Print PDF in ionic 3 - ionic-framework

Question

I am using PDFMake for creating the pdf with my predefined Document definition. In my old ionic 1 project, I am passing the encoded string to print function which works fine. here is the code for old ionic 1
var dd = $scope.createDocumentDefinition();
$timeout(function () {
var pdf = pdfMake.createPdf(dd);
pdf.getBase64(function (encodedString) {
console.log(encodedString);
$ionicLoading.hide();
window.plugins.PrintPDF.print({
data: encodedString,
type: 'Data',
title: 'Print Document',
success: function () {
console.log('success');
},
error: function (data) {
data = JSON.parse(data);
console.log('failed: ' + data.error);
}
});
});
}, 1000);
Now I am upgrading my project to Ionic 3 so I tried the same thing but the output is different here is my new ionic 3 code. printer open but instead of printing as per my document definition it just prints the encoded string.
let printer_ = this.printer;
var dd = this.createDocumentDefinition();
var pdf = pdfMake.createPdf(dd);
pdf.getBase64(function (_encodedString) {
let options: PrintOptions = {
name: 'MyDocument'
};
console.log(JSON.stringify(pdf));
printer_.print(_encodedString, options).then((msg)=>{
console.log("Success",msg);
},(error) => {
console.log("Error", error);
});
});
Any idea how to use this in ionic 3 ??

Answer 1

You can use pdfmake for generate PDF using ionic.
First you need to install plugin for file and file opener.
ionic cordova plugin add cordova-plugin-file-opener2
ionic cordova plugin add cordova-plugin-file
After that install NPM package of file, FileOpener and PDF make
npm install pdfmake
npm install #ionic-native/file-opener
npm install #ionic-native/file
Open your src/app.module.ts and include file and fileoperner reference:
import { File } from '#ionic-native/file';
import { FileOpener } from '#ionic-native/file-opener';
Add File and FileOpener in provider
providers: [
StatusBar,
SplashScreen,
{provide: ErrorHandler, useClass: IonicErrorHandler},
File,
FileOpener
]
I am generating a template UI looks like this:
<ion-header>
<ion-navbar>
<ion-title>
Ionic PDF
</ion-title>
</ion-navbar>
</ion-header>
<ion-content padding>
<ion-item>
<ion-label stacked>From</ion-label>
<ion-input [(ngModel)]="letterObj.from"></ion-input>
</ion-item>
<ion-item>
<ion-label stacked>To</ion-label>
<ion-input [(ngModel)]="letterObj.to"></ion-input>
</ion-item>
<ion-item>
<ion-label stacked>Text</ion-label>
<ion-textarea [(ngModel)]="letterObj.text" rows="10"></ion-textarea>
</ion-item>
<button ion-button full (click)="createPdf()">Create PDF</button>
<button ion-button full (click)="downloadPdf()" color="secondary" [disabled]="!pdfObj">Download PDF</button>
</ion-content>
After that your home.component.ts code looks like this:
import { Component } from '#angular/core';
import { NavController, Platform } from 'ionic-angular';
import pdfMake from 'pdfmake/build/pdfmake';
import pdfFonts from 'pdfmake/build/vfs_fonts';
pdfMake.vfs = pdfFonts.pdfMake.vfs;
import { File } from '#ionic-native/file';
import { FileOpener } from '#ionic-native/file-opener';
#Component({
selector: 'page-home',
templateUrl: 'home.html'
})
export class HomePage {
letterObj = {
to: '',
from: '',
text: ''
}
pdfObj = null;
constructor(public navCtrl: NavController, private plt: Platform, private file: File, private fileOpener: FileOpener) { }
createPdf() {
var docDefinition = {
content: [
{ text: 'REMINDER', style: 'header' },
{ text: new Date().toTimeString(), alignment: 'right' },
{ text: 'From', style: 'subheader' },
{ text: this.letterObj.from },
{ text: 'To', style: 'subheader' },
this.letterObj.to,
{ text: this.letterObj.text, style: 'story', margin: [0, 20, 0, 20] },
{
ul: [
'Bacon',
'Rips',
'BBQ',
]
}
],
styles: {
header: {
fontSize: 18,
bold: true,
},
subheader: {
fontSize: 14,
bold: true,
margin: [0, 15, 0, 0]
},
story: {
italic: true,
alignment: 'center',
width: '50%',
}
}
}
this.pdfObj = pdfMake.createPdf(docDefinition);
}
downloadPdf() {
if (this.plt.is('cordova')) {
this.pdfObj.getBuffer((buffer) => {
var blob = new Blob([buffer], { type: 'application/pdf' });
// Save the PDF to the data Directory of our App
this.file.writeFile(this.file.dataDirectory, 'myletter.pdf', blob, { replace: true }).then(fileEntry => {
// Open the PDf with the correct OS tools
this.fileOpener.open(this.file.dataDirectory + 'myletter.pdf', 'application/pdf');
})
});
} else {
// On a browser simply use download!
this.pdfObj.download();
}
}
}