File download not quite working?

[sam_rich]

Situation:

User is in my document managment system and is checking out a file. Clicks on the checkout link and a small window opens that says "Downloading..." and suddenly the save window appears.

My goal is to know when a user completes or cancels the download and have the page updated depending on the status.

I know how to open the small window and force the download, but how do I detect the status and update accordingly?

[nemonoman]

Download state information isn't available from the browser. Sorry...

[sam_rich]

Are you sure?

PHP can detect if the user cancels the download. Seems to me that would be getting the state information.

[nemonoman]

It is my understanding that the browser's download functionality cancels the download, not PHP. It is my understanding that the browser has simply requested a particular file from the server.

The server just sends data to the browser. PHP isn't involved, as I understand it. Perhaps you know better. I'm not certain that the server even has any precise way of knowing whether the data has been received complete by the browser.

If you know of some PHP function that says whether a browser completed a download, please inform me. I have never heard of this.

On the other hand, if you know such a PHP function is available, wouldn't using that function answer your question?