Skip to content

pdf

Type: <boolean>
Default: false
It generates a PDF over the target url.

The following examples show how to use the Microlink API with CLI, cURL, JavaScript, Python, Ruby, PHP & Golang, targeting 'https://rauchg.com/2014/7-principles-of-rich-web-applications' URL with 'pdf' API parameter:

CLI Microlink API example

microlink https://rauchg.com/2014/7-principles-of-rich-web-applications&pdf

cURL Microlink API example

curl -G "https://api.microlink.io" \
  -d "url=https://rauchg.com/2014/7-principles-of-rich-web-applications" \
  -d "pdf=true"

JavaScript Microlink API example

import mql from '@microlink/mql'

const { data } = await mql('https://rauchg.com/2014/7-principles-of-rich-web-applications', {
  pdf: true
})

Python Microlink API example

import requests

url = "https://api.microlink.io/"

querystring = {
    "url": "https://rauchg.com/2014/7-principles-of-rich-web-applications",
    "pdf": "true"
}

response = requests.get(url, params=querystring)

print(response.json())

Ruby Microlink API example

require 'uri'
require 'net/http'

base_url = "https://api.microlink.io/"

params = {
  url: "https://rauchg.com/2014/7-principles-of-rich-web-applications",
  pdf: "true"
}

uri = URI(base_url)
uri.query = URI.encode_www_form(params)

http = Net::HTTP.new(uri.host, uri.port)
http.use_ssl = true

request = Net::HTTP::Get.new(uri)
response = http.request(request)

puts response.body

PHP Microlink API example

<?php

$baseUrl = "https://api.microlink.io/";

$params = [
    "url" => "https://rauchg.com/2014/7-principles-of-rich-web-applications",
    "pdf" => "true"
];

$query = http_build_query($params);
$url = $baseUrl . '?' . $query;

$curl = curl_init();

curl_setopt_array($curl, [
    CURLOPT_URL => $url,
    CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER => true,
    CURLOPT_ENCODING => "",
    CURLOPT_MAXREDIRS => 10,
    CURLOPT_TIMEOUT => 30,
    CURLOPT_HTTP_VERSION => CURL_HTTP_VERSION_1_1,
    CURLOPT_CUSTOMREQUEST => "GET"
]);

$response = curl_exec($curl);
$err = curl_error($curl);

curl_close($curl);

if ($err) {
    echo "cURL Error #: " . $err;
} else {
    echo $response;
}

Golang Microlink API example

package main

import (
    "fmt"
    "net/http"
    "net/url"
    "io"
)

func main() {
    baseURL := "https://api.microlink.io"

    u, err := url.Parse(baseURL)
    if err != nil {
        panic(err)
    }
    q := u.Query()
    q.Set("url", "https://rauchg.com/2014/7-principles-of-rich-web-applications")
    q.Set("pdf", "true")
    u.RawQuery = q.Encode()

    req, err := http.NewRequest("GET", u.String(), nil)
    if err != nil {
        panic(err)
    }

    client := &http.Client{}
    resp, err := client.Do(req)
    if err != nil {
        panic(err)
    }
    defer resp.Body.Close()

    body, err := io.ReadAll(resp.Body)
    if err != nil {
        panic(err)
    }

    fmt.Println(string(body))
}
When it's enabled, a new pdf data field will be part of the response payload.
{
  "data": {
    "title": "7 Principles of Rich Web Applications",
    "description": "November 4, 2014",
    "lang": "en",
    "author": null,
    "publisher": "rauchg.com",
    "image": null,
    "url": "https://rauchg.com/2014/7-principles-of-rich-web-applications",
    "date": "2019-11-27T18:34:47.000Z",
    "logo": {
      "url": "https://logo.clearbit.com/rauchg.com",
      "type": "png",
      "size": 17675,
      "height": 128,
      "width": 128,
      "size_pretty": "17.7 kB"
    },
    "pdf": {
      "size_pretty": "1.36 MB",
      "size": 1357350,
      "type": "pdf",
      "url": "https://microlink.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/vIQctxsDTujq0b_f8AnldH7YMYs_"
    }
  },
  "status": "success"
}
You can configure different specific options, such as scale or margin:

The following examples show how to use the Microlink API with CLI, cURL, JavaScript, Python, Ruby, PHP & Golang, targeting 'https://rauchg.com/2014/7-principles-of-rich-web-applications' URL with 'pdf', 'scale' & 'margin' API parameters:

CLI Microlink API example

microlink https://rauchg.com/2014/7-principles-of-rich-web-applications&pdf&scale=1&margin=0.4cm

cURL Microlink API example

curl -G "https://api.microlink.io" \
  -d "url=https://rauchg.com/2014/7-principles-of-rich-web-applications" \
  -d "pdf=true" \
  -d "scale=1" \
  -d "margin=0.4cm"

JavaScript Microlink API example

import mql from '@microlink/mql'

const { data } = await mql('https://rauchg.com/2014/7-principles-of-rich-web-applications', {
  pdf: true,
  scale: 1,
  margin: "0.4cm"
})

Python Microlink API example

import requests

url = "https://api.microlink.io/"

querystring = {
    "url": "https://rauchg.com/2014/7-principles-of-rich-web-applications",
    "pdf": "true",
    "scale": "1",
    "margin": "0.4cm"
}

response = requests.get(url, params=querystring)

print(response.json())

Ruby Microlink API example

require 'uri'
require 'net/http'

base_url = "https://api.microlink.io/"

params = {
  url: "https://rauchg.com/2014/7-principles-of-rich-web-applications",
  pdf: "true",
  scale: "1",
  margin: "0.4cm"
}

uri = URI(base_url)
uri.query = URI.encode_www_form(params)

http = Net::HTTP.new(uri.host, uri.port)
http.use_ssl = true

request = Net::HTTP::Get.new(uri)
response = http.request(request)

puts response.body

PHP Microlink API example

<?php

$baseUrl = "https://api.microlink.io/";

$params = [
    "url" => "https://rauchg.com/2014/7-principles-of-rich-web-applications",
    "pdf" => "true",
    "scale" => "1",
    "margin" => "0.4cm"
];

$query = http_build_query($params);
$url = $baseUrl . '?' . $query;

$curl = curl_init();

curl_setopt_array($curl, [
    CURLOPT_URL => $url,
    CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER => true,
    CURLOPT_ENCODING => "",
    CURLOPT_MAXREDIRS => 10,
    CURLOPT_TIMEOUT => 30,
    CURLOPT_HTTP_VERSION => CURL_HTTP_VERSION_1_1,
    CURLOPT_CUSTOMREQUEST => "GET"
]);

$response = curl_exec($curl);
$err = curl_error($curl);

curl_close($curl);

if ($err) {
    echo "cURL Error #: " . $err;
} else {
    echo $response;
}

Golang Microlink API example

package main

import (
    "fmt"
    "net/http"
    "net/url"
    "io"
)

func main() {
    baseURL := "https://api.microlink.io"

    u, err := url.Parse(baseURL)
    if err != nil {
        panic(err)
    }
    q := u.Query()
    q.Set("url", "https://rauchg.com/2014/7-principles-of-rich-web-applications")
    q.Set("pdf", "true")
    q.Set("scale", "1")
    q.Set("margin", "0.4cm")
    u.RawQuery = q.Encode()

    req, err := http.NewRequest("GET", u.String(), nil)
    if err != nil {
        panic(err)
    }

    client := &http.Client{}
    resp, err := client.Do(req)
    if err != nil {
        panic(err)
    }
    defer resp.Body.Close()

    body, err := io.ReadAll(resp.Body)
    if err != nil {
        panic(err)
    }

    fmt.Println(string(body))
}
Also, combine it with embed for inserting it as HTML markup and refresh it asynchronously in the background (known as stale).
<a
  href="https://api.microlink.io/?url=https://rauchg.com/2014/7-principles-of-rich-web-applications&pdf&embed=pdf.url&scale=1&margin=0.4cm"
  download="How-to-download-file.pdf"
>
  <button>Download File</button>
</a>
When you generate a PDF, the default mediaType is 'print'.