Downloads, headers and scripts not finishing...

[Dahak]

I may be having an attack of the stupids and my Google-foo is
failing me today, but I can't seem to get past this problem.
I have a script that indexes a directory and provides the user
with a simple interface to select files to download.

Once they've made their selection and submitted the form, the form
action reloads the page.

On reload, the script checks for the presence of POST variables
and, if not found, redisplays the previous form or, if found collects
files for download.

If this is the first request, the target files are collected into
a ZIP file and saved to the server for reuse.

Then the script serves the saved file to the user for download
with the following code:

---

header('Pragma: public');
header('Content-type: application/zip');
header('Content-length: ' . filesize($zipdi r . '/' . $zipfilename));
header('Content-Disposition: attachment;
filename="'.$zi pfilename.'"');

// readfile( $zipdir . '/' . $zipfilename );
if ( ( $fp = fopen( $zipdir . '/' . $zipfilename, 'rb' ) ) === false )
exit;
@fpassthru( $fp );
@fclose( $fp );

---

This all works fine. The commented out readfile() _also_ worked
fine, but I've been trying to see how to get past my problem, which
is:

Once the file is sent to the output stream, the script seems to
halt.

I want to get the script to continue rendering a 'Thank you for
downloading...'-type page, but nothing seems to happen after the
readfile() or fpassthru().

In practical terms, this is nothing more than an annoyance. The
end user gets the requested ZIP file, but nothing else can be done in
the script. (I have a 'busy' graphic that I unhide on form submission
that I want to hide again upon completion.)
What am I forgetting? Is there something in the header man pages
that I've missed?

Other examples I've searched for online seem to imply that script
execution should continue.
Any thoughts would be appreciated.

-Joe

[Jerry Stuckle]

Dahak wrote:

I may be having an attack of the stupids and my Google-foo is
failing me today, but I can't seem to get past this problem.
I have a script that indexes a directory and provides the user
with a simple interface to select files to download.

Once they've made their selection and submitted the form, the form
action reloads the page.

On reload, the script checks for the presence of POST variables
and, if not found, redisplays the previous form or, if found collects
files for download.

If this is the first request, the target files are collected into
a ZIP file and saved to the server for reuse.

Then the script serves the saved file to the user for download
with the following code:

---

header('Pragma: public');
header('Content-type: application/zip');
header('Content-length: ' . filesize($zipdi r . '/' . $zipfilename));
header('Content-Disposition: attachment;
filename="'.$zi pfilename.'"');

// readfile( $zipdir . '/' . $zipfilename );
if ( ( $fp = fopen( $zipdir . '/' . $zipfilename, 'rb' ) ) === false )
exit;
@fpassthru( $fp );
@fclose( $fp );

---

This all works fine. The commented out readfile() _also_ worked
fine, but I've been trying to see how to get past my problem, which
is:

Once the file is sent to the output stream, the script seems to
halt.

I want to get the script to continue rendering a 'Thank you for
downloading...'-type page, but nothing seems to happen after the
readfile() or fpassthru().

In practical terms, this is nothing more than an annoyance. The
end user gets the requested ZIP file, but nothing else can be done in
the script. (I have a 'busy' graphic that I unhide on form submission
that I want to hide again upon completion.)
What am I forgetting? Is there something in the header man pages
that I've missed?

Other examples I've searched for online seem to imply that script
execution should continue.
Any thoughts would be appreciated.

-Joe

Joe,

Yes, that's normal. When the browser gets the zip file content header,
it won't be expecting html (or vice versa). File downloads are
typically a "dead end" - nothing more in that window following the download.

The easy way around this is to display your page again with a clickable
link to the zip file. That way you can display HTML and yet allow the
user to download the file. And if you want to automate it, a little
javascript can be used to start the actual download.

--
=============== ===
Remove the "x" from my email address
Jerry Stuckle
JDS Computer Training Corp.
js*******@attgl obal.net
=============== ===

[Dahak]

On Sat, 20 Oct 2007 16:11:43 -0400, an orbiting mind-control laser
made Jerry Stuckle <js*******@attg lobal.netwrite:

>Joe,

Yes, that's normal. When the browser gets the zip file content header,
it won't be expecting html (or vice versa). File downloads are
typically a "dead end" - nothing more in that window following the download.

The easy way around this is to display your page again with a clickable
link to the zip file. That way you can display HTML and yet allow the
user to download the file. And if you want to automate it, a little
javascript can be used to start the actual download.

Thanks for the clarification.

I appreciate the help.

-Joe