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download a PDF with Javascript/Node.Js after generating data and storing the file into a path

I created a generator for PDF files that creates the file and sends to a specific path automatically after creation. Still I want to download it right after but didn't know how to do that. Any help would be appreciated. This is my generatorPdf.js :
module.exports={
pdfGenerator:function(data,pathfile){
var fonts = {
Roboto: {
normal: 'server/pdfgenerator/fonts/Roboto-Regular.ttf',
bold: 'server/pdfgenerator/fonts/Roboto-Medium.ttf',
italics: 'server/pdfgenerator/fonts/Roboto-Italic.ttf',
bolditalics: 'server/pdfgenerator/fonts/Roboto-MediumItalic.ttf'
}
};
var datePaiements='';
var dateFinPaiements='';
if(data.abonnement[0].datePaiement!=null)
datePaiements= new Date( data.abonnement[0].datePaiement.toString());
if(datePaiements!=='')
{
dateFinPaiements= ('0'+datePaiements.getDate()).slice(-2).toString()+'/'+('0'+(datePaiements.getMonth()+1)).slice(-2).toString()+'/'+(datePaiements.getFullYear()+1).toString();
datePaiements=('0'+datePaiements.getDate()).slice(-2).toString()+'/'+('0'+(datePaiements.getMonth()+1)).slice(-2).toString()+'/'+datePaiements.getFullYear().toString();
}
var dateFacture= new Date(data.abonnement[0].timestampCreation.toString());
dateFacture= ('0'+dateFacture.getDate()).slice(-2).toString()+'/'+('0'+(dateFacture.getMonth()+1)).slice(-2).toString()+'/'+dateFacture.getFullYear().toString();
var PdfPrinter = require('pdfmake/src/printer');
var printer = new PdfPrinter(fonts);
var fs = require('fs');
var dd = {
content: [ ..............],
footer:{.............}
}
try{
var pdfDoc = printer.createPdfKitDocument(dd);
if (fs.existsSync(pathfile)) {//server/pdfgenerator/documentpdf/basics21.pdf
fs.unlink(pathfile, (err) => {//server/pdfgenerator/documentpdf/basics21.pdf
if (err) {
console.error(err)
return
}
})
}
pdfDoc.pipe(fs.createWriteStream(pathfile)).on('finish',function(){//server/pdfgenerator/documentpdf/basics21.pdf
});
}
catch(e){
console.log(e);
return null;
}
}
}
and this is my remote method in Loopback to send the pdf to a path and where probably I have to do the download of the file:
cm_abonnements.getAbonnementById= async (options,req,res)=>{
const token = options && options.accessToken;
const userId = token && token.userId;
try{
if(userId!==null){
let dataComedien= await app.models.cm_comediens.getComedienByUser(userId);
let argAbn={};
const form = new formidable.IncomingForm();
var formPromise = await new Promise(function(resolve,reject){
form.parse(req,function(err,fields,files){
if(err)
{
reject(err);
return-1
}
console.log(fields.key)
argAbn.idAbonnement=fields.key;
resolve();
})
})
let dataFac=await cm_abonnements.find({where :{and :[{idAbonnement:argAbn.idAbonnement},{idComedien : dataComedien.idComedien}]}});
var data={abonnement:[]};
data.abonnement=dataFac;
var str_date= new Date(dataFac[0].timestampCreation.toString());
var nameFile= 'Fac_'+dataFac[0].idFacture+'_'+str_date.getFullYear().toString()+'-'+('0'+str_date.getMonth()+1).slice(-2).toString()+'-'+('0'+str_date.getDate()).slice(-2).toString()+'.pdf';
var path='public/upload/Comediens/'+dataComedien.idComedien.toString()+'/factures/'+nameFile;
createPdf.pdfGenerator(data,path);
return dataFac;
}
return null;
}
catch(e){
console.log(e);
return null;
}
}
cm_abonnements.remoteMethod(
'getAbonnementById',{
http:{
verb:'POST'
},
description:'Get detail facture by number facture',
accepts:[
{arg:"options", "type":"object","http":"optionsFromRequest"},
{ arg: 'req', type: 'object', 'http': {source: 'req'}},
{arg: 'res', type: 'object', 'http': {source: 'res'}}
],
returns:{arg:'data',root:true}
}
);
Any help would be appreciated. Thank you

You need to send the following HTTP headers:
Content-Type: application/pdf
Content-Disposition: inline; filename="download.pdf"

After data is generated and pdf file is stored, there are 2 steps left to implement the "download" feature:
Return HTTP response to browser, with Content-Type header as application/pdf, and Content-Disposition header as attachment; filename="yourname.pdf". Normally, this would be handled automatically by web framework. I'm not familiar with loopback, so take Express for example:
In generatorPdf.js, add a callback to listen the finish event:
pdfGenerator:function(data, pathfile, callback){
...
pdfDoc.pipe(fs.createWriteStream(pathfile)).on('finish', callback);
...
}
When pdfGenerator function is used, pass a callback function parameter. If the pdf work is "finished", return response to browser using res.download() (It's Express API, but I believe loopback has similar API as loopback is built on top of Express):
var nameFile=...
var path=...
createPdf.pdfGenerator(data, path, function() {
res.download(path, nameFile);
});
In browser side, if it's an AJAX request (I guess so, as you mentioned it is a POST request), you need to handle the request with some blob operation. Here is an example snippet, with explanation comment:
var req = new XMLHttpRequest();
req.open('POST', '/download', true); // Open an async AJAX request.
req.setRequestHeader('Content-Type', 'application/json'); // Send JSON data
req.responseType = 'blob'; // Define the expected data as blob
req.onreadystatechange = function () {
if (req.readyState === 4) {
if (req.status === 200) { // When data is received successfully
var data = req.response;
var defaultFilename = 'default.pdf';
// Or, you can get filename sent from backend through req.getResponseHeader('Content-Disposition')
if (typeof window.navigator.msSaveBlob === 'function') {
// If it is IE that support download blob directly.
window.navigator.msSaveBlob(data, defaultFilename);
} else {
var blob = data;
var link = document.createElement('a');
link.href = window.URL.createObjectURL(blob);
link.download = defaultFilename;
document.body.appendChild(link);
link.click(); // create an <a> element and simulate the click operation.
}
}
}
};
req.send(JSON.stringify({test: 'test'}));

Fill intent based on result of API call in Dialogflow Fullfilment

I am struggling to get the following fullfilment code for Dialogflow to work:
'use strict';
const functions = require('firebase-functions');
const {WebhookClient} = require('dialogflow-fulfillment');
const {Card, Suggestion} = require('dialogflow-fulfillment');
process.env.DEBUG = 'dialogflow:debug'; // enables lib debugging statements
exports.dialogflowFirebaseFulfillment = functions.https.onRequest((request, response) => {
const agent = new WebhookClient({ request, response });
console.log('Dialogflow Request headers: ' + JSON.stringify(request.headers));
console.log('Dialogflow Request body: ' + JSON.stringify(request.body));
function testHandler(agent){
var XMLHttpRequest = require("xmlhttprequest").XMLHttpRequest;
var xmlhttp = new XMLHttpRequest(); // new HttpRequest instance
const proxyurl = "https://cors-anywhere.herokuapp.com/";
var theUrl = "http://xxxxx/sum?a=5&b=11";
var url = proxyurl + theUrl;
var result = "Init";
getText = function(url, callback)
{
var request = new XMLHttpRequest();
request.onload = function()
{
if (request.readyState == 4 && request.status == 200)
{
callback(request.responseText);
}
};
request.open('GET', url);
request.send();
}
function mycallback(data) {
agent.add("DATA:" + data);
}
return getText(url, mycallback);
}
let intentMap = new Map();
intentMap.set('test', testHandler);
agent.handleRequest(intentMap);
});
The line agent.add("DATA:" + data); does not have any effect. When trying the code in the browsers and changing agent.add("DATA:" + data) to document.write("DATA:" + data), everything works just fine.
I am new to Dialogflow; any hint why this callback does not seem to work?

When doing asynchronous operations (such as making network API calls), your Intent Handler must return a Promise, so the Handler Dispatcher knows to wait for the response from the API before sending the response to the user. In your case, when the response comes back, it does try to send it to the user, but since a response was already sent (with nothing) nobody sees it.
Your web browser is handling everything locally, so you don't see the same issues (even tho it is doing the same sort of thing).
While you can probably wrap your code in a Promise, the easier way is to use something like request-promise-native to do your HTTP call, do the call to agent.add() in the then() block, and return the overall promise. Something like this, perhaps:
function testHandlerPromise(agent){
const rp = require('request-promise-native');
const proxyurl = "https://cors-anywhere.herokuapp.com/";
var theUrl = "http://xxxxx/sum?a=5&b=11";
var url = proxyurl + theUrl;
return rp( url ).then( data => {
agent.add("DATA:" + data);
} );
}

How do you send a post via XMLhttprequest to my own Node server in vanilla javascript?

I am trying to send data to node via a XMLhttprequest. The data looks like this (/q/zmw:95632.1.99999.json). My connection to Node is correct, however, I was getting an empty object so I set the headers to Content-Type application/json and then stringified the data. However Node gives me a Unexpected token " error. I presume it is because of the string, however, if I don't stringify the data then it errors out because of the "/" in the data. How do i properly send the data using pure Javascript. I want to stay away from axios and jquery because I want to become more proficient in vanilla javascript. I will make the final call to the api in node by assembling the url prefix and suffix.
Here is my code:
function getCityForecast(e){
//User selects option data from an early JSONP request.
var id = document.getElementById('cities');
var getValue = id.options[id.selectedIndex].value;
//Assembles the suffix for http request that I will do in Node.
var suffix = getValue + ".json";
var string = JSON.stringify(suffix);
console.log(suffix);
var xhr = new XMLHttpRequest();
xhr.open("POST", "http://localhost:3000/", true);
xhr.setRequestHeader("Content-Type", "application/json;charset=UTF-8");
xhr.send(string);
}
Node.js code:
var express = require('express');
var app = express();
var bodyParser = require('body-parser');
var path = require('path');
var request = require('request');
var http = require('http');
// ****************** Middle Ware *******************
app.use(bodyParser.urlencoded({ extended: true }));
app.use(bodyParser.json());
app.use(express.static(__dirname + '/public'));
app.post('/', function(req, res){
console.log('working');
console.log(req.body);
});
app.listen(3000, function() { console.log('listening')});

I figured it out my mistake and this was my problem. I was trying to send a string instead of an object. So it wasn't proper JSON like this:
var string = JSON.stringify(suffix);
To remedy the situation I added:
var newObj = JSON.stringify({link : suffix});
This allowed my post to be successful because I was now sending an object hence the word Javascript Object Notation.

This is working for me, at the moment. The REST API I'm hitting requires a token. Yours might not, or it might be looking for some other custom header. Read the API's documentation. Note, you might need a polyfill/shim for cross browser-ness (promises). I'm doing GET, but this works for POST, too. You may need to pass an object. If you're passing credentials to get a token, don't forget window.btoa. Call it like:
httpReq('GET', device.address, path, device.token).then(function(data) {
//console.log(data);
updateInstrument(deviceId,path,data);
}, function(status) {
console.log(status);
});
function httpReq(method, host, path, token) {
if(method === "DELETE" || method === "GET"|| method === "POST" || method === "PUT" ){
var address = 'https://' + host + path;
return new Promise(function(resolve, reject) {
var xhr = new XMLHttpRequest();
xhr.open(method, address, true);
xhr.setRequestHeader("Accept", "application/json");
xhr.setRequestHeader ("X-auth-token", token);
//xhr.setRequestHeader ("Content-Type", "application/x-www-form-urlencoded");
xhr.onload = function() {
var status = xhr.status;
if (status == 200 || status == 201 || status == 202) {
resolve(xhr.response);
}
// this is where we catch 404s and alert what guage or resource failed to respond
else {
reject(status);
}
};
xhr.send();
});
} else {
console.log('invalid method');
}
};

How do I read Ajax parameter value in Node without framework?

I am trying to pass a variable to my Ajax send and read it in Node without using a framework. I am not trying to return the value back to the DOM, I just need to read the value passed to Node.js. Here is what I have:
Ajax:
const XHR = new XMLHttpRequest();
XHR.open('POST', document.url, true);
XHR.setRequestHeader('X-Requested-load', 'XMLHttpRequest2');
XHR.send(`password=${password}`);
Nodejs:
const QS = require('querystring');
let password = QS.parse(req.body);
req.on('data', (data) => {
password = QS.parse(data);
});
console.log(password);

Hope this will help you:
http.createServer(function (request, response) {
if (request.method == 'POST') {
// save all data received
var postdata = '';
// receiving data
request.on('data', function(chunk) {
postdata += chunk;
// Avoid too much POST data
if (postdata.length > 1e6)
request.connection.destroy();
});
// received all data
request.on('end', function() {
var post = qs.parse(postdata);
// handle post by accessing
// post['password']
// response.send(process(post['password']));
});
} else {
console.log("Non POST request received at " + request.url);
}
}).listen();
In your example you are trying to access password out of the callback where this data is provided.

const QS = require('querystring');
let password = QS.parse(req.body);
req.on('data', (data) => {
password = QS.parse(data);
//async. access data here
console.log(password);
});

node.js redirection not working to add username

I am working on a Team Treehouse project that builds a dynamic website with Node.js. The user enters in a username into the search field and it displays the user's avatar, number of badges earned and the number of JavaScript points. For some reason when I enter in the user name and click search the page just goes blank. I think there might be something wrong with the 303 redirection in my router.js file. I'm still fairly new to coding so any insight would be very helpful. Here are each of my js files.
/*****app.js file******/
var router = require('./router.js');
//Problem: We need a simple way to look at a user's badge count and JavaScript points from a web browser
//Solution: Use Node.js to perform the profile look ups and serve our templates via HTTP
//Create a web server
var http = require('http');
http.createServer(function (request, response) {
router.home(request, response);
router.user(request, response);
}).listen(3000);
console.log('Server running at http://<workspace-url>');
/*****router.js file******/
var Profile = require("./profile.js");
var renderer = require('./renderer');
var querystring = require('querystring');
var commonHeader = {'Content-Type': 'text/html'};
// Handle the HTTP route GET / and POST / i.e. Home
function home(request, response) {
//if url == "/" && GET
if (request.url === '/'){
if (request.method.toLowerCase() === "get") {
//show search
console.log(request.url);
response.writeHead(200, commonHeader);
renderer.view('header', {}, response);
renderer.view('search', {}, response);
renderer.view('footer', {}, response);
response.end();
}
else {
//if url == "/" && POST
//get the post data from body
request.on('data', function(postBody){
//extract the username
var query = querystring.parse(postBody.toString());
//redirect to /:username
response.writeHead(303, {'Location': '/' + query.username });
response.end();
});
}
}
}
// Handle the HTTP route for GET /:username i.e. /chalkers
function user(request, response) {
//if url == "/...."
var username = request.url.replace('/', '');
if(user.name.length > 0){
response.writeHead(200, commonHeader);
renderer.view('header', {}, response);
//get json from Treehouse
var studentProfile = new Profile(username);
//on "end"
studentProfile.on("end", function(profileJSON){
//show profile
//Store the values which we need
var values = {
avatarUrl: profileJSON.gravatar_url,
username: profileJSON.profile_name,
badges: profileJSON.badges.length,
javascriptPoints: profileJSON.points.JavaScript
}
//Simple response
renderer.view('profile', values, response);
renderer.view('footer', {}, response);
response.end();
});
//on "error"
studentProfile.on("error", function(error){
//show error
renderer.view('error', {errorMessage: error.message}, response);
renderer.view('search', {}, response);
renderer.view('footer', {}, response);
response.end();
});
}
}
module.exports.home = home;
module.exports.user = user;
/*****profile.js file*******/
var EventEmitter = require("events").EventEmitter;
var http = require("http");
var util = require("util");
/**
* An EventEmitter to get a Treehouse students profile.
* #param username
* #constructor
*/
function Profile(username) {
EventEmitter.call(this);
profileEmitter = this;
//Connect to the API URL (http://teamtreehouse.com/username.json)
var request = http.get("http://teamtreehouse.com/" + username + ".json", function(response) {
var body = "";
if (response.statusCode !== 200) {
request.abort();
//Status Code Error
profileEmitter.emit("error", new Error("There was an error getting the profile for " + username + ". (" + http.STATUS_CODES[response.statusCode] + ")"));
}
//Read the data
response.on('data', function (chunk) {
body += chunk;
profileEmitter.emit("data", chunk);
});
response.on('end', function () {
if(response.statusCode === 200) {
try {
//Parse the data
var profile = JSON.parse(body);
profileEmitter.emit("end", profile);
} catch (error) {
profileEmitter.emit("error", error);
}
}
}).on("error", function(error){
profileEmitter.emit("error", error);
});
});
}
util.inherits( Profile, EventEmitter );
module.exports = Profile;
/*****renderer.js file*******/
var fs = require('fs');
function mergeValues(values, content) {
//Cycle over the keys
for(var key in values) {
//Replace all the {{key}} with the value from the values object
content = content.replace('{{' + key + '}}', values[key]);
}
//return merged content
return content;
}
function view(templateName, values, response) {
//Read from the template file
var fileContents = fs.readFileSync('./views/' + templateName + '.html', {encoding: 'utf8'});
//Insert values in to the content
fileContents = mergeValues(values, fileContents);
//Write out the contents to the response
response.write(fileContents);
}
module.exports.view = view;

Treehouse changed from http to https and so this example code doesn't work any longer. The reason for that is in the profile.js file. You are making calls for an http site and it doesn't exist. You need to change the code (only in profile.js) to make it connect to the https site instead.
var http = require("http");
should be changed to
var https = require("https");
and with that all references to the variable in your profile.js code should be changed to https.
As well as the hard-coded URL start:
var request = http.get("http://teamtreehous...
should be
var request = https.get("https://teamtreehous...
That should resolve the problem. Good luck!

In order to get your code in the profile.js file to run, you need to change some instances of the "http" module to "https" but, and this is important, not all instances.
What needs to remain http is the the status code error on the profile.js page. This line of code is correct:
profileEmitter.emit("error", new Error("There was an error getting the profile for " + username + ". (" + http.STATUS_CODES[response.statusCode] + ")"));
But all other instances of the http module need to change to https. For example, these lines are correct:
var url = "https://teamtreehouse.com/" + username + ".json";
var request = https.get(url, function(response){
Remember to require both modules at the top of profile.js page
var http = require("http");
var https = require("https");