Creating PDF using Pdfmake - Advanced

Styling

pdfmake makes it possible to style any paragraph or its part:

var docDefinition = {
  content: [
    // if you don't need styles, you can use a simple string to define a paragraph
    'This is a standard paragraph, using default style',

    // using a { text: '...' } object lets you set styling properties
    { text: 'This paragraph will have a bigger font', fontSize: 15 },

    // if you set the value of text to an array instead of a string, you'll be able
    // to style any part individually
    {
      text: [
        'This paragraph is defined as an array of elements to make it possible to ',
        { text: 'restyle part of it and make it bigger ', fontSize: 15 },
        'than the rest.'
      ]
    }
  ]
};

Style dictionary

It's also possible to define a dictionary of reusable styles:

var docDefinition = {
  content: [
    { text: 'This is a header', style: 'header' },
    'No styling here, this is a standard paragraph',
    { text: 'Report No. 001', style: 'anotherstyle' },    { text: 'Created Date', style: [ 'header', 'anotherstyle' ] }
    { text: 'This is report body, style: 'textstyle' }  ],

  styles: {
    header: {
       fontSize: 22,
       bold: true,
       alignment: "center",
    },
    anotherstyle: {
       fontSize: 14,
       bold:true,
       alignment: 'right',
   },
   textstyle: {
       fontSize: 14,
       alignment: 'justify',
   }
};

Columns

By default paragraphs are rendered as a vertical stack of elements (one below another). It is possible however to divide available space into columns. Note Column content is not limited to a simple text. It can actually contain any valid pdfmake element.

var docDefinition = {
  content: [
    'This paragraph fills full width, as there are no columns. Next paragraph however consists of three columns',
    {
      columns: [
        {
          // auto-sized columns have their widths based on their content
          width: 'auto',
          text: 'First column'
        },
        {
          // star-sized columns fill the remaining space
          // if there's more than one star-column, available width is divided equally
          width: '*',
          text: 'Second column'
        },
        {
          // fixed width
          width: 100,
          text: 'Third column'
        },
        {
          // % width
          width: '20%',
          text: 'Fourth column'
        }
      ],
      // optional space between columns
      columnGap: 10
    },
    'This paragraph goes below all columns and has full width'
  ]
};

Tables

Conceptually tables are similar to columns. They can however have headers, borders and cells spanning over multiple columns/rows.

var docDefinition = {
    content: [
        {
            table: {
                // headers are automatically repeated if the table spans over multiple pages
                // you can declare how many rows should be treated as headers
                headerRows: 1,
                widths: [ '*', 'auto', 100, '*' ],
                body: [
                    [ 'First', 'Second', 'Third', 'The last one' ],
                    [ 'Value 1', 'Value 2', 'Value 3', 'Value 4' ],
                    [ { text: 'Bold value', bold: true }, 'Val 2', 'Val 3', 'Val 4' ]
                ]
            }
        }
    ]
};  

Styling tables 

You can provide a custom style for the table. Currently it supports: 

• line widths 
• line colors 
• cell paddings

var styles = {
    header: {
        fontSize: 18,
        bold: true,
        margin: [0, 0, 0, 10]
    },
    subheader: {
        fontSize: 16,
        bold: true,
        margin: [0, 10, 0, 5]
    },
    tableExample: {
        margin: [0, 5, 0, 15]
    },
    tableHeader: {
        bold: true,
        fontSize: 13,
        color: 'black'
    }
};
    
var content = [
    { text: 'Tables', style: 'header' },
    { text: 'A simple table', style: 'subheader' },
    'The following table has nothing more than a body array',
    {
        style: 'tableExample',
        table: {
            body: [
                ['Column 1', 'Column 2', 'Column 3'],
                ['One value goes here', 'Another one here', 'OK?']
            ]
        }
    },
    { text: 'noBorders:', fontSize: 14, bold: true, pageBreak: 'before', margin: [0, 0, 0, 8] },
    {
        style: 'tableExample',
        table: {
            headerRows: 1,
            body: [
             [{ text: 'Header 1', style: 'tableHeader' }, { text: 'Header 2', style: 'tableHeader'}, { text: 'Header 3', 
style: 'tableHeader' }],
             [ 'Sample value 1', 'Sample value 2', 'Sample value 3' ],
             [ 'Sample value 1', 'Sample value 2', 'Sample value 3' ],
             [ 'Sample value 1', 'Sample value 2', 'Sample value 3' ],
             [ 'Sample value 1', 'Sample value 2', 'Sample value 3' ],
             [ 'Sample value 1', 'Sample value 2', 'Sample value 3' ],
            ]
        },
        layout: 'noBorders'
    },
    { text: 'headerLineOnly:', fontSize: 14, bold: true, margin: [0, 20, 0, 8] },
    {
        style: 'tableExample',
        table: {
            headerRows: 1,
            body: [
             [{ text: 'Header 1', style: 'tableHeader' }, { text: 'Header 2', style: 'tableHeader'}, { text: 'Header 3', 
style: 'tableHeader' }],
             [ 'Sample value 1', 'Sample value 2', 'Sample value 3' ],
             [ 'Sample value 1', 'Sample value 2', 'Sample value 3' ],
             [ 'Sample value 1', 'Sample value 2', 'Sample value 3' ],
             [ 'Sample value 1', 'Sample value 2', 'Sample value 3' ],
             [ 'Sample value 1', 'Sample value 2', 'Sample value 3' ],
            ]
        },
        layout: 'headerLineOnly'
    },
    { text: 'lightHorizontalLines:', fontSize: 14, bold: true, margin: [0, 20, 0, 8] },
    {
        style: 'tableExample',
        table: {
            headerRows: 1,
            body: [
             [{ text: 'Header 1', style: 'tableHeader' }, { text: 'Header 2', style: 'tableHeader'}, { text: 'Header 3', 

style: 'tableHeader' }],
             [ 'Sample value 1', 'Sample value 2', 'Sample value 3' ],
             [ 'Sample value 1', 'Sample value 2', 'Sample value 3' ],
             [ 'Sample value 1', 'Sample value 2', 'Sample value 3' ],
             [ 'Sample value 1', 'Sample value 2', 'Sample value 3' ],
             [ 'Sample value 1', 'Sample value 2', 'Sample value 3' ],
            ]
        },
        layout: 'lightHorizontalLines'
    },
    
    { text: 'but you can provide a custom styler as well', margin: [0, 20, 0, 8] },
    {
        style: 'tableExample',
        table: {
            headerRows: 1,
            body: [
             [{ text: 'Header 1', style: 'tableHeader' }, { text: 'Header 2', style: 'tableHeader'}, { text: 'Header 3', 
style: 'tableHeader' }],
             [ 'Sample value 1', 'Sample value 2', 'Sample value 3' ],
             [ 'Sample value 1', 'Sample value 2', 'Sample value 3' ],
             [ 'Sample value 1', 'Sample value 2', 'Sample value 3' ],
             [ 'Sample value 1', 'Sample value 2', 'Sample value 3' ],
             [ 'Sample value 1', 'Sample value 2', 'Sample value 3' ],
            ]
        },
        layout: {
            hLineWidth: function(i, node) {
             return (i === 0 || i === node.table.body.length) ? 2 : 1;
            },
            vLineWidth: function(i, node) {
             return (i === 0 || i === node.table.widths.length) ? 2 : 1;
            },
            hLineColor: function(i, node) {
             return (i === 0 || i === node.table.body.length) ? 'black' : 'gray';
            },
            vLineColor: function(i, node) {
             return (i === 0 || i === node.table.widths.length) ? 'black' : 'gray';
            },
            // paddingLeft: function(i, node) { return 4; },
            // paddingRight: function(i, node) { return 4; },
            // paddingTop: function(i, node) { return 2; },
            // paddingBottom: function(i, node) { return 2; }
        }
    }
];
    
var docDefinition = {
    // a string or { width: number, height: number }
    pageSize: 'A4',
    // by default we use portrait, you can change it to landscape here
    pageOrientation: 'portrait', //can change to landscape
    // [left, top, right, bottom] or [horizontal, vertical] or just a number for equal margins
    pageMargins: [ 40, 60, 40, 60 ], 
    styles: styles,
    content: content,
    defaultStyle: {
        // alignment: 'justify'
    }    
};

Lists

pdfMake supports both numbered and bulleted lists:

var docDefinition = {
  content: [
    'Bulleted list example:',
    {
      // to treat a paragraph as a bulleted list, set an array of items under the ul key
      ul: [
        'Item 1',
        'Item 2',
        'Item 3',
        { text: 'Item 4', bold: true },
      ]
    },

    'Numbered list example:',
    {
      // for numbered lists set the ol key
      ol: [
        'Item 1',
        'Item 2',
        'Item 3'
      ]
    }
  ]
};

Headers and footers

Page headers and footers in pdfmake can be: static or dynamic.They use the same syntax:

var docDefinition = {
  header: 'simple text',

  footer: {
    columns: [
      'Left part',
      { text: 'Right part', alignment: 'right' }
    ]
  },

  content: (...)
};

For dynamically generated content (including page numbers and page count) you can pass a function to the header or footer:

var docDefinition = {
  footer: function(currentPage, pageCount) { return currentPage.toString() + ' of ' + pageCount; },
  header: function(currentPage, pageCount) {
    // you can apply any logic and return any valid pdfmake element

    return { text: 'simple text', alignment: (currentPage % 2) ? 'left' : 'right' };
  },
  (...)
};

Background-layer

The background-layer will be added on every page.

var docDefinition = {
  background: 'simple text',

  content: (...)
};

It may contain any other object as well (images, tables, ...) or be dynamically generated:

var docDefinition = {
  background: function(currentPage) {
    return 'simple text on page ' + currentPage
  },

  content: (...)
};

Margins

Any element in pdfMake can have a margin:

(...)
// margin: [left, top, right, bottom]
{ text: 'sample', margin: [ 5, 2, 10, 20 ] },

// margin: [horizontal, vertical]
{ text: 'another text', margin: [5, 2] },

// margin: equalLeftTopRightBottom
{ text: 'last one', margin: 5 }
(...)

Stack of paragraphs

You could have figured out by now (from the examples), that if you set the content key to an array, the document becomes a stack of paragraphs. You'll quite often reuse this structure in a nested element, like in the following example:

var docDefinition = {
  content: [
    'paragraph 1',
    'paragraph 2',
    {
      columns: [
        'first column is a simple text',
        [
          // second column consists of paragraphs
          'paragraph A',
          'paragraph B',
          'these paragraphs will be rendered one below another inside the column'
        ]
      ]
    }
  ]
};

The problem with an array is that you cannot add styling properties to it (to change font size for example). The good news is - array is just a shortcut in pdfMake for { stack: [] }, so if you want to restyle the whole stack, you can do it using the expanded definition:

var docDefinition = {
  content: [
    'paragraph 1',
    'paragraph 2',
    {
      columns: [
        'first column is a simple text',
        {
          stack: [
            // second column consists of paragraphs
            'paragraph A',
            'paragraph B',
            'these paragraphs will be rendered one below another inside the column'
          ],
          fontSize: 15
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
};

Images

This is simple. Just use the { image: '...' } node type. JPEG and PNG formats are supported.

var docDefinition = {
  content: [
    {
      // you'll most often use dataURI images on the browser side
      // if no width/height/fit is provided, the original size will be used
      image: 'data:image/jpeg;base64,...encodedContent...'
    },
    {
      // if you specify width, image will scale proportionally
      image: 'data:image/jpeg;base64,...encodedContent...',
      width: 150
    },
    {
      // if you specify both width and height - image will be stretched
      image: 'data:image/jpeg;base64,...encodedContent...',
      width: 150,
      height: 150
    },
    {
      // you can also fit the image inside a rectangle
      image: 'data:image/jpeg;base64,...encodedContent...',
      fit: [100, 100]
    },
    {
      // if you reuse the same image in multiple nodes,
      // you should put it to to images dictionary and reference it by name
      image: 'mySuperImage'
    },
    {
      // under NodeJS (or in case you use virtual file system provided by pdfmake)
      // you can also pass file names here
      image: 'myImageDictionary/image1.jpg'
    }
  ],

  images: {
    mySuperImage: 'data:image/jpeg;base64,...content...'
  }
};

Page dimensions, orientation and margins

var docDefinition = {
  // a string or { width: number, height: number }
  pageSize: 'A5',

  // by default we use portrait, you can change it to landscape if you wish
  pageOrientation: 'landscape',

  // [left, top, right, bottom] or [horizontal, vertical] or just a number for equal margins
  pageMargins: [ 40, 60, 40, 60 ],
};

If you set pageSize to a string, you can use one of the following values:

• '4A0', '2A0', 'A0', 'A1', 'A2', 'A3', 'A4', 'A5', 'A6', 'A7', 'A8', 'A9', 'A10',
• 'B0', 'B1', 'B2', 'B3', 'B4', 'B5', 'B6', 'B7', 'B8', 'B9', 'B10',
• 'C0', 'C1', 'C2', 'C3', 'C4', 'C5', 'C6', 'C7', 'C8', 'C9', 'C10',
• 'RA0', 'RA1', 'RA2', 'RA3', 'RA4',
• 'SRA0', 'SRA1', 'SRA2', 'SRA3', 'SRA4',
• 'EXECUTIVE', 'FOLIO', 'LEGAL', 'LETTER', 'TABLOID'

To change page orientation within a document, add a page break with the new page orientation.

{
  pageOrientation: 'portrait',
  content: [
    {text: 'Text on Portrait'},
    {text: 'Text on Landscape', pageOrientation: 'landscape', pageBreak: 'before'},
    {text: 'Text on Landscape 2', pageOrientation: 'portrait', pageBreak: 'after'},
    {text: 'Text on Portrait 2'},
  ]
}

Document Metadata

PDF documents can have various metadata associated with them, such as the title, or author of the document. You can add that information by adding it to the document definition

var docDefinition = {
  info: {
    title: 'awesome Document',
    author: 'john doe',
    subject: 'subject of document',
    keywords: 'keywords for document',
  },
  content:  'This is an sample PDF printed with pdfMake' 
}

Source: 

https://github.com/bpampuch/pdfmake