· 2 min read
Flask Demo
We recently built a PDF parser using Flask—you'll be surprised by how simple the process was. In this post, we walk you through our intro project build process,invoice-parser.
We recently built a PDF parser using Flask—you’ll be surprised by how simple the process was. In this post, we walk you through our intro project build process: invoice-parser.
Demo video:
1. The Application
The goal of the app was to simplify the process of recording invoice data.
We wanted to take in scanned PDF invoices, extract relevant information (like invoice number, date, and total), and export that data into a clean CSV file. The result? Less manual data entry, and more automation.
2. The Tech Stack
Here are the various libraries involved:
- Flask – The focus of this blog - A popular Python web development framework.
- invoice2data – A Python package for extracting structured information from PDFs.
- HTML5 – To build the user interface and allow file uploads.
3. How’d It Go?
Here’s how we built it, step by step:
- Prompted AI agents to scaffold a basic Flask application.
- Plugged in
invoice2datato handle the PDF processing logic.
- Prompted the AI agent again to clean up the front end, giving the UI a simple but polished feel.
- Once everything was in place, all we needed to do was run
python main.py—and boom! We had a working local web app.
The whole process was quick, intuitive, and a great demonstration of how accessible web development in Python using Flask can be.
Questions?
Reach out at hello@aspirecodingacademy.com. We’re happy to discuss all things software.