Securing Downloadable Files - prevent direct acecss

[condoug]

Hi all

I need to store downloadable PDF's securely on my server and allow them to be downloaded once they pay for it online and I am looking for a simple but effective method to do so.

I ultimately need a script which when I pass the name of a file to it, it will look at a folder outside of web root (maybe?) and push the file to the browser. Obviously I need to ensure a user cannot just manually type the path to this script and pass a filename to it thus getting the file for free.

Has anyone done simething similar before and can you offer any advice or sample code / thoery on how to do this?

Many Thanks
Doug

[leatherback]

Yeah, not that hard; You just make sure that the PDF sits in a folder where direct access is prohibited (.htaccess : deny from all).

Then you have a script that reads the PDF and sends it to the browser [man]readfile[/man]. I am assuming you have some sort of payment system set up.