header ache!!!!!

skypilot

I have the following code that does not work. It is a completely stripped down version of
my actual code....however....it still fails like my regular code.

When this code is executed NEITHER message is popped up in an alert box. If I REMOVE the "header" command from the code....the alert boxes are displayed......What is up with this!!!

I am at wits end!!! If anyone can explain why this is happening, and offer any ideas on what to do to get this to work.....I am all ears.

<?php

$msg = "Message 1 to Display";
echo "<SCRIPT>alert(\"$msg\")</SCRIPT>";

$file_mime_type="application/octet-stream";
header("Content-Type: " . $file_mime_type);

$msg = "Message 2 to Display";
echo "<SCRIPT>alert(\"$msg\")</SCRIPT>";

sarahk

the header command must be the first output to the page. try putting the alerts after the header command. If that doesn't work for you business logic you may have to build your output into a string and echo it out after you've got the header info ready.

<?php
$file_mime_type="application/octet-stream";
header("Content-Type: " . $file_mime_type);

$msg = "Message 1 to Display";
echo "<SCRIPT>alert(\"$msg\")</SCRIPT>";

$msg = "Message 2 to Display";
echo "<SCRIPT>alert(\"$msg\")</SCRIPT>";

skypilot

Thank you for your input Sarah. It is unclear what you mean by "you may have to build your output into a string and echo it out after you've got the header info ready."

Are you saying that the header command needs to be executed from within an echoed scripted somehow? Any insight on how to approach this would be great.

I have tried your suggestion in your original reply, and the messages do not execute in this configuration either. What seems to be happening is that once the "header" command is executed when running, any subsequent code is ignored.

Any suggestions for books or sites that would shed some light on this "header" issue??

Thanks again for your help.

Anon

No, any header() commands must be sent out to the browser before any content. So if you want to put some content together before you send the header, you have to store in a string until after you've sent all your headers, then echo the string.

This is why they're called "headers" - 'cos they go at the head of the document and describe how the content is to be treated. In this case, you're saying that the content is to be treated as a stream of raw bytes.

I think your problem may be that when you send an "application/octet-stream" MIME type, the browser has no reason to treat the result as HTML. So the script isn't parsed or executed.

Basically you're saying "DON'T treat the following as HTML. I don't care if it looks like HTML. It's not. Trust me on this."

For books or sites on how headers work, see any HTTP standards archive.