PDF Generation in TypeScript: Libraries, Tools, and Code Examples

PDF Generation in TypeScript: A Complete Guide for Developers

Creating PDF documents is one of the in-demand tasks in modern web development. In TypeScript, there are several powerful libraries that allow you to generate PDF both on the client side and on the server (Node.js). In this article, we will look at three main tools: PDFKit, jsPDF, and pdf-lib, and also show practical examples of their use.

Why Generate PDF in TypeScript?

TypeScript adds static typing, which is especially important when working with documents of complex structure. Using TypeScript for PDF generation allows you to:

• Avoid type errors when creating tables and styles
• Simplify refactoring of large projects
• Integrate PDF generation with existing TypeScript projects (React, Angular, Node.js)

Overview of Libraries for PDF Generation

1. PDFKit (Node.js)

PDFKit is the most popular library for creating PDF on the server. It provides low-level access to PDF objects, supports fonts, images, embedding vector graphics, and Cyrillic characters (when appropriate fonts are connected).

import PDFDocument from 'pdfkit';import fs from 'fs';

const doc = new PDFDocument();doc.pipe(fs.createWriteStream('output.pdf'));

doc.fontSize(24).text('Hello, world!', 100, 100);doc.fontSize(12).text('This is a PDF created with PDFKit and TypeScript', 100, 150);doc.end();

Features:

• Works only in Node.js (not suitable for the browser)
• Requires manual font configuration for Cyrillic characters
• Supports complex layouts, tables, and graphics

2. jsPDF (Browser and Node.js)

jsPDF is a versatile library that works both in the browser and on the server. It is easier to learn but has limitations in terms of layout complexity.

import { jsPDF } from 'jspdf';

const doc = new jsPDF();doc.text('PDF Generation in TypeScript', 10, 10);doc.save('document.pdf');

Features:

• Simple API for basic documents
• Support for Cyrillic characters (requires adding fonts via addFont)
• Can work with canvas and HTML elements

3. pdf-lib (Modern and Flexible)

pdf-lib is a lightweight library with excellent TypeScript support. It allows you to create PDF from scratch or edit existing documents.

import { PDFDocument, StandardFonts, rgb } from 'pdf-lib';

async function createPDF() {  const doc = await PDFDocument.create();  const page = doc.addPage();  const font = await doc.embedFont(StandardFonts.Helvetica);

  page.drawText('PDF with pdf-lib', {    x: 50,    y: 700,    size: 24,    font,    color: rgb(0, 0, 0),  });

  const pdfBytes = await doc.save();  // Save or send}

Features:

• Full TypeScript support (types included)
• Can work in the browser and Node.js
• Allows modifying existing PDFs
• Requires manual font handling for Cyrillic characters

Library Comparison

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