First install the express application generator:

yarn global add express-generator

Then use this to generate a basic Express app:

express —-view=pug form-to-pdf

Now go into this folder and install the dependencies using yarn:

cd form-to-pdf

yarn

Next add the dependency PDFKit

yarn add pdfkit

You can now start your app, using:

yarn start

Then go to http://localhost:3000 in your browser. You should see something like: “Welcome to Express”.

Next we’re going to add our HTML using the templating engine Pug (formerly known as Jade). Open the file views/index.pug and replace the existing code with the following:

We also want to add some styling using Bootstrap and a theme from Bootswatch. In views/layout.pug add the following link directly above the existing link to style.css:

Now if you restart your app and visit http://localhost:3000 you should see a nicely formatted HTML form. Next we’re going to add the route for creating PDF files. Create the file routes/pdf and add the following code:

Then open app.js and require the new pdf route file just below the existing routes and add it as a route:

Your PDF rendering Express application is now ready for use! Start it with:

yarn start

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial and feel free to ask me any questions. You can find me on Twitter as @vnglst.

You can also deploy your own Form to PDF app using now by Zeit.co. It’s easy and takes only a few seconds. Instructions can be found here: https://zeit.co/now

Thanks to Samer Buna for reviewing this!