Generating PDFs for Authenticated Pages in Elixir

PDF generation in web applications can be challenging, especially when dealing with pages that are behind user authentication. Traditional methods might involve creating publicly accessible URLs or trying to render the page server-side. John Curran explores a more secure method in Elixir that avoids security risks and complex server-side rendering. Instead, a cookie specifically for the logged-in user is generated, which the PDF renderer uses to access and convert the HTML page into a PDF. This approach works with PDF generation engines like ChromicPDF, which can accept cookies. Curran provides code examples and configuration details needed to implement this method and also discusses how to integrate it with WeasyPrint, a different PDF generation engine.