[RESOLVED] Check if user has downloaded a PDF

cretaceous

Site has a Terms and Conditions PDF that owner wants applicants to download, before they can see the application form.

Is there a good way to do this?

I'm thinking:
force download via headers
record that in session and then update original page to show link to form (using AJAX)

seems a pain when much easier if T&C just viewed as a web page... hmm

bradgrafelman

cretaceous;11031017 wrote:
seems a pain when much easier if T&C just viewed as a web page

I don't really see what the difference would be; sounds like you just want to record the fact that the user made a request for a given URL. The fact that the URL leads to a PDF download rather than an HTML document seems irrelevant.

cretaceous

Yes point taken.. I just figured html page is better as a checkbox at the end to confirm 'I've read this' gives a more positive record in the event of a dispute. (Won't be monetary amounts in dispute.)

sneakyimp

Being absolutely certain that someone has downloaded a file is not something you can do in PHP. You should need something running on the client's machine to verify that the file had been downloaded (and not corrupted in transit).

It might be possible to force the user to click a download link for the PDF before you permit them to proceed, but that doesn't sound all that much better than forcing them to set a checkbox to indicate that they accept the terms and conditions.

All that said, I'm not sure legally speaking if accepting a site's terms and conditions by clicking a checkbox is a binding contract. You might want to consult a lawyer before you go spending all kinds of time working up something complicated but pointless.

cretaceous

No nothing legal to worry about here, they sign on paper for that bit - I've persuaded them to go with checkbox.