HTML to PDF / Node.js Examples

This page contains various examples of using the HTML to PDF API in Node.js. The examples are complete and fully functional. Read more about how to convert HTML to PDF in Node.js.

Basic examples
Advanced examples
Template rendering examples
Express.js examples

Basic examples

Webpage to PDF file

var pdfcrowd = require("pdfcrowd");

// Create an API client instance.
var client = new pdfcrowd.HtmlToPdfClient("demo", "demo");

try {
    // Specify the mapping of HTML content width to the PDF page width.
    // To fine-tune the layout, you can specify an exact viewport width, such as '960px'.
    client.setContentViewportWidth("balanced");
} catch(why) {
    // Report the error.
    console.error("PDFCrowd Error: " + why);
    process.exit(1);
}

// Run the conversion and save the result to a file.
client.convertUrlToFile(
    "http://www.example.com",
    "example.pdf",
    function(err, fileName) {
        if (err) return console.error("PDFCrowd Error: " + err);
        console.log("Success: the file was created " + fileName);
    });

Webpage to PDF file via callback

var pdfcrowd = require("pdfcrowd");

// Create an API client instance.
var client = new pdfcrowd.HtmlToPdfClient("demo", "demo");

// use predefined callback for saving to a file
var callbacks = pdfcrowd.saveToFile("example.pdf");

// set custom error callback
callbacks.error = function(errMessage, statusCode) {
    // use predefined helper class for errors
    const error = new pdfcrowd.Pdfcrowd.Error(errMessage, statusCode);
    console.error("PDFCrowd Error: " + error);
};

// Run the conversion and save the result to a file.
client.convertUrl("http://www.example.com", callbacks);

HTML file to PDF file

var pdfcrowd = require("pdfcrowd");

// Create an API client instance.
var client = new pdfcrowd.HtmlToPdfClient("demo", "demo");

try {
    // Specify the mapping of HTML content width to the PDF page width.
    // To fine-tune the layout, you can specify an exact viewport width, such as '960px'.
    client.setContentViewportWidth("balanced");
} catch(why) {
    // Report the error.
    console.error("PDFCrowd Error: " + why);
    process.exit(1);
}

// Run the conversion and save the result to a file.
client.convertFileToFile(
    "/path/to/MyLayout.html",
    "MyLayout.pdf",
    function(err, fileName) {
        if (err) return console.error("PDFCrowd Error: " + err);
        console.log("Success: the file was created " + fileName);
    });

HTML file to PDF file via callback

var pdfcrowd = require("pdfcrowd");

// Create an API client instance.
var client = new pdfcrowd.HtmlToPdfClient("demo", "demo");

// use predefined callback for saving to a file
var callbacks = pdfcrowd.saveToFile("MyLayout.pdf");

// set custom error callback
callbacks.error = function(errMessage, statusCode) {
    // use predefined helper class for errors
    const error = new pdfcrowd.Pdfcrowd.Error(errMessage, statusCode);
    console.error("PDFCrowd Error: " + error);
};

// Run the conversion and save the result to a file.
client.convertFile("/path/to/MyLayout.html", callbacks);

HTML string to PDF file

var pdfcrowd = require("pdfcrowd");

// Create an API client instance.
var client = new pdfcrowd.HtmlToPdfClient("demo", "demo");

try {
    // Specify the mapping of HTML content width to the PDF page width.
    // To fine-tune the layout, you can specify an exact viewport width, such as '960px'.
    client.setContentViewportWidth("balanced");
} catch(why) {
    // Report the error.
    console.error("PDFCrowd Error: " + why);
    process.exit(1);
}

// Run the conversion and save the result to a file.
client.convertStringToFile(
    "<html><body><h1>Hello World!</h1></body></html>",
    "HelloWorld.pdf",
    function(err, fileName) {
        if (err) return console.error("PDFCrowd Error: " + err);
        console.log("Success: the file was created " + fileName);
    });

HTML string to PDF file via callback

var pdfcrowd = require("pdfcrowd");

// Create an API client instance.
var client = new pdfcrowd.HtmlToPdfClient("demo", "demo");

// use predefined callback for saving to a file
var callbacks = pdfcrowd.saveToFile("HelloWorld.pdf");

// set custom error callback
callbacks.error = function(errMessage, statusCode) {
    // use predefined helper class for errors
    const error = new pdfcrowd.Pdfcrowd.Error(errMessage, statusCode);
    console.error("PDFCrowd Error: " + error);
};

// Run the conversion and save the result to a file.
client.convertString("<html><body><h1>Hello World!</h1></body></html>", callbacks);

Get info about the current conversion

var pdfcrowd = require("pdfcrowd");

// Create an API client instance.
var client = new pdfcrowd.HtmlToPdfClient("demo", "demo");

try {
    // Specify the mapping of HTML content width to the PDF page width.
    // To fine-tune the layout, you can specify an exact viewport width, such as '960px'.
    client.setDebugLog(true);
} catch(why) {
    // Report the error.
    console.error("PDFCrowd Error: " + why);
    process.exit(1);
}

// Run the conversion and save the result to a file.
client.convertFileToFile(
    "/path/to/MyLayout.html",
    "MyLayout.pdf",
    function(err, fileName) {
        if (err) return console.error("PDFCrowd Error: " + err);
        console.log("Success: the file was created " + fileName);
        
        // print URL pointing to the debug log for this request.
        console.log("Debug log url: " + client.getDebugLogUrl());
        
        // print number of conversion credits remaining in your account.
        console.log("Remaining credit count: " + client.getRemainingCreditCount());
        
        // print number of credits consumed for this conversion.
        console.log("Consumed credit count: " + client.getConsumedCreditCount());
        
        // print unique identifier assigned to this conversion job.
        console.log("Job id: " + client.getJobId());
        
        // print total number of pages in the output document.
        console.log("Page count: " + client.getPageCount());
        
        // print size of the output data in bytes.
        console.log("Output size: " + client.getOutputSize());
    });

Advanced examples

Customize the page size and the orientation

var pdfcrowd = require("pdfcrowd");

// Create an API client instance.
var client = new pdfcrowd.HtmlToPdfClient("demo", "demo");

try {
    // Configure the conversion.
    client.setPageSize("Letter");
    client.setOrientation("landscape");
    client.setNoMargins(true);
} catch(why) {
    // Report the error.
    console.error("PDFCrowd Error: " + why);
    process.exit(1);
}

// Run the conversion and save the result to a file.
client.convertUrlToFile(
    "http://www.example.com",
    "letter_landscape.pdf",
    function(err, fileName) {
        if (err) return console.error("PDFCrowd Error: " + err);
        console.log("Success: the file was created " + fileName);
    });

Put the source URL in the header and the page number in the footer

var pdfcrowd = require("pdfcrowd");

// Create an API client instance.
var client = new pdfcrowd.HtmlToPdfClient("demo", "demo");

try {
    // Configure the conversion.
    client.setHeaderHeight("15mm");
    client.setFooterHeight("10mm");
    client.setHeaderHtml("<a class='pdfcrowd-source-url' data-pdfcrowd-placement='href-and-content'></a>");
    client.setFooterHtml("<center><span class='pdfcrowd-page-number'></span></center>");
    client.setMarginTop("0");
    client.setMarginBottom("0");
} catch(why) {
    // Report the error.
    console.error("PDFCrowd Error: " + why);
    process.exit(1);
}

// Run the conversion and save the result to a file.
client.convertUrlToFile(
    "http://www.example.com",
    "header_footer.pdf",
    function(err, fileName) {
        if (err) return console.error("PDFCrowd Error: " + err);
        console.log("Success: the file was created " + fileName);
    });

Create fillable PDF form

var pdfcrowd = require("pdfcrowd");

// Create an API client instance.
var client = new pdfcrowd.HtmlToPdfClient("demo", "demo");

try {
    // Configure the conversion.
    client.setEnablePdfForms(true);
} catch(why) {
    // Report the error.
    console.error("PDFCrowd Error: " + why);
    process.exit(1);
}

// Run the conversion and save the result to a file.
client.convertStringToFile(
    "<html><body>Enter name:<input type=text></body></html>",
    "form.pdf",
    function(err, fileName) {
        if (err) return console.error("PDFCrowd Error: " + err);
        console.log("Success: the file was created " + fileName);
    });

Zoom the HTML document

var pdfcrowd = require("pdfcrowd");

// Create an API client instance.
var client = new pdfcrowd.HtmlToPdfClient("demo", "demo");

try {
    // Configure the conversion.
    client.setScaleFactor(300);
} catch(why) {
    // Report the error.
    console.error("PDFCrowd Error: " + why);
    process.exit(1);
}

// Run the conversion and save the result to a file.
client.convertUrlToFile(
    "http://www.example.com",
    "zoom_300.pdf",
    function(err, fileName) {
        if (err) return console.error("PDFCrowd Error: " + err);
        console.log("Success: the file was created " + fileName);
    });

Set PDF metadata

var pdfcrowd = require("pdfcrowd");

// Create an API client instance.
var client = new pdfcrowd.HtmlToPdfClient("demo", "demo");

try {
    // Configure the conversion.
    client.setAuthor("Pdfcrowd");
    client.setTitle("Hello World");
    client.setSubject("Demo");
    client.setKeywords("Pdfcrowd,demo");
} catch(why) {
    // Report the error.
    console.error("PDFCrowd Error: " + why);
    process.exit(1);
}

// Run the conversion and save the result to a file.
client.convertUrlToFile(
    "http://www.example.com",
    "with_metadata.pdf",
    function(err, fileName) {
        if (err) return console.error("PDFCrowd Error: " + err);
        console.log("Success: the file was created " + fileName);
    });

Create a Powerpoint like presentation from an HTML document

var pdfcrowd = require("pdfcrowd");

// Create an API client instance.
var client = new pdfcrowd.HtmlToPdfClient("demo", "demo");

try {
    // Configure the conversion.
    client.setPageLayout("single-page");
    client.setPageMode("full-screen");
    client.setInitialZoomType("fit-page");
    client.setOrientation("landscape");
    client.setNoMargins(true);
} catch(why) {
    // Report the error.
    console.error("PDFCrowd Error: " + why);
    process.exit(1);
}

// Run the conversion and save the result to a file.
client.convertUrlToFile(
    "https://pdfcrowd.com/api/",
    "slide_show.pdf",
    function(err, fileName) {
        if (err) return console.error("PDFCrowd Error: " + err);
        console.log("Success: the file was created " + fileName);
    });

Convert an HTML document section

var pdfcrowd = require("pdfcrowd");

// Create an API client instance.
var client = new pdfcrowd.HtmlToPdfClient("demo", "demo");

try {
    // Configure the conversion.
    client.setElementToConvert("#main");
} catch(why) {
    // Report the error.
    console.error("PDFCrowd Error: " + why);
    process.exit(1);
}

// Run the conversion and save the result to a file.
client.convertUrlToFile(
    "https://pdfcrowd.com/api/",
    "html_part.pdf",
    function(err, fileName) {
        if (err) return console.error("PDFCrowd Error: " + err);
        console.log("Success: the file was created " + fileName);
    });

Inject an HTML code

var pdfcrowd = require("pdfcrowd");

// Create an API client instance.
var client = new pdfcrowd.HtmlToPdfClient("demo", "demo");

try {
    // Configure the conversion.
    client.setCustomJavascript("el=document.createElement('h2'); el.textContent='Hello from Pdfcrowd API'; el.style.color='red'; el_before=document.getElementsByTagName('h1')[0]; el_before.parentNode.insertBefore(el, el_before.nextSibling)");
} catch(why) {
    // Report the error.
    console.error("PDFCrowd Error: " + why);
    process.exit(1);
}

// Run the conversion and save the result to a file.
client.convertUrlToFile(
    "http://www.example.com",
    "html_inject.pdf",
    function(err, fileName) {
        if (err) return console.error("PDFCrowd Error: " + err);
        console.log("Success: the file was created " + fileName);
    });

Convert a responsive web page as it appears on a large device

var pdfcrowd = require("pdfcrowd");

// Create an API client instance.
var client = new pdfcrowd.HtmlToPdfClient("demo", "demo");

try {
    // Configure the conversion.
    client.setContentViewportWidth("large");
    client.setNoMargins(true);
} catch(why) {
    // Report the error.
    console.error("PDFCrowd Error: " + why);
    process.exit(1);
}

// Run the conversion and save the result to a file.
client.convertUrlToFile(
    "https://getbootstrap.com/",
    "bootstrap.pdf",
    function(err, fileName) {
        if (err) return console.error("PDFCrowd Error: " + err);
        console.log("Success: the file was created " + fileName);
    });

Create an in-memory archive (ZIP) and convert it

var pdfcrowd = require("pdfcrowd");
var stream = require("stream");
var archiver = require("archiver");

// Create an API client instance.
var client = new pdfcrowd.HtmlToPdfClient("demo", "demo");

// create in-memory write stream
var memStream = new stream.Writable({encoding: "binary"})
memStream.buffer = new Buffer("");
memStream._write = function(chunk, encoding, callback) {
    if(!Buffer.isBuffer(chunk)) {
        chunk = new Buffer(chunk, encoding);
    }
    this.buffer = Buffer.concat([this.buffer, chunk]);
    callback();
};

memStream.on("finish", function() {
    // create input stream
    var inStream = new stream.Readable({encoding: "binary"})
    inStream.push(memStream.buffer);
    inStream.push(null);

    // use predefined callback for saving to a file
    var callbacks = pdfcrowd.saveToFile("HelloFromZip.pdf");

    // set custom error callback
    callbacks.error = function(errMessage, statusCode) {
        // use predefined helper class for errors
        const error = new pdfcrowd.Pdfcrowd.Error(errMessage, statusCode);
        console.error("PDFCrowd Error: " + error);
    };

    // run the conversion and write the result to the output stream.
    client.convertStream(inStream, callbacks);

});

// Create a ZIP archive.
var archive = archiver("zip");

archive.on("error", function(err) {
    throw err;
});

archive.pipe(memStream);

// Add HTML content to the archive.
archive.append(`<html>
        <head>
            <style>
             @font-face
             {
                 font-family: 'OpenSans';
                 src: url(fonts/OpenSans.ttf) format('truetype');
             }
    
             h1
             {
                 font-family: OpenSans;
             }
            </style>
        </head>
        <body>
            <h1>Hello World</h1>
            <img src='images/logo.png'>
        </body>
    </html>`,
    {name: 'index.html'});

// Add required local files to the archive.
archive.file("/your-path-to/fonts/OpenSans.ttf", { name: "fonts/OpenSans.ttf" });
archive.file("/your-path-to/images/logo.png", { name: "images/logo.png" });

archive.finalize();

Renderer debugging - highlight HTML elements

var pdfcrowd = require("pdfcrowd");

// Create an API client instance.
var client = new pdfcrowd.HtmlToPdfClient("demo", "demo");

try {
    // Configure the conversion.
    client.setCustomJavascript("libPdfcrowd.highlightHtmlElements({backgroundColor: 'rgba(255, 191, 0, 0.1)', borderColor:null})");
} catch(why) {
    // Report the error.
    console.error("PDFCrowd Error: " + why);
    process.exit(1);
}

// Run the conversion and save the result to a file.
client.convertUrlToFile(
    "http://www.example.com",
    "highlight_background.pdf",
    function(err, fileName) {
        if (err) return console.error("PDFCrowd Error: " + err);
        console.log("Success: the file was created " + fileName);
    });

Renderer debugging - borders with spacing around HTML elements

var pdfcrowd = require("pdfcrowd");

// Create an API client instance.
var client = new pdfcrowd.HtmlToPdfClient("demo", "demo");

try {
    // Configure the conversion.
    client.setCustomJavascript("libPdfcrowd.highlightHtmlElements({borderColor: 'orange', backgroundColor: null, padding: '4px', margin: '4px'})");
} catch(why) {
    // Report the error.
    console.error("PDFCrowd Error: " + why);
    process.exit(1);
}

// Run the conversion and save the result to a file.
client.convertUrlToFile(
    "http://www.example.com",
    "highlight_borders.pdf",
    function(err, fileName) {
        if (err) return console.error("PDFCrowd Error: " + err);
        console.log("Success: the file was created " + fileName);
    });

Template rendering examples

Create PDF from JSON data

var pdfcrowd = require("pdfcrowd");

// Create an API client instance.
var client = new pdfcrowd.HtmlToPdfClient("demo", "demo");

try {
    // Configure the conversion.
    client.setDataString(`{
            "name": "World",
            "product": "Pdfcrowd API"
        }`);
} catch(why) {
    // Report the error.
    console.error("PDFCrowd Error: " + why);
    process.exit(1);
}

// Run the conversion and save the result to a file.
client.convertStringToFile(
    "Hello {{ name }} from {{ product }}",
    "output.pdf",
    function(err, fileName) {
        if (err) return console.error("PDFCrowd Error: " + err);
        console.log("Success: the file was created " + fileName);
    });

Create PDF from XML data

var pdfcrowd = require("pdfcrowd");

// Create an API client instance.
var client = new pdfcrowd.HtmlToPdfClient("demo", "demo");

try {
    // Configure the conversion.
    client.setDataString(`<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
        <data>
          <name>World</name>
          <product>Pdfcrowd API</product>
        </data>`);
} catch(why) {
    // Report the error.
    console.error("PDFCrowd Error: " + why);
    process.exit(1);
}

// Run the conversion and save the result to a file.
client.convertStringToFile(
    "Hello {{ data.name }} from {{ data.product }}",
    "output.pdf",
    function(err, fileName) {
        if (err) return console.error("PDFCrowd Error: " + err);
        console.log("Success: the file was created " + fileName);
    });

Create PDF from YAML data

var pdfcrowd = require("pdfcrowd");

// Create an API client instance.
var client = new pdfcrowd.HtmlToPdfClient("demo", "demo");

try {
    // Configure the conversion.
    client.setDataString(`name: World
product: Pdfcrowd API`);
} catch(why) {
    // Report the error.
    console.error("PDFCrowd Error: " + why);
    process.exit(1);
}

// Run the conversion and save the result to a file.
client.convertStringToFile(
    "Hello {{ name }} from {{ product }}",
    "output.pdf",
    function(err, fileName) {
        if (err) return console.error("PDFCrowd Error: " + err);
        console.log("Success: the file was created " + fileName);
    });

Create PDF from CSV data

var pdfcrowd = require("pdfcrowd");

// Create an API client instance.
var client = new pdfcrowd.HtmlToPdfClient("demo", "demo");

try {
    // Configure the conversion.
    client.setDataString(`name,product
World,Pdfcrowd API`);
} catch(why) {
    // Report the error.
    console.error("PDFCrowd Error: " + why);
    process.exit(1);
}

// Run the conversion and save the result to a file.
client.convertStringToFile(
    "Hello {{ name }} from {{ product }}",
    "output.pdf",
    function(err, fileName) {
        if (err) return console.error("PDFCrowd Error: " + err);
        console.log("Success: the file was created " + fileName);
    });

Express.js examples

Webpage to PDF in Express.js

"use strict";

const express = require("express");
const app = express();
const pdfcrowd = require("pdfcrowd");

// The recommended method is POST.
app.post("/", (req, res) => {
    // Create an API client instance.
    var client = new pdfcrowd.HtmlToPdfClient("demo", "demo");

    // configure the callback to send a file in the HTTP response
    var callbacks = pdfcrowd.sendGenericHttpResponse(
        res, "application/pdf", "example.pdf", "attachment");

    // configure the callback to send an error in the HTTP response
    callbacks.error = function(errMessage, statusCode) {
        res.set('Content-Type', 'text/plain');
        res.status(statusCode || 400);
        res.send(errMessage);
    }

    // Run the conversion.
    client.convertUrl("http://www.example.com", callbacks);
});

module.exports = app;

HTML file to PDF in Express.js

"use strict";

const express = require("express");
const app = express();
const pdfcrowd = require("pdfcrowd");

// The recommended method is POST.
app.post("/", (req, res) => {
    // Create an API client instance.
    var client = new pdfcrowd.HtmlToPdfClient("demo", "demo");

    // configure the callback to send a file in the HTTP response
    var callbacks = pdfcrowd.sendGenericHttpResponse(
        res, "application/pdf", "MyLayout.pdf", "attachment");

    // configure the callback to send an error in the HTTP response
    callbacks.error = function(errMessage, statusCode) {
        res.set('Content-Type', 'text/plain');
        res.status(statusCode || 400);
        res.send(errMessage);
    }

    // Run the conversion.
    client.convertFile("/path/to/MyLayout.html", callbacks);
});

module.exports = app;

HTML string to PDF in Express.js

"use strict";

const express = require("express");
const app = express();
const pdfcrowd = require("pdfcrowd");

// The recommended method is POST.
app.post("/", (req, res) => {
    // Create an API client instance.
    var client = new pdfcrowd.HtmlToPdfClient("demo", "demo");

    // configure the callback to send a file in the HTTP response
    var callbacks = pdfcrowd.sendGenericHttpResponse(
        res, "application/pdf", "HelloWorld.pdf", "attachment");

    // configure the callback to send an error in the HTTP response
    callbacks.error = function(errMessage, statusCode) {
        res.set('Content-Type', 'text/plain');
        res.status(statusCode || 400);
        res.send(errMessage);
    }

    // Run the conversion.
    client.convertString("<html><body><h1>Hello World!</h1></body></html>", callbacks);
});

module.exports = app;