PDF Filler (Node.js)

A node.js PDF form field data filler and FDF generator toolkit. This essentially is a wrapper around the PDF Toolkit library PDF ToolKit.

To run it locally, you still have to install the pdftk server toolkit. The package includes precompiled binaries that work in AWS lambda functions.

Quick start

First, run npm install pdffiller-aws-lambda --save for your app.

Import the module using:

var pdfFiller = require('pdffiller-aws-lambda');

// ...

Examples

1.Fill PDF with existing FDF Data

var pdfFiller   = require('pdffiller-aws-lambda');

var sourcePDF = "test/test.pdf";
var destinationPDF =  "test/test_complete.pdf";
var data = {
    "last_name" : "John",
    "first_name" : "Doe",
    "date" : "Jan 1, 2013",
    "football" : "Off",
    "baseball" : "Yes",
    "basketball" : "Off",
    "hockey" : "Yes",
    "nascar" : "Off"
};

pdfFiller.fillForm( sourcePDF, destinationPDF, data, function(err) {
    if (err) throw err;
    console.log("In callback (we're done).");
});

This will take the test.pdf, fill the fields with the data values and create a complete filled in PDF (test_filled_in.pdf). Note that the resulting PDF will be read-only.

Alternatively,

var shouldFlatten = false;

pdfFiller.fillFormWithFlatten( sourcePDF, destinationPDF, data, shouldFlatten, function(err) {
    if (err) throw err;
    console.log("In callback (we're done).");
})

Calling fillFormWithFlatten() with shouldFlatten = false will leave any unmapped fields still editable, as per the pdftk command specification.

2. Generate FDF Template from PDF

var pdfFiller   = require('pdffiller-aws-lambda');

var sourcePDF = "test/test.pdf";

// Override the default field name regex. Default: /FieldName: ([^\n]*)/
var nameRegex = null;  

var FDF_data = pdfFiller.generateFDFTemplate( sourcePDF, nameRegex, function(err, fdfData) {
    if (err) throw err;
    console.log(fdfData);
});

This will print out this

{
    "last_name" : "",
    "first_name" : "",
    "date" : "",
    "football" : "",
    "baseball" : "",
    "basketball" : "",
    "hockey" : "",
    "nascar" : ""
};

3. Map form fields to PDF fields

var pdfFiller = require('pdffiller-aws-lambda');

var convMap = {
    "lastName": "last_name",
    "firstName": "first_name",
    "Date": "date",
    "footballField": "football",
    "baseballField": "baseball",
    "bballField": "basketball",
    "hockeyField": "hockey",
    "nascarField": "nascar"
};

var fieldJson = [
    {
        "title" : "lastName",
        "fieldfieldType": "Text",
        "fieldValue": "John"
    },
    {
        "title" : "firstName",
        "fieldfieldType": "Text",
        "fieldValue": "Doe"
    },
    {
        "title" : "Date",
        "fieldType": "Text",
        "fieldValue": "Jan 1, 2013"
    },
    {
        "title" : "footballField",
        "fieldType": "Button",
        "fieldValue": false
    },
    {
        "title" : "baseballField",
        "fieldType": "Button",
        "fieldValue": true
    },
    {
        "title" : "bballField",
        "fieldType": "Button",
        "fieldValue": false
    },
    {
        "title" : "hockeyField",
        "fieldType": "Button",
        "fieldValue": true
    },
    {
        "title" : "nascarField",
        "fieldType": "Button",
        "fieldValue": false
    }
];

var mappedFields = pdfFiller.mapForm2PDF( fieldJson, convMap );
console.log(mappedFields);

This will print out the object below.

{
    "last_name" : "John",
    "first_name" : "Doe",
    "date" : "Jan 1, 2013",
    "football" : "Off",
    "baseball" : "Yes",
    "basketball" : "Off",
    "hockey" : "Yes",
    "nascar" : "Off"
};

4. Convert fieldJson to FDF data

var pdfFiller   = require('pdffiller-aws-lambda');

var fieldJson = [
    {
        "title" : "last_name",
        "fieldfieldType": "Text",
        "fieldValue": "Doe"
    },
    {
        "title" : "first_name",
        "fieldfieldType": "Text",
        "fieldValue": "John"
    },
    {
        "title" : "date",
        "fieldType": "Text",
        "fieldValue": "Jan 1, 2013"
    },
    {
        "title" : "football",
        "fieldType": "Button",
        "fieldValue": false
    },
    {
        "title" : "baseball",
        "fieldType": "Button",
        "fieldValue": true
    },
    {
        "title" : "basketball",
        "fieldType": "Button"
        "fieldValue": false
    },
    {
        "title" : "hockey",
        "fieldType": "Button"
        "fieldValue": true
    },
    {
        "title" : "nascar",
        "fieldType": "Button"
        "fieldValue": false
    }
];

var FDFData = pdfFiller.convFieldJson2FDF( fieldJson );
console.log(FDFData)

This will print out this

{
    "last_name" : "John",
    "first_name" : "Doe",
    "date" : "Jan 1, 2013",
    "football" : "Off",
    "baseball" : "Yes",
    "basketball" : "Off",
    "hockey" : "Yes",
    "nascar" : "Off"
};