CODEWITHSUNDEEP
node.jsexpresspdfkit
mauodias
mauodias

Reputation: 69

Download returning empty file

I'm building a node.js+express application in which the user will input some data, the generates a PDF with pdfkit and the file is sent to the user. I'm being able to generate the file successfully, the problem is that when I download the file generated, it's empty. I can't even open the PDF, the reader (Preview, native reader in macOS) says that the file is empty. I'm using the following code:

var express = require('express');
var router = express.Router();
var guid = require('guid');
var PDFDocument = require('pdfkit');
var fs = require('fs');

/* GET home page. */
router.get('/', function(req, res, next) {
  res.render('index', { title: 'Express' });
});

router.post('/criar', function(req, res, next) {
    var filename = guid.raw()+'.pdf';
    var doc = new PDFDocument();
    doc.pipe(fs.createWriteStream(filename));

    doc.font('fonts/UbuntuMono-R.ttf')
        .fontSize(25)
        .text('Some text with an embedded font!', 100, 100);

    doc.end();

    res.download(filename, 'rifas.pdf', function(err){
        if(!err){
            fs.unlink(filename);
        }
    })
});

module.exports = router;

Do you have any idea on why my downloaded files are empty, while in the server they're being generated correctly?

Thanks!

Upvotes: 2

Views: 2205

Answers (2)

chraz
chraz

Reputation: 134

If you need both the physical file and a download response (like I do), you can wait for the close event of the stream:

let stream = fs.createWriteStream(filename);
doc.pipe(stream);
// Do whatever you need with doc
doc.end();
stream.on("close", () => {
    res.download(filename, 'rifas.pdf', function(err){
        if(!err){
            fs.unlink(filename);
        }
    })
});

Upvotes: 1

Stavros Zavrakas
Stavros Zavrakas

Reputation: 3053

Do you really need the physical file? If not then you can stream directly to the client:

var express = require('express');
var router = express.Router();
var PDFDocument = require('pdfkit');
var fs = require('fs');

/* GET home page. */
router.get('/', function(req, res, next) {
  res.render('index', { title: 'Express' });
});

router.post('/criar', function(req, res, next) {
    var doc = new PDFDocument();
    doc.pipe(res);

    doc.font('fonts/UbuntuMono-R.ttf')
        .fontSize(25)
        .text('Some text with an embedded font!', 100, 100);

    doc.end();

});

module.exports = router;

Upvotes: 3

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