PDF Viewer Proxy

This project provides a simple API that takes a PDF URL and returns the PDF content as a viewer page, regardless of whether it's a direct download link or a viewer page.

Features

• Fetches PDF content from given URLs
• Handles both direct PDF links and viewer pages
• Streams PDF content or redirects to the original URL if the PDF is not found
• Implements retry mechanism for improved reliability

Prerequisites

• Python 3.7+
• uv (Python package installer and resolver) (or pip is ok too)

Installation

1. Install uv:

   For macOS and Linux:

   curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | sh

   For Windows (using PowerShell):

   powershell -ExecutionPolicy ByPass -c "irm https://astral.sh/uv/install.ps1 | iex"

   For other installation methods or more details, visit the official uv installation guide.

2. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/yourusername/pdf-viewer-proxy.git
   cd pdf-viewer-proxy

3. Create a virtual environment (optional but recommended):

   uv venv
   source .venv/bin/activate  # On Windows, use `.venv\Scripts\activate`

4. Install the required dependencies:

   uv pip install -r requirements.txt

Running the Application

To run the application, use the following command:

fastapi run main.py --reload

Testing

import requests
import logging
from urllib.parse import quote

def add_proxy(url):
    # Update this to match your actual proxy server address and port
    try:
        proxy_base_url = "http://localhost:8000/pdf"
        proxy_url = f"{proxy_base_url}?url={quote(url)}"
        return proxy_url
    except Exception as e:
        logging.error(
            f"Error adding proxy: {str(e)} | url: {url}"
        )
        return url

url = "http://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/6/6/2131/pdf"
proxy_url = add_proxy(url)
print(proxy_url)

More Thorough Testing

Activate the virtual environment and run the test file:

python test_main.py # Note this is a simple test to see what kinds of responses the server will give for the provided links

If you want to check any of the proxy links provided in the test output manually, you need to run the main server first, using Running the Application.

API Endpoints

GET /pdf

Fetches and displays a PDF from a given URL.

Query Parameters:

• url: The URL of the PDF to fetch (required)

Example: Curl

curl -X 'GET' \
  'http://localhost:8000/pdf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mdpi.com%2F2072-6643%2F6%2F6%2F2131%2Fpdf' \
  -H 'accept: application/json'

Request URL http://localhost:8000/pdf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mdpi.com%2F2072-6643%2F6%2F6%2F2131%2Fpdf