The users can find that there was not much difference between both file sizes and can explore the other parameter options and the file sizes to explore the API optimizations.
How to Optimize PDF using PDF.co Web API in JavaScript
The tutorial and the sample source code elaborate on optimizing the PDF files using PDF.co Web API in JavaScript (Node js). The users can use this web API to store reduce the file size of the PDFs available on their local storage or the cloud.
Features of PDF Optimize Endpoint
The users can use this PDF from the URL endpoint of PDF.co web API to reduce the size of a PDF file. This endpoint takes the URL link and other optional parameters to generate an output link to a compressed PDF file. Moreover, the users can choose to download the file using various filing modules such as “fs” to store them on their local storage.
Endpoint Parameters
Following are the parameters of the PDF Optimize endpoint:
1. URL
It is a required parameter: a string containing the link to the source PDF file that the user wants to optimize. The users can provide links to their files hosted on online storage systems such as google drive, Dropbox, and PDF.co cloud storage. Moreover, the users can check the files upload sections of the API to upload their files via API.
Note: If the users are getting “too many requests” or “access denied” error, they must try to add “cache” as a parameter to enable built-in caching.
2. httpusername
It is an optional parameter containing information regarding the HTTP auth user if it is essential for accessing the source URL.
3. httppassword
It is an optional parameter containing information regarding the HTTP auth password if it is essential to access the source document URL.
4. name
It is an optional parameter, a string containing the name of the output file. It is set to “result.pdf” by default.
5. expiration
It is an optional parameter containing information regarding the output link’s expiration in minutes. The default expiration time is 60 minutes or 1 hour, after which the system removes the generated file from PDF.co temporary file storage. The users can use PDF.co built-in files storage to store their files permanently.
6. password
It is an optional parameter, a string containing the password of the source file, in case the source file is password protected. The users can also explore the PDF password and security endpoint here to add or remove security from their PDF files.
7. async
It is an optional parameter that runs the processing asynchronously. Moreover, this parameter returns the JobId, which the users can utilize for checking the processing state. The processing state could be “working,” “failed,” “aborted”, and “success.” Its value is set to “false” by default.
8. encrypt
It is an optional parameter, a string containing the value “true” or “false” to encrypt the source PDF file. Its value is set to “false” by default.
9. profiles
This optional parameter must be a string. The users can use this parameter for setting additional configurations for tuning and extra options.
Query Parameter
The query parameters are the parameters of the API endpoints that the users need to attach with the endpoint URLs. This endpoint does not require any query parameters.
Endpoint Method
This endpoint only supports the API “POST” method.
Sample Example Using Javascript
The following source code explains to users how to reduce the file size using PDF.co Web API. This code takes the URL to a PDF file containing a sample invoice and optimizes it. Moreover, the parameter “async” is set to “false” to run the task synchronously. Furthermore, this code explores the use of the “expiration” parameter to set the expiration limit of the resulting file. Finally, the users can see the output file’s size and URL in the terminal and use that URL to see the resulting PDF file or use the various filing modules such as “fs” to download the file contents and store them on their local storage.
Sample Code
Below is the sample code to optimize the PDF file:
var request = require('request');
var API_KEY = "**********************";
var fileUrl = "https://drive.google.com/file/d/1DvAV1iRpVVc1TxsQ2BcX_NJnapEaU41w/view?usp=sharing";
var options = {
'method': 'POST',
'url': 'https://api.pdf.co/v1/pdf/optimize',
'headers': {
'x-api-key': API_KEY
},
formData: {
"url": fileUrl,
"async": "false",
"name": "view-compressed",
"expiration": "15"
}
};
request(options, function (error, response) {
if (error) throw new Error(error);
console.log(response.body);
});Output Document
Below is the screenshot of the output file obtained in the API response:
Step-by-Step Guide
- Install the “request” module using “npm install request” and import it into the code.
- Set the package.json file to run and test the javascript file.
- Declare and initialize the “API_KEY” variable with the API key obtained from the PDF.co dashboard or sign up to get the API key. The users can create an env file to access the key in each file and hide it.
- Note: The users can visit here to sign into PDF.co. and use the available credits to call the API endpoints. Moreover, the users can sign in using their student accounts to get extra API credits.
- Declare and initialize the “fileUrl” variable with the source file URL. The users can then optimize their files by only changing this variable without going into the code and API details.
- Declare a variable named “options” and initialize it with the API options such as method, API endpoint URL, headers, and the form data. The form data is an object that contains the endpoint parameter’s values. For instance, the “async” variable value is false in the sample code. The users can add the above parameters to this object and modify these variables according to their optimization needs.
- The final step is to call the imported request method with the above arguments and print the API response in the user’s terminal. The users can pass this response to file streams to download the resulting file contents.
File Sizes
Below is the screenshot to demonstrate the size difference of both files.
Note
The users can read more on this API endpoint here and find the various code samples. The samples are available in many programming languages to demonstrate the API working with the uploaded file and file URL synchronously and asynchronously.