Generating a PDF with form answers in NodeJs and send it by email

Question

I'm on a personal project which is a simple form with many inputs to be filled.

The last step is to confirmed the datas, once this is done, I would like to generate a PDF of the form answers and send it to an email that I asked for before (in the form).

I tried Puppeteer, it generates the PDF of the template of the form, but the variables are not filled.

I would like to do something like "When the confirmed button on the recap page is clicked, then generate the PDF with the datas on the page."


(async () => {
  const browser = await puppeteer.launch();
  const page = await browser.newPage();
  await page.goto("http://localhost:8888/Medical%20Form/recup_donnees.php", {
    waitUntil: "networkidle2",
  });

  let button = await page.evaluate(() => {
    document.querySelector("#test");
  });

  await page.waitForSelector("button");

  await page.click("button");

  await page.pdf({ path: "bordeeeeeeeel.pdf", format: "a4" });

  await browser.close();
})();

Here is my code, even if I know it is absolutely wrong (because it loads an empty page), I can't figure it out how to make it works, maybe I'm going the wrong way with Puppeteer and I should take something else to do the trick.

Sorry for that noob question, but I'm actually a noob...

And thank you in advance !

user_1712345 · Answer

So if you are expecting other users to fill out the form and then have their input created in a PDF, and then sent in an e-mail, I'd definitely think that using a programming language and PDF library to handle that. It appears that you are posting to a .php file, so if you have the ability to use PHP then for this scenario I wouldn't recommend that puppeteer be used.

I'm sure there is a scenario or way that puppeteer would be great, but you would have to be given the data for puppeteer to input and submit on the form.

The other option would be that the forms/data has already been submitted and you are able to see it on the website, where you would then instruct puppeteer to fill the form fields with the data and then screenshot the page and save as .pdf.

If you like the idea of using a server-side language like PHP to handle this, perhaps take a look at this example using the mPDF library in PHP.

user_18663050 · Answer

Thanks to Treckstar, I went for MPDF wish seems to be more efficient for what I want. But, as a big noob I'm blocked on many stuffs.

Here is "my logic" (which could be not logical at all ahah)

1. The user fills a HTML form

2. All the informations he submitted are gathered in a PHP file that is acting like a "datas confirmation page", here is the page :




   
   
   
   Récapitulatif
   


       
   
   Informations générales
   
       Nom : 
       Prénom : 
       Adresse : 
       
       Code Postal : 
       Ville :
       
       
       Téléphone domicile : 
       Téléphone bureau : 
       Portable :  
       
       
       Date de naissance : 
       Age : format('%y').' ans';
?>
       Sexe : 
       
       Email : 
       Profession : 
       Adressé et/ou recommandé par : 
   



   Raison de la visite
   
       Raison de la visite : 
       Date approximative du dernier examen dentaire (ou soins dentaires) : 
   



   Questionnaire de santé
   
       
       Etes-vous en bonne santé ? : 
       Troubles cardiaques : 
       Troubles vasculaires/sanguins : 
       Troubles rénaux : 
       Troubles digestifs : 
       Troubles hépatiques : 
       Troubles nerveux/épilepsie : 
       Troubles pulmonaires / asthme : 
       Troubles oculaires : 
       Diabète : 
       Rhumatisme articulaire aigu : 
       Arthrose (préciser zone) : 
       Troubles cutanés : 
       Allergies : 
       Troubles glandulaires/hormonaux : 
       SIDA / HIV+ : 
       Hépatite : 
       Tuberculose : 
       Cancer : 
       Autre maladie(s) ? : 
       
       
       Suivez-vous un traitement médical en ce moment ? : 
       Si oui, pour quelle(s) raison(s) : 
       
       
       Prenez-vous des médicaments ? : 
       Si oui, lesquels : 
       
   



   Renseignements complémentaires
   
       
       Etes-vous fumeur ? : 
       Si oui (cigarettes/jour) : 
       Depuis (années) : 
       
       
       Avez-vous été traité par radiothérapie ? : 
       Si oui, date et localisation : 
       
       Avez-vous eu des saignements prolongés après une extraction chirurgicale ? : 
       Etes-vous sous traitement par biphosphonates ? (ex : Aclasta® , Actonel® , Fosamax® , Fosavance® , Bonviva® ,Optruma® ,...) : 
       
       Nom du médecin traitant : 
       Adresse du médecin traitant :

4. Then I want him to click on the submit button at the end, and when it does, it triggers the mypdfgenerator.php page which is this:



    Nom '.$_POST['Nom'].'

';

$mpdf->WriteHTML($html);
$mpdf->Output();

I'm trying to get only the first variable to test but it is not displayed in the PDF. (the DIV element is well displayed as I see the static text)

I know this looks like not logical or correct at all for you guys but for the moment, I'm completely stuck with it...

A big thanks to you, I would love to help others too, and of course I will when I'll be able too

Have a good day!

Generating a PDF with form answers in NodeJs and send it by email

2 Answers