Python 3 Flask Project to Convert Raw Text to PDF Using wkhtmltopdf Library in Browser Using HTML Form

Welcome folks today in this blog post we will be converting raw text to pdf document using wkhtmltopdf library in browser using html form. All the full source code of the application is shown below.

Get Started

In order to get started you need to install the below libraries using the pip command as shown below

pip install wkhtmltopdf

pip install flask

After that you need to make an app.py file and copy paste the following code

app.py

from flask import Flask, render_template, request, send_file
from subprocess import Popen, PIPE

app = Flask(__name__)

@app.route('/')
def index():
    return render_template('index.html')


if __name__ == '__main__':
    app.run(debug=True)

from flask import Flask, render_template, request, send_file

from subprocess import Popen, PIPE

app = Flask(__name__)

@app.route('/')

def index():

return render_template('index.html')

if __name__ == '__main__':

app.run(debug=True)

As you can see we are importing the flask and also we are importing the wkhtmltopdf library as well. And then we are writing a simple get route where we will be loading the index.html file when the user goes to the / route.

Now we need to create the templates directory where we will be storing the index.html template as shown below

templates/index.html

<form action="/generate-pdf" method="post" enctype="multipart/form-data">
    <textarea name="text"></textarea>
    <br>
    <input type="submit" value="Generate PDF">
  </form>

<br>

</form>

As you can see we have a simple textarea widget where we will allow the user to write the raw text to be converted to pdf document and then we have the submit button to make a simple post request to generate the pdf document.

Generating the PDF Document Using WkhtmltoPDF

Now we need to write the below post request where we will be generating the pdf document and downloading it as an attachment inside the browser

@app.route('/generate-pdf', methods=['POST'])
def create_pdf():
    text = request.form['text']
    html = """
        <html>
            <head>
                <title>My PDF</title>
            </head>
            <body>
                <p>{text}</p>
            </body>
        </html>
    """.format(text=text)
    with open('output.html', 'w') as f:
        f.write(html)
    p = Popen(['wkhtmltopdf', 'output.html', 'output.pdf'], stdin=PIPE, stdout=PIPE, stderr=PIPE)
    output, err = p.communicate()
    return send_file('output.pdf', as_attachment=True)

@app.route('/generate-pdf', methods=['POST'])

def create_pdf():

text = request.form['text']

html = """

<html>

<head>

</head>

<body>

</body>

</html>

""".format(text=text)

with open('output.html', 'w') as f:

f.write(html)

p = Popen(['wkhtmltopdf', 'output.html', 'output.pdf'], stdin=PIPE, stdout=PIPE, stderr=PIPE)

output, err = p.communicate()

return send_file('output.pdf', as_attachment=True)

As you can see we are taking the text submitted inside the form and then we are using the wkhtmltopdf command inside the terminal to create the pdf from the text provided and then downloading it as an attachment using the send_file() method as shown below

FULL SOURCE CODE