Force download of dynamically created content.

[Barry]

I want to make a site that enables people to download xml files by pressing on a link to them, but at the moment the xml files just open in a browser window.

I have been trying to do this via php and here is the code I have so far but I can't seem to get it to work. Are there any php gurus out there that can tell me where I am going wrong with it

PHP Code:

// load content into var
$filecontent = $row_rs_xmlfile['xmlcontent'];
//name the file
$downloadfile = $row_rs_xmlfile['xmlurl'];

header("Pragma: public");
header("Expires: 0");
header("Cache-Control: must-revalidate, post-check=0, pre-check=0");
header("Cache-Control: private",false);
header('Content-Description: File Transfer'); 
header("Content-Type: application/force-download");
header("Content-disposition: attachment; filename=$downloadfile");
header("Content-Transfer-Encoding: Binary");
header("Content-Length: ".strlen($filecontent));
header("Pragma: no-cache");
header("Expires: 0");
exit(); 


Ta

[dmorison]

Hi Barry,

This is what I use - (in 2 separate apps)

PHP Code:

  $filename = "foo.xml";
  header('Cache-Control: no-store, no-cache, must-revalidate, private, post-check=0, pre-check=0', FALSE);
  header('Pragma: no-cache');
  header("Content-Type: application/octet-stream");
  header("Content-Disposition: attachment; filename=$filename"); 


Looks pretty much the same though; but if definitely provokes the "Save As" dialog box in all current browsers...

[Barry]

Nice one mate I will give that a go now and let you know how I get on. However idealy I wanted the download file contents to be created dynamically from the database on the fly rather than having to create a file first for download.

Does anybody have any recommendation for doing it that way? Or is the only way to create a file on the fly and then send it to the listed download script?

[dmorison]

There's no problem doing that Barry - in fact, that's what I do - the $filename = "foo.xml" was just for example.

PHP Code:

header('Cache-Control: no-store, no-cache, must-revalidate, private, post-check=0, pre-check=0', FALSE);
header('Pragma: no-cache');
header("Content-Type: application/octet-stream");
header("Content-Disposition: attachment; filename=somefilename.xml"); 

// dynamically generate and output content here 


Now, if you want the users' browser to display a progress bar (in which case it needs to know the content length); you could generate the content into a temporary variable before generating the headers, and include the content-length as per your original code:

PHP Code:

// dynamically generate $xml:
$xml = "<foo><bar>widget</bar></foo>";

header('Cache-Control: no-store, no-cache, must-revalidate, private, post-check=0, pre-check=0', FALSE);
header('Pragma: no-cache');
header("Content-Type: application/octet-stream");
header("Content-Length: ".strlen($xml)); 
header("Content-Disposition: attachment; filename=somefilename.xml"); 

print $xml; 


Should do the trick...

[Barry]

Thanks soooooo much!!! Sometimes I can bang my head against a wall for hours - then come to this forum and get an answer in minutes.

Thanks again thats cool and works for me