PHP download manager simple - force downloading

**shunavi** · 14-07-2013, 06:02 AM

A force-download script can give you more control over a file download than you would have providing a direct link. Using a force-download script, you can:

Validate that a person is logged in
Increment a counter in a text file
Connect to your database and log IP information, increment a counter, and so on.

The code itself is pretty basic:

The Code

PHP Code:


// grab the requested file's name

$file_name = $_GET['file'];



// make sure it's a file before doing anything!

if(is_file($file_name)) {



    /*

        Do any processing you'd like here:

        1.  Increment a counter

        2.  Do something with the DB

        3.  Check user permissions

        4.  Anything you want!

    */



    // required for IE

    if(ini_get('zlib.output_compression')) { ini_set('zlib.output_compression', 'Off');    }



    // get the file mime type using the file extension

    switch(strtolower(substr(strrchr($file_name, '.'), 1))) {

        case 'pdf': $mime = 'application/pdf'; break;

        case 'zip': $mime = 'application/zip'; break;

        case 'jpeg':

        case 'jpg': $mime = 'image/jpg'; break;

        default: $mime = 'application/force-download';

    }

    header('Pragma: public');     // required

    header('Expires: 0');        // no cache

    header('Cache-Control: must-revalidate, post-check=0, pre-check=0');

    header('Last-Modified: '.gmdate ('D, d M Y H:i:s', filemtime ($file_name)).' GMT');

    header('Cache-Control: private',false);

    header('Content-Type: '.$mime);

    header('Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="'.basename($file_name).'"');

    header('Content-Transfer-Encoding: binary');

    header('Content-Length: '.filesize($file_name));    // provide file size

    header('Connection: close');

    readfile($file_name);        // push it out

    exit();



}

This file alone isn't secure. You will want to validate that the file doesn't provide access to your website code, files you don't want downloaded, and so on. That code will be specific to your website and needs.

Do you use a force-download script? What processing do you do inside the script?

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**david** · 14-07-2013, 11:48 AM

Good sharing code, thanks shunavi. You rock !!!

**FourPart** · 01-08-2013, 07:27 PM

Originally Posted by david

Good sharing code, thanks shunavi. You rock !!!

I'e been trying to find a way of simplifying downloads for our choir's Training Files, as most of them are P.C illiterate & find the notion of using Right Click & Save As far too techy, so I've been trying to find a way of forcing a download, rather than an auto play, and despite all sorts of various scripts & adding lines to .htaccess I was still getting nowhere.

I was also hoping to tart the link page up by using buttons for the downloads, but that added even more problems, so eventually I stuck with the simplest hyperlink method of all namely:
<a href="/MP3 Directory/Song Name.mp3" download>Song Name</a>

No script - no .htaccess - just a simple hyperlink.

**david** · 02-08-2013, 01:26 AM

With your code:

HTML Code:

<a href="/MP3 Directory/Song Name.mp3" download>Song Name</a>

There are some problems can be happen, you need to check:

Try to remove "space" in file name: sometimes it will be problem what we will not predict
The URL start with "/" will be from document root of domain so that make sure that folder "MP3 Directory" is in document root of domain
.htaccess deny access mp3 file: sometimes .htaccess configuration only allow some special file extension like .css, .js, .html, .jpg .... and it will not allow .mp3. In this case, to make sure the reason come from .htaccess let 's try to remove or rename .htaccess and try to access file again
In all of reasons above, try to press Ctrl + F5 everytime you try.

Good luck

**FourPart** · 02-08-2013, 03:48 AM

Originally Posted by david

With your code:

HTML Code:

<a href="/MP3 Directory/Song Name.mp3" download>Song Name</a>

There are some problems can be happen, you need to check:

Try to remove "space" in file name: sometimes it will be problem what we will not predict
The URL start with "/" will be from document root of domain so that make sure that folder "MP3 Directory" is in document root of domain
.htaccess deny access mp3 file: sometimes .htaccess configuration only allow some special file extension like .css, .js, .html, .jpg .... and it will not allow .mp3. In this case, to make sure the reason come from .htaccess let 's try to remove or rename .htaccess and try to access file again
In all of reasons above, try to press Ctrl + F5 everytime you try.

Good luck

The items I entered here were just simplified variables to demonstrate its usage. A fuller, actual example of one of the links I'm using is:
<a href="/members/downloads/Summer_2014/All_Parts/All_Parts_-_She.mp3" download>All Parts </a>

As all this is being done is a closed directory, only accessible to members (by using .htacces & .htpasswd) it doesn't really have to bother about the frills required by on open site.

Although leading on from this a little (although still connected to the basic idea) is the potential to have the user check multiple boxes to select the files they wish to download, then click 'Download' to it all in one fail swoop.although I imagine that's quite a bit more complicated.