README.md

SlideSpeak coding challenge: Build a PowerPoint to PDF marketing tool

The challenge!

Build a front-end implementation as well as a back-end service to convert PowerPoint documents to PDF format. This should be done by implementing a simple Next.js front-end that posts a file to a Python server. You don’t have to do the converting logic yourself as you can use unoconv or unoserver to do this (you can see more about this in the acceptance criteria). The front-end is also already implemented in the /frontend folder. You only need to add the necessary logic to switch between the steps and convert the file via the API that you're going to build.

• Webpage for the tool: https://slidespeak.co/free-tools/convert-powerpoint-to-pdf/
• Design: https://www.figma.com/file/CRfT0MVMqIV8rAK6HgSnKA/SlideSpeak-Coding-Challenge?type=design&t=6m2fFDaRs72CowZH-6

Acceptance criteria

Back-end API

• Should be implemented in Python.
• Converting PowerPoints to PDF can be done with unoconv or unoserver via Docker if you want to be fancy 😀. You don’t need to implement the converting logic yourself.
  • Documentation on how to use unoconv and spawn a process
    • Note: unoconv is deprecated but thats ok for this challenge
  • How to use unoserver via docker, this will create an API that you can use based on this documentation.
    • Using unoserver is nice-to-have (but the preferred way), if you find unoconv easier use it instead
• The API should consist of one endpoint (POST /convert), which should do the following:

  1. Converts the attached file to PDF

  2. Uploads the PowerPoint and PDF file to Amazon S3 via boto3

  3. Creates a presigned URL for the user to download

     https://boto3.amazonaws.com/v1/documentation/api/latest/guide/s3-presigned-urls.html

     https://medium.com/@aidan.hallett/securing-aws-s3-uploads-using-presigned-urls-aa821c13ae8d

  4. Returns the presigned S3 url to the client which allows the user to download the file (by opening the url in new tab)

Front-end app

• The front-end should in terms of UX work similarly to https://app.slidespeak.co/powerpoint-optimizer

Nice to haves / tips

• Uses unoserver to convert PowerPoint to PDF via docker compose
• The logic of the front-end ideally should not rely on useEffect too much since it can be difficult to track what is happening
• Tests
• Use conventional commit message style: https://www.conventionalcommits.org/en/v1.0.0/
• Lint your code
• Keep commits clean
• If you want to be really fancy you can add queuing with Celery