Converting Speech to PDF with NextJS and ExpressJS

This article explores building a Next.js and Express.js application that converts speech to a downloadable PDF. Let's delve into the process of creating this speech-to-PDF converter.

The increasing prevalence of speech interfaces necessitates exploring their capabilities. This project demonstrates converting spoken words into a downloadable PDF document. We'll leverage several libraries to achieve this functionality.

Key Technologies:

The core components are Next.js and Express.js. Next.js, a React framework, provides features like API routes, crucial for our server-side PDF generation. Express.js facilitates the creation of a Node.js server to handle data processing and routing.

Additional dependencies include:

1. react-speech-recognition: Converts speech to text within React components.
2. regenerator-runtime: Addresses potential "regeneratorRuntime is not defined" errors in Next.js.
3. html-pdf-node: Transforms HTML into a PDF.
4. axios: Manages HTTP requests.
5. cors: Enables Cross-Origin Resource Sharing.

Project Setup:

Begin by creating two project folders: one for the client (e.g., audio-to-pdf-client) and one for the server (e.g., audio-to-pdf-server).

Initialize the Next.js client:

npx create-next-app audio-to-pdf-client

Set up the Express.js server: Navigate to the server folder and run:

npm init -y
npm install express html-pdf-node cors

Create index.js in the server folder with a basic Express server:

const express = require("express");
const app = express();
app.listen(4000, () => console.log("Server running on port 4000"));

Install client-side dependencies:

cd audio-to-pdf-client
npm install react-speech-recognition regenerator-runtime axios

Create a components folder within the client project and a SpeechToText.jsx file inside it. Modify pages/index.js to import and render the SpeechToText component.

UI Development:

The SpeechToText.jsx component will handle user interaction. A basic structure includes buttons to start, stop, reset speech recognition, and convert to PDF. A contenteditable div displays the transcribed text. (Refer to the original article for detailed component code and CSS styling).

Server-Side API Route:

The Express.js server will handle PDF generation. In index.js, import necessary modules (html-pdf-node, fs, cors, express.json()), and define a POST route (/). This route receives transcribed text, generates a PDF using html-pdf-node, saves it to the filesystem, and sends the PDF to the client. (See original article for complete server-side code).

Client-Side Conversion:

The handleConversion function in SpeechToText.jsx makes an API request to the Express server. It handles loading states, errors, and success messages. Upon successful conversion, it triggers a browser download of the generated PDF. (See original article for the detailed handleConversion function).

Final Steps:

The complete code for both the client and server can be found on GitHub (links provided in the original article). Remember to run both the Next.js development server and the Express.js server separately. This setup allows you to test the speech-to-PDF conversion functionality.

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