How can a PDF file be downloaded using JavaScript (axios) in Laravel?

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In Laravel, you can download a PDF file using JavaScript (axios) by sending an AJAX request from the client-side code to a server-side endpoint that returns the PDF file.

Here are the steps to download a PDF file using JavaScript (axios) in Laravel:

1. Create a server-side endpoint that generates and returns the PDF file. This endpoint should accept any necessary parameters and return the PDF file as a response.

Here is an example of a server-side endpoint that generates and returns a PDF file using the dompdf library:

use Dompdf\Dompdf;

public function downloadPDF(Request $request)
{
    $dompdf = new Dompdf();
    $dompdf->loadHtml('<h1>Hello, World!</h1>');
    $dompdf->setPaper('A4');
    $dompdf->render();

    return response($dompdf->output(), 200)
        ->header('Content-Type', 'application/pdf')
        ->header('Content-Disposition', 'attachment; filename="example.pdf"');
}

1. Use axios to send an AJAX request to the server-side endpoint that generates and returns the PDF file.

Here is an example of a client-side code that uses axios to download a PDF file:

axios({
    url: '/download-pdf',
    method: 'post',
    responseType: 'blob',
})
.then((response) => {
    const url = window.URL.createObjectURL(new Blob([response.data]));
    const link = document.createElement('a');
    link.href = url;
    link.setAttribute('download', 'example.pdf');
    document.body.appendChild(link);
    link.click();
});

This code sends a post request to the /download-pdf endpoint and sets the responseType to 'blob' to ensure that the response is in a binary format that can be downloaded as a file.

When the response is received, the code creates a Blob object containing the PDF data and creates a temporary URL for it. It then creates an anchor element with the download attribute set to 'example.pdf' and the href attribute set to the temporary URL, appends it to the document's body, and clicks it to initiate the download.

That's it! This code should allow you to download a PDF file using JavaScript (axios) in Laravel.