultsCtrl',
    [ '$scope', 'EvaluationResultsService', '$sce', function($scope, EvaluationResultsService, $sce) {

        $scope.showPDF = function() {
            $scope.result = CA_EvaluationResultsService.getEvalutaionResultPDF($scope.evaluationResults);
            $scope.result.$promise.then(function(data) {
                var file = new Blob([data], {
                    type : 'application/pdf'
                });
                var fileURL = URL.createObjectURL(file);
                $scope.pdfContent = $sce.trustAsResourceUrl(fileURL);
            });
        }
    } ]);

My Service

    angular.module('EvaluationResultsModule').factory('EvaluationResultsService', function($resource) {
    return $resource('./api/ca/evaluationResults/:dest', {}, {       
        getEvalutaionResultPDF : {
            method : 'GET',
            params : {
                dest : "getPDF"
            },
            responseType : 'arraybuffer',

        }
    });
});

Rest Controller Method

@RequestMapping(value = "/getPDF", method = RequestMethod.GET)
    public byte[] getEvalutaionResultPDF()  {        
        ByteArrayOutputStream baos = new ByteArrayOutputStream();
        // Generate PDF using Jasper
        Map<String, Object> model = new HashMap<String, Object>();
        List<User> usersList = null; //populated from Service layer;
        JRBeanCollectionDataSource beanColDataSource = new JRBeanCollectionDataSource(usersList);
        JasperPrint jasperPrint =  jasperPrint = JasperFillManager.fillReport(this.getClass().getClassLoader().getResourceAsStream("A4.jasper"), model, beanColDataSource);
        JasperExportManager.exportReportToPdfStream(jasperPrint, baos);
        return baos.toByteArray();
    }

My response logged in console

response:  Object {data: ArrayBuffer, status: 200, headers: function, config: Object, statusText: "OK"}config: Objectdata: ArrayBufferbyteLength: (...)__proto__: ArrayBufferbyteLength: [Exception: TypeError: Method ArrayBuffer.prototype.byteLength called on incompatible receiver #<ArrayBuffer>]get byteLength: function byteLength() { [native code] }constructor: function ArrayBuffer() { [native code] }slice: function slice() { [native code] }__proto__: Objectheaders: function (name) {resource: Resourcestatus: 200statusText: "OK"__proto__: Object

Answer 1

I use this code and it works for me:

REST Controller:

@RequestMapping(value = "/api/reports/pdf", method = RequestMethod.GET)
@Timed
public @ResponseBody byte[] getOpenedEventsInPdf(HttpServletResponse response) {
    response.setHeader("Content-Disposition", "inline; filename=file.pdf");
    response.setContentType("application/pdf");
// get file in bytearray from my custom service in backend
    byte[] file = jasperReportsService.getOpenedEventsReport(ReportFormat.PDF);
    return file;
}

JS/Angular Controller;

$scope.getPdf = function(){
  $http.get('/api/reports/pdf', {responseType: 'arraybuffer'})
  .success(function (data) {
    var file = new Blob([data], {type: 'application/pdf'});
    var fileURL = URL.createObjectURL(file);
    window.open(fileURL);
  });
}

HTML fragment:

<a ng-click="getPdf()">Show PDF</a>

Answer 2

For "Browser Compatibility" given code is working properly :

Get the byte array data from beck-end controller side and generate file on js controller side :

Beck-end controller

@RequestMapping(value = "/getPDF", method = RequestMethod.GET)
public byte[] getEvalutaionResultPDF()  {        
        byte[] data = //get byte Array from back-end service
        return data;
}

JS Service

var getPdfFile = function(){
        return $http.get("getPDF", {responseType: 'arraybuffer'});
};

JS controller

$scope.pdfFile = function() {
        service.getPdfFile().then(function (data) {

            //for browser compatibility  
            var ieEDGE = navigator.userAgent.match(/Edge/g);
            var ie = navigator.userAgent.match(/.NET/g); // IE 11+
            var oldIE = navigator.userAgent.match(/MSIE/g); 
            var name = "file";
            var blob = new window.Blob([data.data], { type: 'application/pdf' });

            if (ie || oldIE || ieEDGE) {
                var fileName = name+'.pdf';
                window.navigator.msSaveBlob(blob, fileName);
            }
            else {
                var file = new Blob([ data.data ], {
                    type : 'application/pdf'
                });
                var fileURL = URL.createObjectURL(file);
                var a         = document.createElement('a');
                a.href        = fileURL; 
                a.target      = '_blank';
                a.download    = name+'.pdf';
                document.body.appendChild(a);
                a.click();
            }
        },
        function(error) {
            //error
        });
    };