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Foxit PDF Conversion SDK

How to Convert PDF to Word, PowerPoint and Excel using Node.js

System Requirements

For system requirements, please check the latest developer guide here.

Installation

For installation, please refer to the developer guide here.

Working with Foxit PDF Conversion SDK Node.js API

It’s easy to use Foxit PDF Conversion SDK Node.js for converting PDF to Office. We can use PDF paths or PDF streams as a source of PDF input.  Before using it, first look at the definition of input parameters.

PDFConversionSDK.PDF2Office.StartConvertToWordWithPath(src_pdf_path, src_pdf_password, saved_word_file_path, setting_data, convert_callback);
PDFConversionSDK.PDF2Office.StartConvertToPPTWithPath(src_pdf_path, src_pdf_password, saved_ppt_file_path, setting_data, convert_callback);
PDFConversionSDK.PDF2Office.StartConvertToExcelWithPath(src_pdf_path, src_pdf_password, saved_excel_file_path, setting_data, convert_callback);
PDFConversionSDK.PDF2Office.StartConvertToWordWithStream(src_pdf_reader,src_pdf_password, saved_word_file_stream, setting_data, convert_callback);
PDFConversionSDK.PDF2Office.StartConvertToPPTWithStream(src_pdf_reader,src_pdf_password, saved_ppt_file_stream, setting_data, convert_callback);
PDFConversionSDK.PDF2Office.StartConvertToExcelWithStream(src_pdf_reader,src_pdf_password, saved_excel_file_stream, setting_data, convert_callback);

src_pdf_pathPath of a PDF file. This should not be an empty string.
src_pdf_passwordPassword for the input PDF file. If no password is needed for the file, please pass an empty string.
saved_word_file_pathPath of the saved Word format file as conversion result. This should not be an empty string. If the suffix name of the saved Word format file is not “docx”, a new suffix named “docx” will be added to the original file name.
saved_ppt_file_pathPath of the saved PowerPoint format file as conversion result. This should not be an empty string. If the suffix name of the saved PowerPoint format file is not “pptx”, a new suffix named “pptx” will be added to the original file name.
saved_excle_file_pathPath of the saved Excel format file as conversion result. This should not be an empty string. If the suffix name of the saved Excel format file is not “xlsx”, a new suffix named “xlsx” will be added to the original file name.
src_pdf_readerA ReaderCallback object which is implemented by user to load a PDF document. It should not be NULL.
saved_word_file_streamA StreamCallback object which is implemented by user to read the contents of the converted Excel format file. It should not be NULL.
saved_ppt_file_streamA StreamCallback object which is implemented by user to read the contents of the converted Excel format file. It should not be NULL.
saved_excel_file_streamA StreamCallback object which is implemented by user to read the contents of the converted Excel format file. It should not be NULL.
setting_dataSetting data used for converting.
convert_callbackA PDFConversionSDK.ConvertCallback object which is implemented by user to pause and notify the conversion progress during the converting process. This can be NULL which means not to pause and notify the conversion progress. If this is not NULL, it should be a valid PDFConversionSDK.ConvertCallback object implemented by user. Default value: NULL.

How to import the Foxit PDF Conversion SDK node module

var {
  ErrorCode,
  State,
  Library,
  PDF2OfficeSettingData,
  ConvertCallback,
  PDF2Office,
  Progressive,
  ReaderCallback,
  StreamCallback } = require("@foxitsoftware/foxit-pdf-conversion-sdk-node");

Specify the PDF2OfficeSettingData for conversion

Before conversion, you need to set the metrics data file path and whether or not you want to enable machine learning based recognition. The metrics data files are offered in the “res/metrics_data” folder of the Foxit PDF Conversion SDK package. You can enable machine learning-based recognition functionality to enhance recognition results in PDF documents. This recognition functionality will be executed on the server side and return the relevant results when it has completed. Machine learning based recognition is disabled in the following code.


var setting_data = new PDF2OfficeSettingData('../../res/metrics_data', false);

Specify PDFConversionSDK.ConvertCallback

class CustomConvertCallback extends ConvertCallback {
  NeedToPause() {
    return true;
  }
 
  ProgressNotify(converted_count, total_count) {
  }
}
 
var custom_callback = new CustomConvertCallback();

Specify PDFConversionSDK.ReaderCallback

class CustomReaderCallback extends ReaderCallback {
  LoadFile(file_path) {
    this.file_path = file_path;
    this.fd = fs.openSync(file_path, 'r');
  }
 
  GetSize() {
    var states = fs.statSync(this.file_path);
    return states.size;
  }
 
  ReadBlock(offset, size) {
    var buf = Buffer.alloc(size);
    var read_size = fs.readSync(this.fd, buf, 0, size, offset);
    if (read_size == 0) {
      return "";
    }
    return buf.toString('binary');
  }
}

Specify PDFConversionSDK.StreamCallback

class CustomStreamCallback extends StreamCallback {
  LoadFile(file_path) {
    this.file_path = file_path;
    this.fd = fs.openSync(file_path, 'w+')
    this.curpos = 0;
    this.offset = 0;
  }
 
  Retain() {
    return this;
  }
 
  Release() {
    fs.closeSync(this.fd);
  }
 
  GetSize() {
    var states = fs.statSync(this.file_path);
    return states.size;
  }
 
  IsEOF() {
    var states = fs.statSync(this.file_path);
    return this.curpos - this.offset >= states.size;
  }
 
  GetPosition() {
    return this.curpos;
  }
 
  ReadBlock0(offset, size) {
    var buf = Buffer.alloc(size);
    this.offset = offset;
    var read_size = fs.readSync(this.fd, buf, 0, size, offset);
    if (read_size == 0) {
      return false;
    }
    this.curpos = offset + size;
    return buf.toString('binary');
  }
 
  ReadBlock1(buffer, size) {
    var states = fs.statSync(this.file_path);
    return ReadBlock0(buffer, states.size(), size);
  }
 
  WriteBlock(buffer, offset, size) {
    this.offset = offset;
    var buf = Buffer.from(buffer, 'binary');
    var write_size = fs.writeSync(this.fd, buf, 0, size, offset);
    if (write_size == size) {
      this.curpos = offset + size;
      return true;
    }
    return false;
  }
 
  Flush(user_data) {
  }
}

Call conversion

Call the PDF2Office.StartConvertToWordWithPath function to begin converting PDF to Word. The interface call methods for PPT and Excel are similar.

// convert pdf to word with path
try {
  var progressive = PDF2Office.StartConvertToWordWithPath(src_pdf_path, "", saved_word_file_path, setting_data, custom_callback);
  if (progressive.GetRateOfProgress() != 100) {
    var state = State.e_ToBeContinued;
    while (State.e_ToBeContinued == state) {
      state = progressive.Continue();
    }
  }
  console.log("Convert PDF file to Word format file with path.");
} catch (e) {
  console.log(e.message);
}
 
// convert pdf to word with stream
try {
  var custom_readercallback_word = new CustomReaderCallback();
  var custom_streamcallback_word = new CustomStreamCallback();
  custom_readercallback_word.LoadFile(src_pdf_path);
  custom_streamcallback_word.LoadFile(saved_word_file_path);
  var progressive = PDF2Office.StartConvertToWordWithStream(custom_readercallback_word, "", custom_streamcallback_word, setting_data, custom_callback);
  if (progressive.GetRateOfProgress() != 100) {
    var state = State.e_ToBeContinued;
    while (State.e_ToBeContinued == state) {
      state = progressive.Continue();
    }
  }
  console.log("Convert PDF file to Word format file with stream.");
  delete custom_readercallback_word;
  delete custom_streamcallback_word;
} catch (e) {
  console.log(e.message);
}

How to run the conversion in the Foxit PDF SDK Web demo

The Foxit PDF SDK Web demo is an online demo application based on Foxit PDF SDK that helps users learn and familiarize themselves with the various features and capabilities of Foxit PDF SDK. Foxit pdf-sdk-web-demo has added a demo of the pdf2office function by using Foxit PDF Conversion SDK.

How to set up

The Foxit PDF Conversion SDK demo is located in the foxit-pdf-sdk-web-demo/examples/conversion directory. PDFToOfficeService is a service for Node.js used for PDF to Office with Foxit PDF Conversion SDK. 

How to run

Install foxit-pdf-sdk-web-demo dependencies

cd foxit-pdf-sdk-web-demonpm i

Install conversion server dependencies

cd foxit-pdf-sdk-web-demo/examples/conversion/PDFToOfficeServicenpm i

Start conversion server

cd foxit-pdf-sdk-web-demonpm run start:conversion-server

Start conversion client 

Change the serverUrlBase value in foxit pdf sdk web demo/examples/version/config.ts，export let serverUrlBase= `http://localhost:19113`.

cd foxit-pdf-sdk-web-demonpm install http-server -gnpm run buildhttp-server ./dist -p 8083

How to use it

  1. Open http://localhost:8083/#/conversion in your browser to access the demo.
  2. Click on the “Upload” button to upload a PDF file.

3.  Once the PDF has been successfully uploaded, select one of the conversion options to convert the PDF to the desired office document format.

4. If your PDF file contains tables, it is recommended that you select the option to “Use AI to recognize borderless tables” for better table extraction.

5. Once the conversion is complete, click on the “Download” button to download the converted file.

Updated on March 29, 2023

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