Simple plugin to generate (offline) pdf. the plugin basically transform HTML to PDF and also provide the mechanism to share the pdf to other apps like Mail, etc. For now works in iOS and Android, if you want to add other platform feel free contribute.
The iOS HTML to PDF transformation is based in this work BNHtmlPdfKit, I just add a new method to allow transformation between plain HTML to PDF.
Here you can find a starting guide.
- Generates a PDF document using a URL or HTML.
- Open-with menu, open the context menu and (push to cloud, print, save, mail, etc...).
- Return the Base64 file representation back, so you can upload the file to a server (IOS & Android only).
- Android
- iOS
cordova plugin add cordova-pdf-generator
cordova platform add ios
plugman install --platform ios --project platforms/ios --plugin cordova-pdf-generator
npm install cordova-pdf-generator
cordova plugins add node_modules/cordova-pdf-generator
Clone the plugin
$ git clone https://github.com/cesarvr/pdf-generator
Create a new Cordova Project
$ cordova create hello com.example.helloapp Hello
Install the plugin
$ cd hello
$ cordova plugin add ../pdf-generator
Before using the plugin just make sure that the device is ready by listening to the onDeviceReady event:
document.addEventListener('deviceready', function(){
// start using cordova plugin here.
})
The plugin expose a global variable named pdf, this variable expose the following functions.
Creates a PDF using a URL, it download the document into an in memory Webkit object, and renders it into a PDF.
- url : Takes the URL with the HTML document you want to transform to PDF, once the document finish loading is render by webkit and transformed into a PDF file.
Example:
let options = {
documentSize: 'A4',
type: 'base64'
}
pdf.fromURL('http://www.google.es', options)
.then(()=>'ok')
.catch((err)=>console.err(err))
Creates a PDF using string with the HTML representation, it download the document into an in memory Webkit object, and renders it into a PDF.
- data : Takes a string representing the HTML document, it load this in Webkit and creates a PDF.
Example:
let options = {
documentSize: 'A4',
type: 'base64'
}
pdf.fromData('<html><h1>Hello World</h1></html>', options)
.then((base64)=>'ok') // it will
.catch((err)=>console.err(err))
- Its take
A4, A3, A2
this specify the format of the paper, just available in iOS, in Android this option is ignored.
base64
it will return a Base64 representation of the PDF file. ```{ type: 'base64' } ``, is not type is provided this one is choosen by default. `
let options = {
documentSize: 'A4',
type: 'base64'
}
pdf.fromData('<html><h1>Hello World</h1></html>', options)
.then((base64)=> console.log(base64) ) // returns base64:JVBERi0xLjQKJdPr6eEKMSAwIG9iago8PC9DcmVh...
.catch((err)=>console.err(err))
share
It will delegate the file to the OS printing infraestructure, this basically will allow the user to handle the file himself using the mobile OS features available.
let options = {
documentSize: 'A4',
type: 'share'
}
pdf.fromData( '<html><h1>Hello World</h1></html>', options)
.then((stats)=> console.log('status', stats) ) // ok..., ok if it was able to handle the file to the OS.
.catch((err)=>console.err(err))
- You can specify the name of the PDF file.
let options = {
documentSize: 'A4',
type: 'share',
fileName: 'myFile.pdf'
}
pdf.fromData( '<html><h1>Hello World</h1></html>', options)
.then((stats)=> console.log('status', stats) ) // ok..., ok if it was able to handle the file to the OS.
.catch((err)=>console.err(err))
//Example: file:///android_asset/index.html
function printInternalFile(param) {
/* generate pdf using url. */
if(cordova.platformId === 'ios') {
// To use window.resolveLocalFileSystemURL, we need this plugin https://cordova.apache.org/docs/en/latest/reference/cordova-plugin-file/
// You can add this by doing cordova plugin add cordova-plugin-file or
// cordova plugin add https://github.com/apache/cordova-plugin-file
window.resolveLocalFileSystemURL(cordova.file.applicationDirectory,
(url) => {
var file = param.replace('file:///android_asset/',url.nativeURL);
pdf.fromURL(file, {
documentsize: 'a4',
landscape: 'portrait',
type: 'share'
})
.then((stats)=> this.preparetogobackground )
.catch((err)=> this.showerror)
},
(err) =>
console.log('error', err, ' args ->', arguments)
);
}else {
pdf.fromURL(param, {
documentsize: 'a4',
landscape: 'portrait',
type: 'share'
})
.then((stats)=> this.preparetogobackground )
.catch((err)=> this.showerror)
}
}
import { Component } from '@angular/core';
import { NavController } from 'ionic-angular';
declare var cordova:any; //global;
@Component({
selector: 'page-home',
templateUrl: 'home.html'
})
export class HomePage {
constructor(public navCtrl: NavController) {
const before = Date.now();
document.addEventListener('deviceready', () => {
console.log('DEVICE READY FIRED AFTER', (Date.now() - before), 'ms');
//generate the pdf.
cordova.plugins.pdf.fromData( '<html> <h1> Hello World </h1> </html>', options )
.then(()=>'ok')
.catch((err)=>console.err(err))
}
}
Here are examples to use the deprecated methods.
This generates a pdf from a URL, it convert HTML to PDF and returns the file representation in base64.
document.addEventListener('deviceready', function() {
pdf.htmlToPDF({
url: 'http://www.google.es',
documentSize: 'A4',
landscape: 'portrait',
type: 'base64'
}, this.success, this.failure);
});
The same but giving HTML without URL.
document.addEventListener('deviceready', function() {
pdf.htmlToPDF({
data: '<html> <h1> Hello World </h1> </html>',
documentSize: 'A4',
landscape: 'portrait',
type: 'base64'
}, this.success, this.failure);
});
Opening the pdf with other app menu.
document.addEventListener('deviceready', function() {
pdf.htmlToPDF({
data: '<html> <h1> Hello World </h1> </html>',
documentSize: 'A4',
landscape: 'portrait',
type: 'share' //use share to open the open-with-menu.
}, this.success, this.failure);
});
Install iOS or Android platform
cordova platform add ios
cordova platform add android
Run the code
cordova run ios
cordova run android
For more information on setting up Cordova see the documentation
For more info on plugins see the Plugin Development Guide