xml-to-pdf

templated-pdf

PDF generation using an XML source. Can generate a file, buffer or stream.

Usage as a function

const pdf = require('express-hogan-pdf');

pdf.toStream(xml, basePath, (err, stream) => {});
pdf.toBuffer(xml, basePath, (err, buffer) => {});
pdf.toFile(xml, basePath, destFile, (err) => {});

Usage as an express streaming engine

app.get('/path', (req, res, next) => {
    let xml = '<pdf>xmldata</pdf>';
    pdf.toStream(xml, '/base/path/for/images', (err, stream) => {
        if (err) return next(err);
        res.attachment(stream.filename);
        stream.pipe(res);
    });
});

PDF XML example

<pdf>
  <config>
    <filename>my-file.pdf</filename>
    <document size="A4" marginBottom="50"/>
    <title>{{title}}</title>
    <colors darkred="#800"/>
    <styles>

    </styles>
  </config>
  <page>
    <h1>{{title}}</h1>
    <h2>Page 1</h2>
    <indent>
      <p>Indented text</p>
    </indent>
    <hr thickness="6"/>
    <row>
      <column width="33%">Column 1</column>
      <column width="66%">Column 2</column>
    </row>
    <div>
        A link to <a>example.com</a>
    </div>
  </page>
  <page>
    <h1 top="33%" left="100">Page 2</h1>
  </page>
</pdf>

PDF XML format

The XML format wraps most of PDFKit's available options.

The document must be wrapped in <pdf></pdf> tags

• <config> Configuration section:
  • <document> PDFKit document options, eg: <document size="A4"/>
  • <title> Set document title
  • <meta> Set PDF meta details such as <author>, <subject>, or <keywords>
  • <colors> Color aliases, eg <colors darkred="#880000"/>
  • <fonts> Font aliases, eg <fonts comic="Comic Sans Regular"/>
  • <filename> Set document filename
  • <title> Set document title
  • <styles> Add or change page tag style definintions, eg: <styles><redtext extends="span" color="red"/></styles>
    • Elements attributes can include:
      • extends="String" Style definition to extend
      • display="String" Can be block or inline
      • marginLeft="Number" Margin left
      • marginRight="Number" Margin right
      • paddingLeft="Number" Padding left
      • paddingRight="Number" Padding right
      • color="String" Text color or alias
      • font="String" Font alias, name or path
      • size="Number" Font size
      • underline="Boolean" Underline text
      • strike="Boolean" Strikethrough text
      • lineGap="Number" Line gap between wrapped lines
      • paragraphGap="Number" Gaps between paragraphs
      • align="String" text alignment
      • pre="Boolean" Respect exact whitespace in tags
      • trim="Boolean" Trim whitespace at start of each line
    • Block elements can also include the following attributes:
      • marginTop="Number" Margin top
      • marginBottom="Number" Margin bottom
      • paddingTop="Number" Padding top
      • paddingBottom="Number" Padding bottom
      • width="Number" Width as an absolute or as a percentage of the parent block
      • height="Number" Height as an absolute or as a percentage of the page height within the page margins
      • backgroundColor="String" Background color or color alias. Background will only be filled if both a height and width are given
      • border="Number" Border width. A border will only be drawn if both a height and width are given
      • borderColor="String" Border color or color alias
• <page> A page to render. Can take any PDFKit page options, such as page
  • Predefined styles and tags that are similar to HTML include:
    • <div>
    • <p>
    • <span>
    • <strong>
    • <small>
    • <indent> Indent text by paddingLeft and show a left bar of thickness and color
      • thickness="Number" Width of indent bar
      • color="String" Color or color alias of indent bar
    • <hr> Horizontal rule divider line
      • thickness="Number" Height of divider line
      • color="String" Color or color alias of divider line
    • <row> A container for a set of columns
    • <column> A left-aligned column within a row. Columns wrap within the row if the next column can't fit within the row's width
    • <img> Draw an image
      • src="String" Source of the image to draw relative to the template file
      • scale="Number" Size of image relative to its original
      • fit="Boolean" Fit image within the width and height without chaning its aspect ratio
    • <a> Create a web link for the contained text.
      • href="String" The link to go to when clicked. If no href is specified an href is created by adding https:// to the beginning of the text