parallax/jsPDF · error · Error

Error in function {function_name}: {message}

Error message

Error in function {function_name}: {message}

What it means

This is not a distinct failure mode but the SAFE wrapper (`__safeCall`, src/jspdf.js:2489) that wraps `output()` (src/jspdf.js:3075). When any exception occurs during PDF generation, it builds a message `'Error in function <name>: <original message>'` from the stack. In a browser (`globalObject.console` present) it logs via console.error and alerts the user; it only re-throws (src/jspdf.js:2505) when there is no console — e.g. in stripped-down/embedded runtimes. So the real cause is whatever exception `e` was; this wrapper is the reporting layer.

Source

Thrown at src/jspdf.js:2505

  };

  var SAFE = function __safeCall(fn) {
    fn.foo = function __safeCallWrapper() {
      try {
        return fn.apply(this, arguments);
      } catch (e) {
        var stack = e.stack || "";
        if (~stack.indexOf(" at ")) stack = stack.split(" at ")[1];
        var m =
          "Error in function " +
          stack.split("\n")[0].split("<")[0] +
          ": " +
          e.message;
        if (globalObject.console) {
          globalObject.console.error(m, e);
          if (globalObject.alert) alert(m);
        } else {
          throw new Error(m);
        }
      }
    };
    fn.foo.bar = fn;
    return fn.foo;
  };

  var to8bitStream = function(text, flags) {
    /**
     * PDF 1.3 spec:
     * "For text strings encoded in Unicode, the first two bytes must be 254 followed by
     * 255, representing the Unicode byte order marker, U+FEFF. (This sequence conflicts
     * with the PDFDocEncoding character sequence thorn ydieresis, which is unlikely
     * to be a meaningful beginning of a word or phrase.) The remainder of the
     * string consists of Unicode character codes, according to the UTF-16 encoding
     * specified in the Unicode standard, version 2.0. Commonly used Unicode values
     * are represented as 2 bytes per character, with the high-order byte appearing first
     * in the string."

View on GitHub (pinned to a3930ce03a)

Solutions

1. Read the inner `<original message>` after the colon — it names the real failure (font, NaN, encryption, etc.); fix that root cause.
2. Wrap `doc.output(...)` in try/catch so generation failures don't crash the host app.
3. Ensure a console/global is available if you rely on the log-and-alert path.
4. Validate fonts/pages/options before calling output() to avoid known failure modes.

Example fix

// before
 var data = doc.output('arraybuffer');  // unhandled wrapped error

// after
 try {
   var data = doc.output('arraybuffer');
 } catch (e) {
   console.error('PDF generation failed:', e.message);
   // handle gracefully
 }

// No pre-API check possible (the wrapper reports arbitrary inner errors).
// Best prevention: validate inputs before output() — fonts registered, at least one page, finite coordinates.
function preflight(doc) {
  if (!doc.getNumberOfPages || doc.getNumberOfPages() < 1) throw new Error('No pages');
  return true;
}
preflight(doc);
var data = doc.output('arraybuffer');

function isOutputReady(doc) {
  return typeof doc.output === 'function' && doc.getNumberOfPages() > 0;
}

try {
  var data = doc.output('arraybuffer');
} catch (e) {
  // e.message is 'Error in function output: <inner message>'
  var inner = e.message.replace(/^Error in function [^:]+: /, '');
  console.error('PDF output failed:', inner);
  // recover or report inner cause to the user
}

When it happens

Trigger: Any error thrown synchronously inside `doc.output(...)` (e.g. a font-not-found, a NaN in geometry, a plugin error) surfaces wrapped as `Error in function output: <msg>`; in a console-less runtime the wrapped error is re-thrown and propagates to the caller.

Common situations: Node/embedded environments where `globalObject.console` is undefined, so the error is thrown instead of logged; calling output() before any required setup (fonts, pages); a plugin throwing during the output render pass.

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AI-assisted analysis of parallax/jsPDF@a3930ce03a (2026-08-13). Data as JSON: /api/errors/f967cc627833a781. Report an issue: GitHub.