Rails 3.1 asset pipeline with PDFKit

Question

I am using PDFkit with rails 3.1. In the past I was able to use the render_to_string function and create a pdf from that string. I then add the stylesheets as follows. My issue is that I have no idea how to access them from within the asset pipeline. (This is how I did it in rails 3.0)

html_string = render_to_string(:template => "/faxes/show.html.erb", :layout => 'trade_request')
kit = PDFKit.new(html_string, :page_size => 'Letter')
kit.stylesheets << "#{Rails.root.to_s}/public/stylesheets/trade_request.css"

So my question in how do i get direct access from my controller to my css file through the asset pipline?

I know I can use the Rack Middleware with PDFkit to render the pdf to the browser, but in this case i need to send the pdf off to a third party fax service.

Thanks for your help.

Ryan

Possible duplicate of [How does one reference compiled assets from the controller in Rails 3.1?](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/7409948/how-does-one-reference-compiled-assets-from-the-controller-in-rails-3-1) — Nathan Hughes, Aug 09 '16 at 16:38

score 3 · Answer 1 · answered May 22 '12 at 21:45

Just ran into this issue as well, and I got past it without using the asset pipeline, but accessing the file directly as I would have previously in /public. Don't know what the possible cons are to using this approach.

I guess LESS and SCSS files won't be processed as they would have if accessed through the asset pipeline.

      html = render_to_string(:layout => false , :action => 'documents/invoice.html.haml')
      kit = PDFKit.new(html, :encoding=>"UTF-8")
      kit.stylesheets << "#{Rails.root.to_s}/app/assets/stylesheets/pdf_styles.css"
      send_data(kit.to_pdf, :filename => "test_invoice", :type => 'application/pdf')

The only con I can see is you don't get to use SASS/LESS, it has to be plain CSS. — Kris, Jun 28 '13 at 11:08

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Sep 26 '13 at 21:01

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A little late, but better late than never, eh.

I'd do it like this:

found_asset = Rails.application.assets.find_asset( "trade_request.css" ).digest_path
kit.stylesheets << File.join( Rails.root, "public", "assets", found_asset )

answered Sep 26 '13 at 21:01

zenw0lf

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still `Errno::ENOENT - No such file or directory`. – Rajesh Omanakuttan Jun 29 '15 at 11:22

score 0 · Answer 3 · edited May 23 '17 at 11:44

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I landed here trying to solve this problem and none of the answers seemed to solve the issue for me. I found the accepted answer of this stack overflow post worked for me:

How does one reference compiled assets from the controller in Rails 3.1?

I was even able to serve .css.erb files through this method.

edited May 23 '17 at 11:44

Community

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answered Aug 09 '16 at 16:06

Barry

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score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Aug 06 '21 at 15:09

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Try

= stylesheet_link_tag "application", 'data-turbolinks-track': 'reload'

answered Aug 06 '21 at 15:09

Cristian Rennella

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Can you add more details please ? Also, as it update an old post, it would be great to explain what new solution in comparison to previous answers. – amanin Aug 06 '21 at 17:39

score 0 · Answer 5 · answered Nov 18 '11 at 19:25

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In Rails 3.1.1 stylesheets are written to /public/assets with and without the digest fingerprint.

This means that you should be able to reference these files just by changing the path in your code.

One gotcha though: if the PDF sheet is not referenced in a CSS manifest you'll have to add it to the precompile config:

config.assets.precompile += ['trade_request.css']

This tells sprockets to compile that file on its own.

As a (better) alternative, see if the asset_path helper works in your code. This will reference the correct file in dev and production.

answered Nov 18 '11 at 19:25

Richard Hulse

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Thanks for the response. I am just using the application.css file so I don't believe I have to worry about the precompiling. I believe pdfkit runs a separate process, and therefor when I reference the path without the hash at the end of the file it cannot find it. IE this works: kit.stylesheets << "#{Rails.root.to_s}/public/assets/application-5c342d3a7328fd347c8ca581f6bdff60.css" this does not: kit.stylesheets << "#{Rails.root.to_s}/public/assets/application.css" Is there any way to get the correct file path? Thanks! – lundie Nov 21 '11 at 16:20

score 0 · Answer 6 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:08

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I ended up copying the css file to my public directory and referring to it in the same way i did before with rails 3. For more information check out this question: Access stylesheet_link_tag from controller

edited May 23 '17 at 12:08

Community

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answered Jan 12 '12 at 18:55

lundie

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Did you manage to improve on this solution? and to use the asset pipeline for generating the PDF? – Don Giulio Jan 20 '14 at 13:38

score -1 · Answer 7 · answered Jan 11 '12 at 21:35

You should be able to access the stylesheet using this method:

ActionController::Base.helpers.asset_path("trade_request.css")

Making your code:

html_string = render_to_string(:template => "/faxes/show.html.erb", :layout => 'trade_request') 
kit = PDFKit.new(html_string, :page_size => 'Letter') 
kit.stylesheets = ActionController::Base.helpers.asset_path("trade_request.css")

Rails 3.1 asset pipeline with PDFKit

7 Answers7