pdfkit

What is pdfkit?

PDFKit is a JavaScript library for generating PDF documents, allowing you to create multi-page documents with text, images, vector graphics, and more. It is highly customizable and can be used both in Node.js and browser environments.

What are pdfkit's main functionalities?

Text

This feature allows you to add text to your PDF document. The code sample demonstrates how to create a PDF document and add a 'Hello, World!' text at coordinates (100, 100) with a font size of 25.

const PDFDocument = require('pdfkit');
const fs = require('fs');

const doc = new PDFDocument();
doc.pipe(fs.createWriteStream('output.pdf'));

doc.fontSize(25).text('Hello, World!', 100, 100);

doc.end();

Images

This feature allows you to add images to your PDF document. The code sample demonstrates how to add an image to the PDF at coordinates (100, 150) with a width of 300 units.

const PDFDocument = require('pdfkit');
const fs = require('fs');

const doc = new PDFDocument();
doc.pipe(fs.createWriteStream('output.pdf'));

doc.image('path/to/image.png', 100, 150, {width: 300});

doc.end();

Vector Graphics

This feature allows you to draw vector graphics such as rectangles, circles, and lines. The code sample demonstrates how to draw a red rectangle at coordinates (100, 100) with a width and height of 200 units.

const PDFDocument = require('pdfkit');
const fs = require('fs');

const doc = new PDFDocument();
doc.pipe(fs.createWriteStream('output.pdf'));

doc.rect(100, 100, 200, 200).fill('#FF0000');

doc.end();

Tables

This feature allows you to create tables within your PDF document. The code sample demonstrates how to create a simple table with headers and rows.

const PDFDocument = require('pdfkit');
const fs = require('fs');

const doc = new PDFDocument();
doc.pipe(fs.createWriteStream('output.pdf'));

doc.text('Table Example', 100, 50);

doc.moveDown();
const table = {
  headers: ['Header 1', 'Header 2', 'Header 3'],
  rows: [
    ['Row 1 Col 1', 'Row 1 Col 2', 'Row 1 Col 3'],
    ['Row 2 Col 1', 'Row 2 Col 2', 'Row 2 Col 3'],
  ]
};

doc.table(table, {width: 500});

doc.end();

Links

This feature allows you to add hyperlinks to your PDF document. The code sample demonstrates how to add a clickable link that directs to Google's website.

const PDFDocument = require('pdfkit');
const fs = require('fs');

const doc = new PDFDocument();
doc.pipe(fs.createWriteStream('output.pdf'));

doc.text('Click here to visit Google', 100, 100).link(100, 100, 160, 27, 'http://www.google.com');

doc.end();

Other packages similar to pdfkit

pdf-lib

pdf-lib is a library for creating and modifying PDF documents in JavaScript. It is similar to PDFKit but offers a more modern API and additional features like form filling and annotation. It is also designed to work in both Node.js and browser environments.

jspdf

jsPDF is a popular library for generating PDF documents in JavaScript. It is often used for client-side PDF generation in web applications. Compared to PDFKit, jsPDF is more focused on simplicity and ease of use, making it a good choice for basic PDF generation tasks.

pdfmake

pdfmake is a library for generating PDF documents in JavaScript. It uses a declarative approach to document creation, making it easy to define complex layouts. Compared to PDFKit, pdfmake is more focused on layout and styling, making it a good choice for creating well-formatted documents.

README

PDFKit

A PDF generation library for Node.js.

Description

PDFKit is a PDF document generation library for Node that makes creating complex, multi-page, printable documents easy. It is written in pure CoffeeScript, but you can choose to use the API in plain 'ol JavaScript if you like. The API embraces chainability, and includes both low level functions as well as abstractions for higher level functionality. The PDFKit API is designed to be simple, so generating complex documents is often as simple as a few function calls. Check out some of the documentation and examples to see for yourself!

Installation

Installation uses the npm package manager. Just type the following command after installing npm.

npm install pdfkit

Features

• Vector graphics
  • HTML5 canvas-like API
  • Path operations
  • SVG path parser for easy path creation
  • Transformations
• Text
  • Line wrapping
  • Text alignments
  • Bulleted lists
• Font embedding
  • Supports TrueType (.ttf), TrueType Collections (.ttc), and Datafork TrueType (.dfont) fonts
• Image embedding
  • Supports JPEG and PNG files (including indexed PNGs, and PNGs with transparency)
• Annotations
  • Links
  • Notes
  • Highlights
  • Underlines
  • etc.

Coming soon!

• Gradients and patterns
• Outlines
• PDF Security
• Font subsetting
• Higher level APIs for creating tables and laying out content
• More performance optimizations
• Even more awesomeness, perhaps written by you! Please fork this repository and send me pull requests.

Example

PDFDocument = require 'pdfkit'
doc = new PDFDocument

# Embed a font, set the font size, and render some text
doc.font('fonts/PalatinoBold.ttf')
   .fontSize(25)
   .text('Some text with an embedded font!', 100, 100)

# Add another page
doc.addPage()
   .fontSize(25)
   .text('Here is some vector graphics...', 100, 100)

# Draw a triangle
doc.save()
   .moveTo(100, 150)
   .lineTo(100, 250)
   .lineTo(200, 250)
   .fill("#FF3300")

# Apply some transforms and render an SVG path with the 'even-odd' fill rule
doc.scale(0.6)
   .translate(470, -380)
   .path('M 250,75 L 323,301 131,161 369,161 177,301 z')
   .fill('red', 'even-odd')
   .restore()

# Add some text with annotations
doc.addPage()
   .fillColor("blue")
   .text('Here is a link!', 100, 100)
   .underline(100, 100, 160, 27, color: "#0000FF")
   .link(100, 100, 160, 27, 'http://google.com/')

# Write the PDF file to disk
doc.write 'output.pdf'
 

The PDF output from this example (with a few additions) shows the power of PDFKit — producing complex documents with a very small amount of code. For more, see the demo folder and the PDFKit programming guide.

Documentation

For complete API documentation and more examples, see the PDFKit website.

License

PDFKit is licensed under the MIT license.