[RESOLVED] zip files and download

vh3r

hi there.

i would like to ask maybe someone knows or tried this.

i have files on the webserver or should i say a content from database and will be extracted as a text file or CSV file and planning to download it as zip.

i can now do both extracting the data to csv or text and convert it to zip but the only problem i have now is on how to incorporate a password on the zip file.

the reason why i want to put a password on the zip so that nobody can just extract the file and view the content.

hope someone can help me with this.

thank you in advance.

nemonoman

Password protection is not a Zip File Function option.

vh3r

but you can put password on your zip right?

specially when you are using winzip or winrar maybe you can do it in PHP too.

laserlight

You probably should encrypt it or something, then use the secret key as the password.

vh3r

mind telling me how?

i just dont understand how it will be done.

thank you.

laserlight

You could take a look at the [man]mcrypt[/man] extension. However, encryption is not really something to be sprinkled like magic dust - you have to use it properly, and that is something that I too am weak in.

vh3r

ok i will try.

thank you very much.

nemonoman

You asked how you could add a password to a zip file using PHP. This can't be done with the PHP zip functions.

You could password protect the page that provides the download. But the downloaded zip file will not contain a password.

You could encrypt the file before zipping. Then the user would need to have some other method of decrypting the file after the download. The decryption method would need to reside on the user's desktop, so php would not be available, unless the user is running a local (desktop) instance of PHP.

So far as I know, there is no method to password protect csv or text files either.

In your scenarios, the user would use a password to unprotect the zip file before unzipping. The unzipped file file then exist in clear text on the user's desktop anyway. What is gained by password-protecting the zip file in the first place?

My suggestion is that you password-protect ACCESS to the file you want to download. This is typical, reasonable, and relatively easy. The downloaded file is then the user's responsiblity.

vh3r

my solution on this is using the system command.

since i can create the zip file i can add the system("zip -e")

thank you anyway for the answers.