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  1. Stackups
  2. DevOps
  3. Testing Frameworks
  4. Headless Browsers
  5. PhantomJS vs jsreport

PhantomJS vs jsreport

OverviewDecisionsComparisonAlternatives

Overview

PhantomJS
PhantomJS
Stacks1.7K
Followers430
Votes18
GitHub Stars29.5K
Forks5.7K
jsreport
jsreport
Stacks12
Followers22
Votes0
GitHub Stars1.3K
Forks253

PhantomJS vs jsreport: What are the differences?

Introduction

PhantomJS and jsreport are both tools used for web scraping and generating PDF reports. However, they have some key differences that set them apart.

  1. Functionality: PhantomJS is a headless browser that allows you to programmatically interact with webpages and perform actions like clicking buttons or filling out forms. It is mainly used for web scraping and automated testing. On the other hand, jsreport is a reporting tool that allows you to generate PDF, Excel, and Word documents using HTML templates. It provides a more user-friendly and high-level approach to report generation.

  2. Technology Stack: PhantomJS is built on top of WebKit, a layout engine used by popular browsers like Chrome and Safari. It supports a wide range of web technologies and has excellent rendering capabilities. Jsreport, on the other hand, is built on top of Node.js and uses the Chromium rendering engine. It leverages the power of JavaScript and provides a flexible and extensible platform for generating reports.

  3. Ease of Use: PhantomJS requires a certain level of expertise in web development and scripting. It provides a low-level API that gives you full control over the browser. Jsreport, on the other hand, provides a higher-level API that abstracts away some of the complexities of HTML to PDF conversion. It provides a user-friendly interface and a wide range of predefined templates and helpers to simplify report generation.

  4. Community and Support: PhantomJS has been around for a longer time and has a larger community of developers. It has an active GitHub repository and comprehensive documentation. Jsreport, although relatively newer, also has a growing community and provides good documentation and support through its GitHub repository and forums.

  5. Integration with Other Tools: PhantomJS can be easily integrated with other tools and libraries in the JavaScript ecosystem. It provides a command-line interface and bindings for popular programming languages like JavaScript, Python, and Ruby. Jsreport also offers integrations with popular frameworks and libraries like React, Angular, and Express.js. It provides a RESTful API and can be easily integrated with any stack.

  6. Performance: PhantomJS is known for its high performance and fast rendering capabilities. It is designed for headless browsing and can handle a large number of requests efficiently. Jsreport also provides good performance but may not be as fast as PhantomJS when it comes to handling large-scale scraping tasks or generating reports with complex templates.

In summary, PhantomJS is a powerful tool for web scraping and automated testing, while jsreport is a versatile tool for generating PDF reports using HTML templates. PhantomJS provides more low-level control and is better suited for web development tasks, whereas jsreport offers a more user-friendly and high-level approach to report generation.

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Advice on PhantomJS, jsreport

Ankur
Ankur

Software Engineer

Dec 4, 2019

Needs advice

I am using Node 12 for server scripting and have a function to generate PDF and send it to a browser. Currently, we are using PhantomJS to generate a PDF. Some web post shows that we can achieve PDF generation using Puppeteer. I was a bit confused. Should we move to puppeteerJS? Which one is better with NodeJS for generating PDF?

73.1k views73.1k
Comments

Detailed Comparison

PhantomJS
PhantomJS
jsreport
jsreport

PhantomJS is a headless WebKit scriptable with JavaScript. It is used by hundreds of developers and dozens of organizations for web-related development workflow.

It is a reporting server which lets developers define reports using javascript templating engines (like jsrender or handlebars). It supports various report output formats like html, pdf, excel and others. It also includes advanced reporting features like user management, REST API, scheduling, designer or sending emails.

Multiplatform, available on major operating systems: Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, and other Unices; Fast and native implementation of web standards: DOM, CSS, JavaScript, Canvas, and SVG. No emulation; Pure headless (no X11) on Linux, ideal for continuous integration systems. Also runs on Amazon EC2, Heroku, and Iron.io; Easy to install: Download, unpack, and start having fun in just 5 minutes
Various output formats can be produced just from the html and javascript; Templating engines for powerful dynamic layouts, custom javasript hooks for data fetching, full support for the latest css and javascript; Includes web based designer, just connect with a modern browser and you're ready to design reports; Scheduling, templates versioning, import export and backup, sub reports, users management; Use simple REST API, CLI or SDKs to render a report from everywhere
Statistics
GitHub Stars
29.5K
GitHub Stars
1.3K
GitHub Forks
5.7K
GitHub Forks
253
Stacks
1.7K
Stacks
12
Followers
430
Followers
22
Votes
18
Votes
0
Pros & Cons
Pros
  • 13
    Scriptable web browser
  • 3
    Depends on QT
  • 2
    No ECMAScript 6
No community feedback yet
Integrations
FreeBSD
FreeBSD
macOS
macOS
Windows
Windows
Linux
Linux
.NET
.NET
CentOS
CentOS
Rancher
Rancher
Docker
Docker
Node.js
Node.js
Windows
Windows
Ubuntu
Ubuntu

What are some alternatives to PhantomJS, jsreport?

Underscore

Underscore

A JavaScript library that provides a whole mess of useful functional programming helpers without extending any built-in objects.

Deno

Deno

It is a secure runtime for JavaScript and TypeScript built with V8, Rust, and Tokio.

Playwright

Playwright

It is a Node library to automate the Chromium, WebKit and Firefox browsers with a single API. It enables cross-browser web automation that is ever-green, capable, reliable and fast.

Chart.js

Chart.js

Visualize your data in 6 different ways. Each of them animated, with a load of customisation options and interactivity extensions.

Puppeteer

Puppeteer

Puppeteer is a Node library which provides a high-level API to control headless Chrome over the DevTools Protocol. It can also be configured to use full (non-headless) Chrome.

Immutable.js

Immutable.js

Immutable provides Persistent Immutable List, Stack, Map, OrderedMap, Set, OrderedSet and Record. They are highly efficient on modern JavaScript VMs by using structural sharing via hash maps tries and vector tries as popularized by Clojure and Scala, minimizing the need to copy or cache data.

HeadlessTesting

HeadlessTesting

Headless Browser Cloud for Developers. Connect your Puppeteer and Playwright scripts to our Cloud. Automated Browser Testing with Puppeteer and Playwright in the Cloud.

Lodash

Lodash

A JavaScript utility library delivering consistency, modularity, performance, & extras. It provides utility functions for common programming tasks using the functional programming paradigm.

Ramda

Ramda

It emphasizes a purer functional style. Immutability and side-effect free functions are at the heart of its design philosophy. This can help you get the job done with simple, elegant code.

Vue CLI

Vue CLI

Vue CLI aims to be the standard tooling baseline for the Vue ecosystem. It ensures the various build tools work smoothly together with sensible defaults so you can focus on writing your app instead of spending days wrangling with config.

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