CODEWITHSUNDEEP
djangopdf-generationreportlab
Nigel
Nigel

Reputation: 393

django PDF FileResponse "Failed to load PDF document."

I am trying to generate and output PDF from a django view. I followed the example in django documentation using ReportLab but the downloaded PDF is not opening in any PDF readers.

I use Python 3.7.0, Django==2.1.3, reportlab==3.5.12. I tried adding content_type="application/pdf" to 'FileResponse` but still having the same issue.

import io
from django.http import FileResponse
from reportlab.pdfgen import canvas

def printPDF(request):
    # Create a file-like buffer to receive PDF data.
    buffer = io.BytesIO()

    # Create the PDF object, using the buffer as its "file."
    p = canvas.Canvas(buffer)


    p.drawString(100, 100, "Hello world.")


    p.showPage()
    p.save()

    return FileResponse(buffer, as_attachment=True, filename='hello.pdf')

The generated PDF should be opening in all PDF readers. But I am getting 'Failed to load PDF document.'

Upvotes: 3

Views: 5049

Answers (2)

cuto
cuto

Reputation: 121

buffer = BytesIO() is used instead of a file to store the pdf document. Before returning it with FileResponse you need to reset the stream position to its start:

buffer.seek(io.SEEK_SET)

Now the pdf download should work as expected.

Upvotes: 5

santicalcagno
santicalcagno

Reputation: 31

There seems to be something fishy going on with the interaction of BytesIO and FileResponse. The following worked for me.

def printPDF(request):
    response = HttpResponse(content_type='application/pdf')
    response['Content-Disposition'] = 'attachment; filename=hello.pdf'
    p = canvas.Canvas(response)
    p.drawString(100, 100, "Hello world.")
    p.showPage()
    p.save()
    return response

Upvotes: 3

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