Creating a file and saving it locally - PHP

[curtiss]

Okie dokie.

I've figured out how to create a file and store it in a directory on my web server, but I cannot figure out how to generate a file that can easily be saved locally by the user.

I would like the user to be able to select in which directory they save the new file.

I thought about using an <input type='file'> sort of thing, but that requires you to select an actual, existing file. I can't figure out how to get it to allow you to simply choose a directory.

The file I am generating is a txt file.

Any help would be appreciated.

[Till]

You can't save on the user's computer. You can provide a link, and make "download box" appear. That is all!

[curtiss]

Originally Posted by Till

You can't save on the user's computer. You can provide a link, and make "download box" appear. That is all!

That's basically what I meant.

[Till]

Originally Posted by curtiss

That's basically what I meant.

Here is some ultra-secret code from the HTMLCenter labz!

PHP Code:

// this is the path to the file you want to download
$file_name = 'foobar.txt';
$file_to_download='/path/to/' . $file_name;

@header("Pragma: public");
@header("Expires: 0");
@header("Cache-Control: must-revalidate, post-check=0, pre-check=0");
@header("Content-Type: application/octet-stream");
@header("Content-Disposition: attachment; filename=\"$file_name\"");
@header("Content-Description: File Transfert");
@readfile($file_to_download); 


[curtiss]

Awesome. Thank you Till. I'll give it a shot.

I'm guessing I have to obviously generate the file and store it on my server before running this code?

[curtiss]

Hmm. I just tried it out, and, for some reason, rather than prompting the user to save/open the file, it simply included the content of the file ahead of the content on my page.

It's actually a dump of an SQL database, so I tried saving it as an SQL file instead of a txt file, and wound up with the same result. Rather than prompting the user to download the file, it simply prints the content of the file at the top of the page.

Is there something I can change in the header information in order to make the browser realize I want the user to be prompted for open/save, rather than simply printing the content?

If not, I guess I'll have to figure out how to dynamically archive the file into a tar archive or something, and then open the file.

[Till]

I am using the above code to force downloading of MP3 files. And it works. Not sure what else, you'd have to do. If you prompt for a .sql file and your own browser's settings tell it to open it (you can save this option when you selected it), it won't work.