Jspdf: Does jspdf even work server side ?

[mohamed-badaoui]

###Does jspdf even work server side ?

Same Issue #566 #1891 :(

node -v 
v11.5.0

"jspdf": "^1.5.3",

/home/unknown/.nvm/versions/node/v11.5.0/lib/node_modules/ts-node/src/index.ts:261
return new TSError(diagnosticText, diagnosticCodes)
^
TSError: ⨯ Unable to compile TypeScript:
test-jspdf.ts(18,8): error TS2339: Property 'window' does not exist on type 'Global'.
test-jspdf.ts(19,8): error TS2339: Property 'navigator' does not exist on type 'Global'.
test-jspdf.ts(20,8): error TS2339: Property 'btoa' does not exist on type 'Global'.

at createTSError (/home/unknown/.nvm/versions/node/v11.5.0/lib/node_modules/ts-node/src/index.ts:261:12)
at getOutput (/home/unknown/.nvm/versions/node/v11.5.0/lib/node_modules/ts-node/src/index.ts:367:40)
at Object.compile (/home/unknown/.nvm/versions/node/v11.5.0/lib/node_modules/ts-node/src/index.ts:558:11)
at Module.m._compile (/home/unknown/.nvm/versions/node/v11.5.0/lib/node_modules/ts-node/src/index.ts:439:43)
at Module._extensions..js (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:732:10)
at Object.require.extensions.(anonymous function) [as .ts] (/home/unknown/.nvm/versions/node/v11.5.0/lib/node_modules/ts-node/src/index.ts:442:12)
at Module.load (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:620:32)
at tryModuleLoad (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:560:12)
at Function.Module._load (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:552:3)
at Function.Module.runMain (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:774:12)

Even if it is run directly in JS, we have following issue

ReferenceError: html2pdf is not defined
    at /home/unknown/Projects/project-api/node_modules/jspdf/dist/jspdf.min.js:202:16291
    at /home/unknown/Projects/project-api/node_modules/jspdf/dist/jspdf.min.js:1:124
    at Object.<anonymous> (/home/unknown/Projects/project-api/node_modules/jspdf/dist/jspdf.min.js:1:128)
    at Module._compile (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:721:30)
    at Object.Module._extensions..js (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:732:10)
    at Module.load (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:620:32)

[Uzlopak]

Would you atleast try jspdf.node.debug.js?

[mohamed-badaoui]

Would you atleast try jspdf.node.debug.js?

With this following code snippet

let jsPdfDebug = require('jspdf/dist/jspdf.node.debug')
var doc = new jsPdfDebug()

This minimalist example throws the error, (whatever we use jspdf or jspdf.node.debug)

ReferenceError: window is not defined

That's why I asked if this library works server side ?

Even if we use this workaround before the require lib

global.window = {document: {createElementNS: () => {return {}} }};
global.navigator = {};
global.btoa = () => {};

We had another error:
ReferenceError: html2pdf is not defined

[Uzlopak]

and where in jspdf.node is html2pdf referenced?

[mohamed-badaoui]

and where in jspdf.node is html2pdf referenced?

no that error was thrown by jspdf.

If I continue using jspdf.node.debug, the following error is:
ReferenceError: saveAs is not defined

The code I use is

global.window = {document: {createElementNS: () => {return {}} }};
global.navigator = {};
global.btoa = () => {};
let jsPdfDebug = require('jspdf/dist/jspdf.node.debug')

var doc = new jsPdfDebug();
doc.text('Hello world!', 10, 10)
doc.save('a4.pdf')

And that not works if I not set global.window

Can you provide a server side working example ?

It seems that jspdf depends on browser functions? no?

[Uzlopak]

Seems like you are using jspdf.debug.js and not jspdf.node.debug.js

save will not work, because you have to use node own save routines to save the data to a file.

[mohamed-badaoui]

Seems like you are using jspdf.debug.js and not jspdf.node.debug.js
save will not work, because you have to use node own save routines to save the data to a file.

I wrote the snippet code used just above and as you can see it s jspdf.node.debug which is called, nothing else.

Did you at least run this snippet code and succeed to make it works to answer that ?

I found different threads on stackoverflow or here from users facing the same issue. And it is not really a matter if jsPdf works only front side because JsPdf is already one of the greatest JS lib for generating PDF

I just would like to know if it worked even server side, and if Yes, How? with which node and jspdf versions ? And if so and once more, can you share a server side working snippet code ?

[Uzlopak]

Did you solve it?

[mohamed-badaoui]

No, I had to change for another lib.
I believe that Jspdf is very well for browser pdf generation only at the moment.

[Science001]

@mohamed-badaoui What other lib are you using for server-side pdf generation?

[mohamed-badaoui]

@Science001 pdfkit http://pdfkit.org/
https://github.com/foliojs/pdfkit

[luisfrocha]

I was able to get it working...but only a little further than @mohamed-badaoui. So I added the library and got the error html2pdf is not defined. So I did

global.html2pdf = require(html2pdf');

and the error went away...but now I get the following

ReferenceError: Blob is not defined
    at l.__private__.getBlob (/app/node_modules/jspdf/dist/jspdf.min.js:29:21377)
    at Object.l.save (/app/node_modules/jspdf/dist/jspdf.min.js:29:35467)

when I try to save the document.

I think I'm just going to use something else. I really wanted to use the autoTable plugin...but it seems like nobody has been able to make it work on the server...

@arasabbasi Do you have an example/sample code that DOES work on the server?

[luisfrocha]

I think I'm going to use voilab-pdf-table instead

[Uzlopak]

build the current code with npm run-script build and then see run the examples/node

[luisfrocha]

After running npm run build, I get the following:

Error: Cannot find module '/app/node_modules/jspdf/build.js'
    at Function.Module._resolveFilename (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:582:15)
    at Function.Module._load (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:508:25)
    at Function.Module.runMain (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:754:12)
    at startup (internal/bootstrap/node.js:283:19)
    at bootstrapNodeJSCore (internal/bootstrap/node.js:622:3)

Sorry, just gonna try with something else.

[Uzlopak]

You have to clone the repository and then run in your console npm run-script build. If you do it in your project-folder then there is no wonder, that it doesnt work ;)