The "data" argument must be of type string or an instance of Buffer, TypedArray, or DataView. Received undefined

[SCHrodrigo]

As in the title, there is something going on that the "done" variable is coming up short.

I'm on Linux, using node express to host an API to convert a docx that is generated with docxtemplater based on the answers of a form.

This is the code that is converting:

fs.writeFileSync(path.resolve(__dirname, /home/ec2-user/oficial_formulario/documentos/Prospeccao/${nome_docx}.docx`), buf);

const libre = require('libreoffice-convert');

const extend = '.pdf'
const enterPath = path.join(__dirname, `/documentos/Prospeccao/${nome_docx}.docx`);
const outputPath = path.join(__dirname, `/documentos/Prospeccao/${nome_docx}${extend}`);

// Read file
console.log(fs.readdirSync(`/home/ec2-user/oficial_formulario/documentos/Prospeccao/`))
const file = fs.readFileSync(enterPath);
// Convert it to pdf format with undefined filter (see Libreoffice doc about filter)
libre.convert(file, extend, undefined, (err, done) => {
    if (err) {
        console.log(`Error converting file: ${err}`);
    }
    
    // Here in done you have pdf file which you can save or transfer in another stream
    fs.writeFileSync(outputPath, done);
    res.setHeader('Content-Disposition', `attachment; filename=${nome_docx}.docx`);
    res.sendFile(`/home/ec2-user/oficial_formulario/documentos/Prospeccao/${nome_docx}.docx`);
});`

And this is the error coming up:

Error converting file: Error: Could not find soffice binary
internal/fs/utils.js:779
throw new ERR_INVALID_ARG_TYPE(
^

TypeError [ERR_INVALID_ARG_TYPE]: The "data" argument must be of type string or an instance of Buffer, TypedArray, or >DataView. Received undefined
at Object.writeFileSync (fs.js:1460:5)
at /home/ec2-user/oficial_formulario/index.js:495:12
at /home/ec2-user/node_modules/libreoffice-convert/index.js:65:20
at /home/ec2-user/node_modules/async/dist/async.js:473:16
at /home/ec2-user/node_modules/async/dist/async.js:1622:17
at /home/ec2-user/node_modules/async/dist/async.js:969:16
at /home/ec2-user/node_modules/libreoffice-convert/index.js:37:32
at /home/ec2-user/node_modules/async/dist/async.js:3377:9
at /home/ec2-user/node_modules/async/dist/async.js:473:16
at iteratorCallback (/home/ec2-user/node_modules/async/dist/async.js:1064:13)
at /home/ec2-user/node_modules/async/dist/async.js:969:16
at /home/ec2-user/node_modules/async/dist/async.js:3369:13
at /home/ec2-user/node_modules/libreoffice-convert/index.js:34:68
at FSReqCallback.oncomplete (fs.js:171:23) {
code: 'ERR_INVALID_ARG_TYPE'
}
[nodemon] app crashed - waiting for file changes before

The first console.log on the code shows the file being converted, so I don't know what's going on.

[elwerene]

@SCHrodrigo Is libreoffice installed on your linux server? What's the output of which soffice?

[SCHrodrigo]

@elwerene I used "npm i libreoffice-convert --save" to install it in the directory with index.js, which runs the server.

The output to which soffice were:

$ sudo which soffice
which: no soffice in (/sbin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin)
$ which soffice
/usr/bin/which: no soffice in (/home/ec2-user/.local/opt/node/bin:/home/ec2-user/.local/bin:/home/ec2-user/.nvm/versions/node/v14.9.0/bin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/sbin:/home/ec2-user/.local/bin:/home/ec2-user/bin)

Both command were executed inside the dir with index.js.

[elwerene]

@SCHrodrigo Please install libreoffice as statet in the Readme. This library only works with a preinstalled instance of libreoffice. If that's not an option on your server, then this lib won't help you convert files. Sorry

[SCHrodrigo]

Hey, so I just got libreoffice installed, the message from which soffice is

/opt/libreoffice7.0/program/soffice

I confirmed there is a file soffice and soffice.bin, but the Could not find soffice binary error persists.

Sorry for dragging this.

[elwerene]

@SCHrodrigo no worries, soffice needs to be in "/usr/bin/soffice". you could link it there:

ln -s /opt/libreoffice7.0/program/soffice /usr/bin/soffice

There's an issue to set another installation folder, but nobody actually provided a pr for it yet: #49

[SCHrodrigo]

Hot damn, it worked! Thank you so much for helping!

[manusiakemos]

i have the same error.

i installed libre and nodejs on same container service

here is my express js code on app.js file

const libre = require('libreoffice-convert');
const {fi} = require("@faker-js/faker");
libre.convertAsync = require('util').promisify(libre.convert);
app.post("/upload-dokumen",
    async (req, res) => {
        const ext = '.pdf'
        const inputPath = path.resolve(__dirname, './resources/example.txt');
        const outputPath = path.resolve(__dirname, `/resources/example${ext}`);
        const file =fs.readFileSync(inputPath);
        libre.convert(file,ext, undefined, function (err, done){
            fs.writeFileSync(outputPath, done);
            res.json({
                message: 'express js boilerplate',
                text: 'upload dokumen',
                data: {
                    path: outputPath
                }
            });
        });
    }
);

[manusiakemos]

fixed after change from path.resolve to join

const inputPath = path.join(__dirname, './resources/example.docx');
const outputPath = path.join(__dirname, `/resources/example${ext}`);