Access the BuildVu Microservice using NodeJS

Table of contents

1. Introduction
2. How to convert PDF files to HTML or SVG using NodeJS
3. Return result to a callback url
4. Complete Code Example
5. Configuration Options
6. Upload by URL
7. Using Authentication
8. Further details

Introduction

The following tutorial shows you how to convert PDF files to HTML or SVG using a hosted BuildVu cloud API, such as:

• the IDRsolutions trial and cloud subscription service
• your own self-hosted BuildVu microservice

Whilst the above services can be accessed with plain old HTTP requests, this tutorial uses our open source NodeJS IDRCloudClient which provides a simple NodeJS wrapper around the REST API.

How to convert PDF files to HTML or SVG using NodeJS

1. Using npm, install the idrcloudclient package with the following command:

   npm install --save @idrsolutions/idrcloudclient  
   

2. Create an idrcloudclient object with

   var idrcloudclient = require('@idrsolutions/idrcloudclient');
   

3. Create endpoint variable

   var endpoint = 'https://cloud.idrsolutions.com/cloud/' + idrcloudclient.BUILDVU;
   

4. Create Parameters map to upload a file

   var parameters =  {
       //token: 'Token', //Required only when connecting to the IDRsolutions trial and cloud subscription service
       input: idrcloudclient.UPLOAD,
       file: 'path/to/exampleFile.pdf'
   }
   

5. [Optional] Create listeners to trigger on progress, success, and failure.

   function progressListener(e) {
       console.log(JSON.stringify(e));
   }
   

   function failureListener(e) {
       console.log(e);
       console.log('Failed!');
   }
   

   function successListener(e) {
       console.log(JSON.stringify(e));
       console.log('Download URL: ' + e.downloadUrl);
   }
   

6. Call convert method using variables created previously

   idrcloudclient.convert({
       endpoint: endpoint,
       parameters: parameters,
   
       // The below are the optional listeners, ignore any you haven't defined
       progress: progressListener,
       success: successListener,
       failure: failureListener
   });
   

Return result to a callback url

The BuildVu Microservice accepts a callback url to send the status of a conversion on completion. Using a callback url removes the need to poll the service to determine when the conversion is complete.
The callback url can be provided to the parameters variable as shown below.

var parameters =  {
    //token: 'Token', //Required only when connecting to the IDRsolutions trial and cloud subscription service
    input: idrcloudclient.UPLOAD,
    callbackUrl: 'http://listener.url',
    file: 'path/to/exampleFile.pdf'
}

Complete Code Example

Here is a complete code example to convert PDF files to HTML or SVG based on the above sections steps. Configuration options and advanced features can be found in the following sections.

var idrcloudclient = require('@idrsolutions/idrcloudclient');

function progressListener(e) {
    console.log(JSON.stringify(e));
}

function failureListener(e) {
    console.log(e);
    console.log('Failed!');
}

function successListener(e) {
    console.log(JSON.stringify(e));
    console.log('Download URL: ' + e.downloadUrl);
}

var endpoint = 'https://cloud.idrsolutions.com/cloud/' + idrcloudclient.BUILDVU;
var parameters =  { 
    //token: 'Token', //Required only when connecting to the IDRsolutions trial and cloud subscription service
    input: idrcloudclient.UPLOAD,
    file: 'path/to/exampleFile.pdf'
 }

idrcloudclient.convert({
    endpoint: endpoint,
    parameters: parameters,
    
    // The below are the available listeners
    progress: progressListener,
    success: successListener,
    failure: failureListener
});

Configuration Options

The BuildVu API accepts a stringified JSON object containing key value pair configuration options to customise your conversion. The settings should be added to the parameters array. A full list of the configuration options to convert PDF files to HTML or SVG can be found here.

settings: '{"key":"value","key":"value"}'

Upload by URL

As well as uploading a local file you can also provide a URL which the BuildVu Microservice will download and then perform the conversion. To do this you should replace the input and file values in the parameters variable with the following.

input: IDRCloudClient.DOWNLOAD
url: 'http://exampleURL/exampleFile.pdf'

Using Authentication

If you have deployed your own BuildVu Microservice that requires a username and password to convert PDF files to HTML or SVG, you will need to provide them with each conversion. These are provided by passing two variables named username and password to the convert method as shown below.

username: 'username',
password: 'password',

Further details

IDRCloudClient on GitHub
IDRCloudClient on NPM
BuildVu Microservice API
BuildVu Microservice Use