wicked_pdf Error: PDF could not be generated - ruby-on-rails

Question

Gemfile
gem "wicked_pdf"
gem "wkhtmltopdf-binary"
the error:
RuntimeError in CarsController#show
Failed to execute:
/usr/bin/wkhtmltopdf --print-media-type -q - -
Error: PDF could not be generated!
Rails.root: /u/apps/zeepauto/autozeep_update
cars_controller
def show
#class_showcar = true
#class_admin = true
#car = Car.find(params[:id])
#search = Car.search(params[:search])
#cars_see_special = Car.where(:special => "1").order('rand()').limit(3)
respond_to do |format|
format.html # show.html.erb
format.xml { render :xml => #car }
format.pdf do
render :pdf => "#{#car.carname.name}",
:print_media_type => true
end
end
end
show.html.erb
<p class="show_links"><%= link_to url_for(request.params.merge(:format => :pdf)) do %>
<%= image_tag('/images/printversion.png', :alt => 'Download') %>
</p>
wicked_pdf.erb
# config/initializers/wicked_pdf.rb
WickedPdf.config = {
# :exe_path => '/var/lib/gems/1.8/bin/wkhtmltopdf'
:exe_path => '/usr/bin/wkhtmltopdf'
}

Answer 1

I had the same problem. The solution was to add wkhtmltopdf-binary to the gem file and run bundle install.
gem "wicked_pdf"
gem "wkhtmltopdf-binary"

Answer 2

I had wkhtmltopdf-binary already in gemfile, but as this was working on my local computer and not on server, I left this error for the server support team to care off.. they have checked the path to wkhtmltopdf, they tried to convert a simple html to pdf and it worked.. so they tried to run a bundle update command and after this the pdf converting worked fine on server too. I had a gem path changed and I guess this was the problem. I posted my solution in case someone else will have this problem too.

Answer 3

For Alpine 3.9+ the wkhtmltopdf binary is available, however I was getting either a blank PDF or "Failed to load document" error - despite working fine locally on MacOSX. It turns out that you need to include fonts explicitly for alpine builds (at least)
Controller action
def show
respond_to do |format|
format.html do
render 'pdfs/templates/my_template.html.erb'
end
format.pdf do
render(
pdf: "file_name",
template: 'pdfs/templates/my_template.html.erb',
disposition: 'inline'
)
end
end
end
The above worked locally on MacOSX machine but on a server based on ruby alpine image, as below, it failed with failed to load document
Dockerfile
FROM ruby:2.6.3-alpine3.10
....
# add wkhtmltopdf for use with wicked_pdf gem
RUN apk --no-cache add wkhtmltopdf
...
even a more basic example failed with a blank pdf
respond_to do |format|
format.pdf do
pdf = WickedPdf.new.pdf_from_string('TESTING 123')
send_data(
pdf,
filename: "file_name.pdf",
type: 'application/pdf',
disposition: 'inline'
)
end
end
Solution
Dockerfile
FROM ruby:2.6.3-alpine3.10
....
# add wkhtmltopdf for use with wicked_pdf gem
RUN apk --no-cache add \
ttf-ubuntu-font-family \
wkhtmltopdf
...
Ideally Alpine would include a basic font with the wkhtmltopdf package, however until such time I found this to be a useful source of info and/or good for adding a mutistage Docker file.
https://github.com/madnight/docker-alpine-wkhtmltopdf/blob/master/Dockerfile
NOTE:
lack of an explicit font package in alpine may also cause PDF conversion using libreoffice to fail too. We found corrupt PDFs when converted from docx files in particular.

Answer 4

I had the same problem. I had wkhtmltopdf-binary installed and bundle update didn't help neither. Here is what helped me:
The important thing is that I run this on Alpine Linux and it does not seem to be supported by gem wkhtmltopdf_binary_gem https://github.com/zakird/wkhtmltopdf_binary_gem/issues/53
I installed separately wkhtmltopdf into the system: apk add wkhtmltopdf
And then edited the initializer to include the binary path:
# config/initializers/wicked_pdf.rb
require "wicked_pdf"
WickedPdf.config = {
exe_path: ENV["WKHTMLTOPDF_BIN"]
}

Answer 5

I'm facing the same issue, it works fine on local machine but when deployed on the server it raises an error:
Error: PDF could not be generated!.
In my case, there are some dependencies missing on the server. Use the below command on the server to install the dependencies.
sudo apt-get install libfontconfig1 libxrender1

Answer 6

I have the same problem when using Ubuntu 20.04.
I solve the problem by using wkhtmltopdf-binary version 0.12.6.1.

Answer 7

If you are facing this in the docker container, most probably, you are using the Alpine Linux. In that case, wkhtmltopdf-binary is not compatible with the Alpine Linux. So, add these gems instead:
gem 'wicked_pdf', github: 'mileszs/wicked_pdf'
gem 'wkhtmltopdf-binary-edge-alpine', '~> 0.12.5.0'
wkhtmltopdf-binary-edge-alpine is for the Alpine Linux. Everything should work just fine, hopefully😂