SuiteScript 2.0 xmlToPdf - add image to PDF

I have an image in File Cabinet that I want to add to my PDF. I have a script that creates a PDF and adds that image to it.

I tested the link https://system.na2.netsuite.com${imgURL} on my browser and the image loads. However I get a strange error when I try to add it to my PDF below:

var myImageFromFileCabinet = file.load({id:10202});
imgURL = myImageFromFileCabinet.url;

xmlStr = `<body><img src="https://system.na2.netsuite.com${imgURL}"></body>`;

let pdfFile = render.xmlToPdf({ xmlString: xmlStr });
context.response.writeFile({
    file: pdfFile,
    isInline: true
});

"type":"error.SuiteScriptError","name":"USER_ERROR","message":"Error Parsing XML: The reference to entity "c" must end with the ';' delimiter.

How can I add an image to a PDF?

Solution

TLDR: Escape the URL string for use in XML

The root cause of your error is that you are not escaping the URL for use in XML. The & characters in the URL must be escaped as XML/HTML entities. You can do this with the N/xml.escape() function:

const imgURL = xml.escape({xmlText: myImageFromFileCabinet.url});

That said, there were several other issues I had to resolve with this code along the way:

Outer tag must be pdf

The initial error I got when running this code was:

Error Parsing XML: Outer tag is body, should be pdf or pdfset

I fixed this by wrapping the <body> in a <pdf>.

img tag must be closed

Next I needed to close the <img> with </img> (or /> whichever you prefer).

Summary

My full working onRequest looks like:

  const onRequest = (context) => {
    const myImageFromFileCabinet = file.load({id:1820});
    const imgURL = xml.escape({xmlText: myImageFromFileCabinet.url});

    const xmlString = `<pdf><body><img src="https://system.na2.netsuite.com${imgURL}"/></body></pdf>`;

    const pdfFile = render.xmlToPdf({ xmlString });
    context.response.writeFile({
      file: pdfFile,
      isInline: true
    });
  };

Note that I've also made some minor changes like renaming variables and adding some const keywords, as well as of course changing the image's internal ID for my own account.