sajari-convert

A Golang wrapper library to convert PDF, DOC, DOCX, XML, HTML, RTF, etc to plain text

The compiled binary runs as a service on port 8888 by default. Documents can be sent as a multipart POST request and the plain text (body) and meta information are then returned as a JSON object

Dependencies

tidy, wv, popplerutils, unrtf

Example install of dependencies (not all systems):

sudo apt-get install poppler-utils wv unrtf tidy

Optional Flags

• "addr" - the port to listen on, default is "8888"
• "log-level" - can be 0, 1 or 2. Levels described below

Log levels

• "0" - will only log errors & critical info
• "1" - will log each request as well
• "2" - will also log the response payloads

How to start the service

./sajari-convert -log-level=0 # will only log errors & critical info

./sajari-convert -addr=8000 -log-level=1 # will run on port 8000 and log each request as well

FAQ

How to install?

Compile the binary. Check the binary is executable and then launch as per above with relevant flag settings.

Why run as a service?

You don't have to. However, if you have a large memory footprint (tens of GB) you may have trouble with forking caused by underlying Go functions when accessing the above mentioned dependencies.

How to ensure the service stays running?

This is an operating system question, but we use "upstart"

Any sample code on how to call the service?

Some basic code is shown below, but normally you would accept the file by http or open it from the file system. It should be enough to get you started though...

package main

import (
    "encoding/json"
	"io/ioutil"
	"bytes"
	"net/http"
	"mime/multipart"
	"net/textproto"
	"fmt"
)

type ConversionResponse struct {
	Body string             `json:"body"`
	Meta map[string]string  `json:"meta"`
	MSecs uint32            `json:"msecs"`
}

// Use the conversion service to convert data
func ConvertData(input []byte, mimeType string) ([]byte, map[string]string, error) {

	convertUrl := "http://localhost:8888/convert"
	convertParam := "input"

	body := &bytes.Buffer{}
	writer := multipart.NewWriter(body)

	h := make(textproto.MIMEHeader)
	h.Set("Content-Disposition", `form-data; name="`+convertParam+`"; filename="noname"`)
	h.Set("Content-Type", mimeType)
	part, err := writer.CreatePart(h)
	if err != nil {
		return nil, nil, err
	}
	_, err = part.Write(input)
	if err != nil {
		return nil, nil, err
	}
	err = writer.Close()
	if err != nil {
	  return nil, nil, err
	}
	client := &http.Client{}
	
	request, err := http.NewRequest("POST", convertUrl, body)
	if err != nil {
		return nil, nil, err
	}
	request.Header["Content-Type"] = []string{"multipart/form-data; boundary="+writer.Boundary()}
	resp, err := client.Do(request)
	if err != nil {
		return nil, nil, err
	}
	defer resp.Body.Close()
	jsonBlob, err := ioutil.ReadAll(resp.Body)
	if err != nil {
		return nil, nil, err
	}
	converted := new(ConversionResponse)
	err = json.Unmarshal(jsonBlob, &converted)
	if err != nil {
		return nil, nil, err
	}
	return []byte(converted.Body), converted.Meta, nil
}

func main() {
	input := []byte{} // This would be the file contents
	mimeType := "application/pdf" // Also pass the mimetype of the file
	body, meta, err := ConvertData(input, mimeType)
	fmt.Println("The body text is : ", body)
	fmt.Println("The file meta data is a map : ", meta)
	fmt.Println("Any errors are returned here : ", err)
}