[Resolved] IE related download problems

[ndb01]

Hello,

I'm new to PHP and seem to have a IE related download problem.

At the moment I'm faced with the following problematic situations:
1. Browser window has already displayed HTML and doesn't popup for file download on refresh but shows binary code in window (normal HTTP connection)
2. Browser window has already displayed HTML, a new window is opened where only the headers for file download are sent. The download dialog pops up, but disappears immediately (SSL connection)

None of these problems occur in FireFox or Opera, so it seems to be strictly IE related.

😕

I'm working with IE 6.0 / Win XP SP2.
Here's the code:

	$ctype = "application/octet-stream";

header("Pragma: public");
header("Last-Modified: ".gmdate("D, d M Y H:i:s") . " GMT"); 
header("Expires: 0");

//	HTTP 1.1 - begin
header("Cache-Control: must-revalidate, post-check=0, pre-check=0");
header("Cache-Control: private", false); // required for certain browsers 
//	HTTP 1.1 - end

//	HTTP 1.0 - begin
header("Pragma: no-cache");
//	HTTP 1.0 - end

header("Content-Disposition: attachment; filename=" . basename($saveasname) . ";" );
header("Content-Transfer-Encoding: binary");
header("Content-Length: ".filesize($filename));
header("Content-Type: $ctype");
header("Content-Description: File Transfer");
@readfile($filename);

Any ideas how to solve this ?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Kind regards, Nico

[trex005]

issue #1... known Microsoft bug, but as with most microsoft issues, they don't seem to care... What I do to get around this is, instead of refreshing I put a rand in the get and then post to that eg
http://example.com/mulit_mime_php_file.php?mime_rand=$random_value
as for problem #2 I'm guessing you are using windows XP service pack 2?
try adding your site to both the trusted sites and to the popup blocker sites (don't forget to set the filter level to low

[ndb01]

The context in which these downloads are used is:

User has purchased items (software, eBooks) and goes to checkout page.
User is redirected to PayPal for payment.
User is redirected back to our website. There the payment status is checked, and, if OK the download starts automatically (redirecto to getProduct.php page).
If the payment status is changed to OK later, the user receives a download notification by email (link to getProduct.php page).

In both cases I use the URL: .../getProduct.php?downloadId=randomString
The random string is unique for the specific order.

In case #1 I can workaround it by adding a 2nd, completely random parameter. However, case #1 only occurs in my dev environment 😉.
Case #2 is rather annoying, because this is the life situation. Customers can have ANY browser and ANY browser settings. Fortunately, case #2 is limited to IE browsers. And yes, I am working with XP / IE SP2. I think you are right, it is probably the popup blocker that blocks the download.

The remaining question now, is how to force a download on redirect, also with IE SP2. Are there any known workarounds that don't require specific browser settings but force the download using headers ?

[trex005]

you'll probably notice that almost all download sites these days have a link to click if the download does not start. This link will redirect the user to a direct download page. Fortunatly as long as the headers are sent properly, the user will never actually leave the page, but will be presented with the download diologue. Just make sure you have no conflicts with problem #1 🙂

[trex005]

also after doing a quick google, I found this :
http://www.jguru.com/faq/view.jsp?EID=1157429

you could use that and just call a redir if popup fails, if you really feel you still need to go pop up route. But I'd just abandon the popup rout and do a redir all the time 🙂

[ndb01]

It seems the best solution is to always use a download link instead of auto-download + link.

Thank you for the feedback !

Kind regards, Nico