How to output a PDF buffer to browser using NodeJS?

Question

So I am using html-pdf to convert my html and here is my code:

var pdf = require('html-pdf')
var html = 'somehtmlfile.html'

pdf.create(html).toBuffer(function (err, buffer) {
        if (err) {
          console.log(err)
        } else {
          console.log(buffer)
          var pdfBuffer = new Buffer(buffer)
          res.setHeader('Content-disposition', 'inline; filename="test.pdf"');
          res.setHeader('Content-type', 'application/pdf');
          res.send(pdfBuffer)
        }
}

I am not getting any PDF file to be downloader nor any output of a pdf file in the browser. The console.log(buffer) is this:

<Buffer 25 50 44 46 2d 31 2e 34 0a 31 20 30 20 6f 62 6a 0a 3c 3c 0a 2f 54 69 74 6c 65 20 28 fe ff 29 0a 2f 43 72 65 61 74 6f 72 20 28 fe ff 29 0a 2f 50 72 6f ... >

Is there a simple way of doing this? Or am I doing it wrong?

I just want to output the buffer in a pdf form in the browser.

Answer 1

Change to:

pdf.create(html).toStream(function(err, stream) {
    if (err) {
        console.log(err)
    } else {
        res.set('Content-type', 'application/pdf');
        stream.pipe(res)
    }
});

Answer 2

you can use the below function or html.create(somehtmlfile.html).toStream()

function to convert a buffer to stream

 function bufferToStream(buffer) {  
     let stream = new Duplex();
     stream.push(buffer);
     stream.push(null);
     return stream;
   }

download or view a pdf in browser if it's a stream

var pdf = require('html-pdf')
var html = 'somehtmlfile.html'
exports.generatePdf = (req, res) =>{
    pdf.create(html).toBuffer(function (err, buffer) {
            if (err) {
              console.log(err)
            } else {
              console.log(buffer)

           bufferToStream(buffer).pipe(res)
            }
    }
}

Answer 3

pdf.create(html).toBuffer(function (err, buffer) {
    if (err) {
        console.log(err)
    } else {
        console.log(buffer)
        res.header('Content-type', 'application/pdf')
        res.send(buffer)
    }
}