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Section:

Get Started with the Apryse Server SDK Python 3 PDF Library Integration

The Apryse Server SDK is cross-platform and supported on Windows, Linux, and macOS. The base package is robust, allowing you to programmatically do the following with PDFs:

Additional functionality

If you’re looking for additional capabilities, we offer add-on packages, such as Smart Data Extraction, and add-on modules, such as Office Conversion. For a complete list of add-ons, refer to the following:

Solutions and benefits

Using the Server SDK allows you to build server-side document processing solutions at scale without relying on client devices or cloud APIs. Since the Server runs entirely on-premises (or in your private cloud), you can ensure security and compliance with full control over access, storage, and encryption. You can also easily integrate with web apps, backend systems, document management systems, and content workflows.

Steps and samples

This guide walks you through steps to work through samples we give you, create a project, and integrate the Apryse Server SDK free trial into your project. We’ll use a Python project as our example project throughout this guide. By the end, you’ll have run through at least one sample, created a project, and built an "Apryse Hello World" within your application.

How to use Apryse with Python

There are two ways to use Apryse with Python:

  • Use pip3 which installs third party Python packages (for example, the Apryse SDK for Python 3). It’s the precompiled library for Python 3.x.
  • Use PDFNet bindings to build your own wrappers (less common).

This guide will get you started using the precompiled Python for 3.x through pip3.

Choose your preferred platform from the tabs below.

Precompiled Python3 and Linux PDF library integration 

You'll install or update pip3 and Python 3, then get started with our samples to see the output you can create when you integrate the Apryse Server SDK into your application. Last, you'll create a project and integrate the Server SDK into your Python 3 application, all while using the Linux platform.

This guide will help you set up Apryse SDK serverless AWS Lambda functions. Your free trial includes unlimited trial usage and support from solution engineers.

Prerequisites

Initial setup

In this particular guide, we will demonstrate how to set up an AWS Lambda function to use Apryse SDK.

First, prepare a zip package with apryse-sdk embedded and your lambda_function.py.

From the command line, check your Python3 version. This information will be needed when you create your function later.

sh

1python3 --version

From the command line:

sh

1mkdir YOUR_FUNCTION_FOLDER
2cd YOUR_FUNCTION_FOLDER
3python3 -m pip install --target . apryse-sdk --extra-index-url=https://pypi.apryse.com

Copy your lambda source (i.e. lambda_function.py) to YOUR_FUNCTION_FOLDER. Then zip your package before uploading it to your AWS Lambda account.

sh

1zip -r ./YOUR_FUNCTION_FOLDER.zip .

You can now upload YOUR_FUNCTION_FOLDER.zip to your AWS Lambda.

Second, create a lambda function in your AWS account and upload the zip package:

  • Lambda > Functions > Create function > Author from scratch > Function name [YOUR_FUNCTION_NAME] > Runtime [Python3.x] (Choose the version that matches your Python3 version from the checking above.) > choose Create Function
  • Upload from .zip file > Upload [your zip package] > Save
  • Add triger > API Gateway > Create an API > REST > Security [Open]
  • Configuration > General configuration > Edit > memory [Choose 10240MB]

Integrate into your application

Once you have followed the initial setup instructions, you can begin calling Apryse SDK APIs in your lambda function source. For example:

Python

1from base64 import b64encode, b64decode
2import json
3from apryse_sdk import *
4def lambda_handler(event, context):
5    if event["httpMethod"] == "GET":
6        return {
7            'statusCode': 200,
8            'body': json.dumps('Hello from Apryse!')
9        }
10    elif event["httpMethod"] == "POST":
11        try:
12            body = json.loads(event["body"])
13            PDFNet.Initialize("YOUR_APRYSE_LICENSE_KEY") # if you use apryse-sdk 9.1.0 and above. Otherwise use PDFNet.Initialize()
14            # your AWS lambda function goes here
15            message = {
16                'statusCode': 200,
17                'headers': {'Content-Type': 'application/json'},
18                'body': json.dumps(base64_string),
19            }
20            return message
21        except Exception as e:
22            message = {
23                'statusCode': 500,
24                'body': e
25                }
26            return (message)

Run Sample Code

You can update python script of your AWS Lambda function with the following code or download the source code from our github respository. This snippet shows how to process a request sent from a client to convert an office document to PDF and send the output to client.

Python

1# This example shows how to create AWS Lambda functions using Apryse SDK.
2# A REST API request was posted with base64 encoded data by the client.
3# The request would be processed by the server and a response with base64 encoded data of OfficeToPDF output would be sent to the client.
4from base64 import b64encode, b64decode
5import json
6from apryse_sdk import *
7def lambda_handler(event, context):
8    if event["httpMethod"] == "GET":
9        return {
10            'statusCode': 200,
11            'body': json.dumps('Hello, please send base64 doc to use this Lambda!')
12        }
13    elif event["httpMethod"] == "POST":
14        try:
15            body = json.loads(event["body"])
16            base64str = body["file"]["data"]
17            filename = body["file"]["filename"]
18            base64_bytes = b64decode(base64str)
19            # save input doc
20            output_path = '/tmp/'
21            input_filename = filename.split('.')[0] + '.docx'
22            with open(output_path + input_filename, 'wb') as open_file:
23                byte_content = open_file.write(base64_bytes)
24            # Start with a PDFDoc
25            PDFNet.Initialize("YOUR_APRYSE_LICENSE_KEY") # if you use apryse-sdk 9.1.0 and above. Otherwise use PDFNet.Initialize()
26            pdfdoc = PDFDoc()
27            # perform the conversion with no optional parameters and save to /temp
28            Convert.OfficeToPDF(pdfdoc, output_path + input_filename, None)
29            # save the result
30            output_filename = filename.split('.')[0] + '.pdf'
31            pdfdoc.Save(output_path + output_filename, SDFDoc.e_linearized)
32            # sending data
33            with open(output_path + output_filename, 'rb') as open_file:
34                byte_content = open_file.read()
35            base64_bytes = b64encode(byte_content)
36            base64_string = base64_bytes.decode('utf-8')
37            print("Sending " + output_filename )
38            message = {
39                'statusCode': 200,
40                'headers': {'Content-Type': 'application/json'},
41                'body': json.dumps(base64_string),
42            }
43            return message
44        except Exception as e:
45            print(e)
46            message = {
47                'statusCode': 500,
48                'body': e
49                }
50            return (message)

Testing

After you have uploaded your zip package to your AWS Lambda function and get its API endpoint in Configuration > Triggers, you can now do a simple test using REST API.

In order to use this function to convert an office document to PDF, the client needs to post a REST API request to the server. The request must include json data structured as in the code below.

Python

1json_data = {
2            "file": {
3                "encoding": "base64",
4                "data": base64_string_of_your_office_document,
5                "filename": filename,
6                "content-type": "application/pdf"
7            }
8        }

Upon receiving a client's request, a response will be sent back to the client including the base64 encoded pdf output using the same json structure. All the client needs to do now is decode the encoded data into pdf. That's it!
Access the sample python code. After cloning the repository and installing necessary packages, please refer to /client/README.txt for detailed instructions. Navigate to the client folder, run the following command, and see the reponse to client's request in the console and check the output in the output folder:

sh

1python AWSLambdaExample.py --url <YOUR PUBLISHED FUNCTION URL>

The client will send a REST API request to convert /input/simple-word_2007.docx to pdf and the server will send back the encoded data, which will then be saved as pdf in the output folder.

You can experiment with your own office document by putting it inside input folder:

sh

1python AWSLambdaExample.py --url <YOUR PUBLISHED FUNCTION URL> --filename <YOUR OFFICE FILENAME>

We have shown how to set an AWS Lambda function using Apryse SDK. You can now experiment making your own functions, URLs, and can fully utilize Apryse SDK. If your have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact us!

Related Blogs

How to Build Optical Character Recognition (OCR) in Python - 1/16/25

Splitting a PDF Using Python - 9/11/24

PDF to Office Document Conversion Using Apryse and Python - 4/4/24

Generating Documents and Reports from DOCX Templates and JSON using Apryse and Python - 10/9/23

A Guide to PDF Data Extraction Using Apryse SDK and Python - 7/20/23

Adding a Digital Signature to a PDF With the Python SDK - 7/13/23

How to Extract Text from a PDF Using Python - 12/9/22

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