@draftable/compare-api
v1.4.4
Published
Client library for the Draftable document comparison API
Downloads
9,826
Readme
Draftable Compare API - Node.js Client Library
A thin JavaScript client for the Draftable API which wraps all available endpoints and handles authentication and signing.
See the full API documentation for an introduction to the API, usage notes, and other reference material.
Requirements
- Operating system: Any maintained Linux, macOS, or Windows release
- Node.js runtime: Any maintained version
Getting started
- Create a free API account
- Retrieve your credentials
- Install the library
npm install @draftable/compare-api
- Instantiate a client
var client = require('@draftable/compare-api').client('<yourAccountId>', '<yourAuthToken>');
var comparisons = client.comparisons;
- Start creating comparisons
comparisons.create({
left: {
source: 'https://api.draftable.com/static/test-documents/code-of-conduct/left.rtf',
fileType: 'rtf',
},
right: {
source: 'https://api.draftable.com/static/test-documents/code-of-conduct/right.pdf',
fileType: 'pdf',
},
}).then(function(comparison) {
console.log("Comparison created: %s", comparison);
// Generate a signed viewer URL to access the private comparison. The expiry
// time defaults to 30 minutes if the valid_until parameter is not provided.
const viewerURL = comparisons.signedViewerURL(comparison.identifier);
console.log("Viewer URL (expires in 30 mins): %s", viewerURL);
});
API reference
- All API requests return Promises:
- Successful calls that return data resolve to
Comparison
objects - Successful calls that return no data resolve to
null
(e.g. aDELETE
request) - Calls which fail for any reason will reject the
Promise
with anError
object
- Successful calls that return data resolve to
Initializing the client
The package exports a function to create a Client
for your API account.
Client
provides a comparisons
property which yields a ComparisonsClient
to manage the comparisons for your API account.
Creating a Client
differs slightly based on the API endpoint being used:
// Draftable API (default endpoint)
var comparisons = require('@draftable/compare-api').client(
'<yourAccountId>', // Replace with your API credentials from:
'<yourAuthToken>' // https://api.draftable.com/account/credentials
).comparisons;
// Draftable API regional endpoint or Self-hosted
var comparisons = require('@draftable/compare-api').client(
'<yourAccountId>', // Replace with your API credentials from the regional
'<yourAuthToken>', // Draftable API endpoint or your Self-hosted container
'https://draftable.example.com/api/v1' // Replace with the endpoint URL
).comparisons;
For API Self-hosted you may need to suppress TLS certificate validation if the server is using a self-signed certificate (the default).
Retrieving comparisons
getAll()
Returns aPromise
which resolves to a list of all your comparisons, ordered from newest to oldest. This is potentially an expensive operation.get(identifier: string)
Returns aPromise
which resolves to the specifiedComparison
or rejects if the specified comparison identifier does not exist.
Comparison
objects have the following properties:
identifier: string
The unique identifier of the comparisonleft: object
/right: object
Information about each side of the comparisonfileType: string
The file extensionsourceURL: string
(optional)
The URL for the file if the original request was specified by URLdisplayName: string
(optional)
The display name for the file if given in the original request
publiclyAccessible: boolean
Indicates if the comparison is publiccreationTime: Date
Time in UTC when the comparison was createdexpiryTime: Date
(optional)
The expiry time if the comparison is set to expireready: boolean
Indicates if the comparison is ready to display
If a Comparison
is ready (i.e. it has been processed) it has the following additional properties:
failed: boolean
Indicates if comparison processing failederrorMessage: string
(only present iffailed
)
Reason processing of the comparison failed
Example usage
var identifier = '<identifier>';
comparisons.get(identifier).then(function(comparison) {
const visibility = comparison.publiclyAccessible ? 'private' : 'public';
const status = comparison.ready ? 'ready' : 'not ready';
console.log("Comparison '%s' (%s) is %s.", comparison.identifier, visibility, status);
if (comparison.ready && comparison.failed) {
console.log("The comparison failed with error: %s", comparison.errorMessage);
}
});
Deleting comparisons
destroy(identifier: string)
Returns aPromise
which resolves on successfully deleting the specified comparison or rejects if no such comparison exists.
Example usage
comparisons.getAll().then(function(oldest_comparisons) {
console.log("Deleting oldest 10 comparisons ...");
const deleteStartIndex = Math.max(0, oldest_comparisons.length - 10);
for (let i = deleteStartIndex; i < oldest_comparisons.length; ++i) {
const identifier = oldest_comparisons[i].identifier;
comparisons.destroy(identifier).then(function() {
console.log("Comparison '%s' deleted.", identifier);
});
}
});
Creating comparisons
create(options)
Returns aPromise
which resolves to a newComparison
object.
options
consists of the following parameters:
left: object
/right: object
Describes the left and right files (see below)identifier: string
(optional)
Identifier to use for the comparison:- If specified, the identifier must be unique (i.e. not already be in use)
- If unspecified, the API will automatically generate a unique identifier
publiclyAccessible: boolean
(optional)
Specifies the comparison visibility:- If
false
or unspecified authentication is required to view the comparison - If
true
the comparison can be accessed by anyone with knowledge of the URL
- If
expires: Date | string
(optional)
Time at which the comparison will be deleted:- Must be specified as a
Date
object or astring
which can be parsed byDate.parse
- If specified, the provided expiry time must be UTC and in the future
- If unspecified, the comparison will never expire (but may be explicitly deleted)
- Must be specified as a
options.left
and options.right
consist of the following parameters:
source: buffer | string
Specifies the source for this side of the comparison:- If provided as a
buffer
, contains the file data (e.g.{source: fs.readFileSync('path/to/file')}
) - If provided as a
string
, the URL from which the server will download the file (e.g.{source: 'https://example.com/path/to/file'}
)
- If provided as a
fileType: string
The type of file being submitted:- PDF:
pdf
- Word:
docx
,docm
,doc
,rtf
- PowerPoint:
pptx
,pptm
,ppt
- Text:
txt
- PDF:
displayName: string
(optional)
The name of the file shown in the comparison viewer
Example usage
var identifier = comparisons.generateIdentifier();
comparisons.create({
identifier: identifier,
left: {
source: 'https://domain.com/left.pdf',
fileType: 'pdf',
displayName: 'Document.pdf',
},
right: {
source: fs.readFileSync('path/to/right/file.docx'),
fileType: 'docx',
displayName: 'Document (revised).docx',
},
// Expire this comparison in 2 hours (default is no expiry)
expires: new Date(Date.now() + 1000 * 60 * 120),
}).then(function(comparison) {
console.log("Created comparison: %s", comparison);
});
Displaying comparisons
publicViewerURL(identifier: string, wait?: boolean)
Generates a public viewer URL for the specified comparisonsignedViewerURL(identifier: string, valid_until?: Date | string, wait?: boolean)
Generates a signed viewer URL for the specified comparison
Both functions use the following common parameters:
identifier
Identifier of the comparison for which to generate a viewer URLwait
(optional)
Specifies the behaviour of the viewer if the provided comparison does not exist- If
false
or unspecified, the viewer will show an error if theidentifier
does not exist - If
true
, the viewer will wait for a comparison with the providedidentifier
to exist
Note this will result in a perpetual loading animation if theidentifier
is never created
- If
The signedViewerURL
function also supports the following parameters:
valid_until
(optional)
Time at which the URL will expire (no longer load)- Must be specified as a
Date
object or astring
which can be parsed byDate.parse
- If specified, the provided expiry time must be UTC and in the future
- If unspecified, the URL will be generated with the default 30 minute expiry
- Must be specified as a
See the displaying comparisons section in the API documentation for additional details.
Example usage
var identifier = '<identifier>'
// Retrieve a signed viewer URL which is valid for 1 hour. The viewer will wait
// for the comparison to exist in the event processing has not yet completed.
var valid_until = new Date(Date.now() + 1000 * 60 * 60)
var viewerURL = comparisons.signedViewerURL(identifier, valid_until, true);
console.log("Viewer URL (expires in 1 hour): %s", viewerURL);
Exporting comparisons
Export the comparison to PDF by sending the comparison identifier along with the requested export kind.
- Four export kinds are supported.
- single_page: Displays the right side document only with highlights and deletion markers showing the diff
- combined: Displays both right and left sides
- left: Displays left side only
- right: Displays right side only
After creating the export, you must poll using the export identifier to obtain the URL of the exported document.
Export
objects have the following properties:
identifier: string
The unique identifier of the exportcomparison: string
The unique identifier of the comparisonurl: string
The URL for the file if the original request was specified by URLkind: string
The export kind, one of the followingsingle_page
,combined
, left orright
ready: boolean
Indicates if the export is ready to getfailed: boolean
Indicates if the export failed
Export example usage
Post request of the export
client.exports
.requestExport({
comparison: "<identifier>",
kind: "combined",
include_cover_page: false,
})
.then((result: ExportResult) => {
console.log(result);
}
Get requested export
client.exports.get(requestResponse.identifier).then((result: ExportResult) => {
console.log(result);
});
Utility functions
generateIdentifier()
Generates a random unique comparison identifier
Other information
Browser support
This library is designed primarily for server-side usage. Usage in web browsers (client-side) is not currently supported.
Calling the Draftable API via client-side JavaScript is generally discouraged as this implies sharing API credentials with end-users.
Self-signed certificates
If connecting to an API Self-hosted endpoint which is using a self-signed certificate (the default) you will need to suppress certificate validation. This can be done by setting the NODE_TLS_REJECT_UNAUTHORIZED
environment variable to 0
.
See the below examples for different operating systems and shell environments. Note that all examples only set the variable for the running shell and it will not persist. To persist the setting consult the documentation for your shell environment. This should be done with caution as this setting suppresses certificate validation for all connections made by the Node.js runtime!
(ba)sh (Linux, macOS, WSL)
export NODE_TLS_REJECT_UNAUTHORIZED=0
PowerShell:
$env:NODE_TLS_REJECT_UNAUTHORIZED=0
Command Prompt (Windows):
SET NODE_TLS_REJECT_UNAUTHORIZED=0
Setting this environment variable in production environments is strongly discouraged as it significantly lowers security. We only recommend setting this environment variable in development environments if configuring a CA signed certificate for API Self-hosted is not possible.
License
All content is licensed under the terms of The MIT License.