Downloading csv file on mac

sarah

I have a little thing that pulls info from a MySQL database and formats it into a csv file. When someone clicks on "export data", they are automatically presented with the option to download the file. On a window's machine, it works fine. But, on a Mac, the user is prompted to download the php file that creates the csv file.

From what I gather from reading other posts on the topic, the whole download thing behaves slightly different from browser to browser. Since the client primarily uses Mac, I really need to get it working in IE on a mac.

This is snippet that I am using:

header("Content-Type: application/force-download"); 
header("Content-Disposition: attachment; filename=\"contacts.csv\"");
echo $content;

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

nemonoman

I've had a similar problem, and "solved it" by just using a link:

<a href=contacts.csv>Click here if you are using that fould piece of excrement, the IE for the mac.</a>

It's a Mac IE problem: Safari, Netscape 7.1, etc. work as advertised. Mac IE is very, very slow and very, very buggy, and if you are using javascript code that works on the PC, test it, test it, test it, as it will probably break on the Mac.

Wean your user from Mac IE and use some other browser. They will thank you. MS has stopped supporting IE for the mac.

sarah

That's what I was afraid of...I have no problem using a link, except when I go to contacts.csv, it just displays all of the data in the browser. It does not offer the option of downloading it. Any thoughts there?

nemonoman

Another "feature" of IE is how many different types of files it reads or launches whether you want it to or not: txt, csv, rtf, doc, etc., etc. Get your user to change browsers. EXPLAIN that MS has totally given up on IE for the mac, because it sucks and they don't want to bother to fix it.