Okay, here’s the headless browser solution with Node.js and Puppeteer.
Requrements: any environment with Node.js that can handle headless Chromium (think ~ 1GB of RAM), egress traffic, and not drain your pockets.
npm install puppeteer
const url = 'https://coda.io/d/Paul-s-Plan-Demo_dqOyKWdqtC6/History_su1-W#_lufvi';
const output = `./report-${Date.now()}.pdf`;
const width = '1200px';
const puppeteer = require('puppeteer');
(async () => {
const browser = await puppeteer.launch();
const page = await browser.newPage();
await page.goto(url);
// You can also play around with browser window dimensions to get better results:
// await page.setViewport({ width: 1200, height: 800 });
// Wait for the Coda doc to finish loading
await page.waitForSelector('*[class^=document_splash_screen]', { hidden: true });
// Hide the sections panel (this must be done while not yet in Print mode)
await page.waitForSelector('*[class^=left_rail_view--toggleButton]', { visible: true });
await page.click('*[class^=left_rail_view--toggleButton]');
// Go to print mode to hide the UI
await page.emulateMedia('print');
// Wait for arbitrary 2 seconds for chart animations to finish
await page.waitFor(2000);
// Generate the PDF
await page.pdf({
path: output,
width: width
});
await browser.close();
})();
- Set up cron, API endpoint or whatever to run this script, then send the newly saved PDF to an email.
Important: needs the doc to be viewable by anonymous users, since there’s no easy way to sign in a specific user to Coda using browser automation (not worth the effort for this hackathon anyway — think handling Google sign in, 2FA etc)
Result: looking as close to Coda as possible, including nice vector charts. Not in email body though.
