Building a simple invoice generator with Node Js

Why

After each online coaching sessions, at the beginning, that was a pain to find a good invoice generator platform as I was not yet ready for a 20 monthly subscription just for handling the invoice part.

None was enough flexible for my own use so.. I decided to build my own mini-invoice generator with Node Js ( that took approx 1h max )

No more talk..Straight to the point

The main parts :

1. Storing clients in Json :

Yep that one is simple..for now x)

(Note: these are fictional characters of course )

2. Creating the route:
Using express router, just create a POST /invoice route.
const router = express.Router();
router.post('/', handleCreateInvoice);

Then add the Joi Schema. Why ? It allows to define schema and validate the schema before calling the controller/handler of invoice creation.

Source: https://joi.dev/

3. Handling the invoice creation:

I used the module pdf-kit to generate the pdf to be sent to the client.

pdf-kit

4. Email sending:
A small function using gmail-send npm module which accepts html as an input

Yep..so what about the result ?

A snapshot of my first trials ^^ ( yep that email should be more personnalized and better structure )

Insomnia POST Call

Final result

Next steps:

• Front-end ( React )
• Database
• make it online x)
• Iterate

And you ?

Tell us in the comments which mini-project you built

Wanna support me ?

I am blogging during my free time ^^ like most people on this platform however I'm not against a small coffee if you want to support me Link below:

https://ko-fi.com/dev_it_out