php file download

[john8675309]

Hi I am going to parse a document held in mysql so when a user selects what file they want to download it will go to a URL and run the specific select query and then send them the file in pdf format (I will use the pdf librarys). my question is how can I send the content of a varible so it looks like a file to the persons computer?

$file = "player.zip"; 
$filepath= "/path/to/download/dir"; 

header("Content-type: application/octet-stream\n"); 
header("Content-disposition: attachment;filename=$file\n"); 

//HOW DO I DO THIS PART with a variable
readfile($filepath."/".$file); 

thanks,
John

[nemonoman]

I would let the browser handle it for you:

if you were saving the filename on the db,

"SELECT concat('<a href=',filename,'>',filename,'</a>')
FROM sometable"

Will return a link instead of just the filename.

When the user clicks this link, the file will get downloaded automatically.

You can use the "headers" you show in your PHP code, or you could modify .htaccess so Apache does that part for you. too.