How to use PyFPDF data as a PDF without having to export (output) it as a PDF?

Question

I am using PyFPDF to create custom PDF documents automatically when a user registers using my custom-built Django application. The PDFs contain information about that persons registration. For each person that registers, I do not want to save their pdf as a separate pdf - I want to mail their PDF immediately after I have formatted it.

pdf = FPDF()
pdf.add_page()
pdf.image(file_path, 0, 0, 210)
pdf.set_text_color(1, 164, 206)
pdf.set_font("helvetica", size=26)
pdf.ln(142)
pdf.cell(0, 0, txt=name, ln=4, align="C")

This is what I have currently to format the PDF, where name is a value retrieved from each individual user's registration.

This is what comes immediately after, and what I want to replace:

val = uuid.uuid4().hex
pdf.output(val+".pdf")

Right now, I am exporting each PDF with a unique filename, and then sending it to each user's email.

What I would prefer is to use the pdf variable directly when sending each email, as below:

finalEmail = EmailMessage(
    subject,
    plain_message,
    from_email,
    [email]
)
finalEmail.attach("Registration.pdf", pdf)
finalEmail.send()

However, Django does not accept this as a valid attachment type, as it is a FPDF variable still.

expected bytes-like object, not FPDF

How would I go about this?

if export can work with file-like object then you can use io.BytesIO or io.StringIO to create file in memory, write in this file and later read from this file. — furas
– furas, Commented Dec 8, 2019 at 5:06
documentation shows second parameter in output() which let you get it as bytes string. — furas
– furas, Commented Dec 8, 2019 at 5:09
@furas if I output it as bytes string, where is that stored? In the PDF variable itself? — CoopDaddio
– CoopDaddio, Commented Dec 9, 2019 at 1:05
This worked perfectly, thankyou. Do you want to put it as the answer so I can upvote / mark as correct? — CoopDaddio
– CoopDaddio, Commented Dec 9, 2019 at 4:24

furas · Accepted Answer · 2019-12-09 04:44:32Z

2

In documentation you can see parameter S which gives it as bytes string

content = pdf.output(val+".pdf", 'S')

and now you can use content to create attachement in email.

answered Dec 9, 2019 at 4:44

furas

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Comments

IX8 · Accepted Answer · 2022-04-08 19:31:24Z

2

Works for me: content = BytesIO(bytes(pdf.output(dest = 'S'), encoding='latin1'))

answered Apr 8, 2022 at 19:31

IX8

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Comments

Costin · Accepted Answer · 2023-09-04 14:23:30Z

0

I modify answer from IX8 like this:

content = io.BytesIO(bytes(pdf.output(dest = 'S'), encoding='latin1'))
with open("Registration.pdf", "wb") as temp_file:
temp_file.write(content.getvalue())
now you can use Registration.pdf where you want

answered Sep 4, 2023 at 14:23

Costin

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Comments

Martin Thoma · Accepted Answer · 2023-09-27 18:17:29Z

0

fpdf2 is the maintained alternative to the old fpdf.

Install it via

pip install fpdf2

There it works like this:

from io import BytesIO
from fpdf import FPDF

pdf = FPDF()
pdf.add_page()
pdf.set_font("helvetica", "B", 16)
pdf.cell(40, 10, "Hello World!")
byte_string = pdf.output()
stream BytesIO(byte_string)

output still has a dest parameter, but it is deprecated

answered Sep 27, 2023 at 18:17

Martin Thoma

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