How do I send a file without blocking the browser instance?

tanis

I am trying to find a way to send a file to the browser without blocking its connection to Apache.

The scenario is the following:

I open a file and pass it through a PHP script so that I can do bandwidth management by reading blocks at time intervals.
This subsequently keeps the Apache child open until the whole file has not been transferred.
While the file is being transferred, the browser's instance stays blocked.

Is there a way to do file transfers without blocking the browser and still do bandwidth management?

the_Igel

the browser and the server do not disconnect before request/response dialog is over. So no way. You can't load file in background 🙂 But you can open another browser window...

tanis

I do know that I can open a new browser.. but try to let dumb users understand that 🙂

I was thinking of moving the bandwidth management outside of PHP so that everything gets buffered (just like with mod_bandwidth) but I don't know if modules can be called in cascade. I tried with mod_bandwidth but it didn't work.

the_Igel

You can try to open a new window with JS and load the file in it. Maybe it will help your users, especially in case this new window will be small and contain smth like "Hey, I'm working! Try another window!"

tanis

I've tried it but it blocks the browser's instance anyway since it's the same browser.. so the mini-window is blocked but also its parent is blocked.

This is driving me mad.