Unable to generate pdf in laravel controller - laravel

Question

I had write some sample codes to generate pdf in my laravel controller. It get a 200 response code but the pdf is not generating.
Below is my code.
function exportPDF() {
// instantiate and use the dompdf class
$dompdf = new PDF();
$dompdf->loadHtml('<h1>hello world</h1>');
// (Optional) Setup the paper size and orientation
$dompdf->setPaper('A4', 'landscape');
// Render the HTML as PDF
$dompdf->render();
// Output the generated PDF to Browser
return $dompdf->stream();
}
But this is working when i directly include the code inside route in web.php file.
Route::get('/generate-pdf', function () {
$pdf = App::make('dompdf.wrapper');
$pdf->loadHTML('<h1>Test</h1>');
return $pdf->stream();
});
EDITED
web.php
Route::post('/report-audit-export-pdf', 'ReportAuditController#exportPDF');
.js
window.exportPDF = function() {
var hidden_category = $('#hidden_category').val();
$.ajax({
type: "POST",
url: '/report-audit-export-pdf',
data: {
},
headers: {
'X-CSRF-TOKEN': $('meta[name="csrf-token"]').attr('content')
},
error: function(jqXHR, textStatus, errorThrown) {
console.log("jqXHR : " + jqXHR + " and textStatus : " + textStatus + " and errorThrown : " + errorThrown);
},
success: function(content) {
// alert("Success");
}
});
}
May i know what the problem is?

Answer 1

You cannot generate PDFs via Ajax because Ajax requests expect a response, which Laravel sends back as JSON by default. So what you could do, is make a normal GET route that will display the PDF e.g:
Route::get('display-pdf', 'ReportAuditController#exportPDF');
Since your ajax does not POST any data (your data object is empty), you could bypass your ajax request and simply use an anchor
Display PDF
If for some reason, you still want to use Ajax, you can use the success response from the ajax request like this
$.ajax({
type: "POST",
url: '/data-url',
data: {},
success: function(content) {
window.location.href = '/display-pdf';
}
});