download node stream with angular 2

user_1254561 0
Viewed 679

I am trying to generate a PDF on the server side using node js and download it on the client side on angular 4 (something like Google Drive does when you press download as PDF).

The Node JS code looks something like this:

var pdf = require('html-pdf');

app.get('/pdf/contacts', function(req, res) {
    Contact.find(function(error, response) {
        res.render('pdfs/views/contacts', {name: 'Daniel Pacuraru', contacts: response}, function(error, thtml) {

            var opts = {
                "format": "A4",
                "orientation": "portrait",
                "border": "0.4in"
            };

            pdf.create(thtml, opts).toStream(function(err, stream){
                res.attachment('pdfname.pdf');
                stream.pipe(res);
            });

        });
    });
});

On the angular 4 side i got something like this:

import * as FileSaver from 'file-saver';

downloadContacts(): Promise<any> {
    return this.http
        .get('http://localhost:3000/pdf/contacts')
        .toPromise()
        .then(response => {

            FileSaver.saveAs(response, "testdata.pdf");

        });
}

I get this error: Failed to execute 'createObjectURL' on 'URL' and if i change the line into this 

FileSaver.saveAs(response.blob(), "testdata.pdf");

then i get this error: Error: The request body isn't either a blob or an array buffer

I can't figure out what am i doing wrong, btw is there a way to download this stream easy without any plugin like file-saver ? since if i just enter and api link on the browser it automatically downloads me that pdf file.

Thank you in advance, Daniel.

angular node.js pdf javascript
1 Answers

I'm assuming the angular part is being run on the clients browser. Why not use the fetch API to request the file to node?

const response = await fetch("http://localhost:3000/pdf/contacts");
const blob = await response.blob();

To use this you need to use the async await syntax, since requesting data from a site, even if it's from a local server, is an asynchronous task, and your code will keep running, without waiting for the request to finish.

user_32145350
Related