ZIP file won't download and acts weird with php - php

Question

I'm working on a system in laravel to make a zip full of photos and download it afterwards.
I decided i really don't want to use libraries for this(it is necessary), so I must use plain php. my controller code:
public function downloadPictures()
{
$pictures = Input::get('photos');
$file_paths = array();
foreach ($pictures as $picture_id) {
$path = $this->photos->getFilepath($picture_id, 'original');
array_push($file_paths, $path);
}
$zip = new ZipArchive;
$zip->open('slike.zip', ZipArchive::CREATE);
foreach ($file_paths as $file) {
$content = file_get_contents($file);
$zip->addFromString(basename($file), $content);
}
header("Pragma: public");
header("Expires: 0");
header("Cache-Control: must-revalidate, post-check=0, pre-check=0");
header("Cache-Control: private",false);
header('Content-type: application/zip');
header('Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="'.basename($zip->filename).'"');
echo var_dump($zip);
echo basename($zip->filename);
$zip->close();
echo var_dump($zip);
echo basename($zip->filename);
}
Now with the first part of the code i can say with 100% confidence that i get the right picture paths(that is above the //if (file_exists($file_paths ... ) comment, and i made sure by printing them out and using file_exists)
But then things start getting wonky.
Firstly: when i open the zip the numFiles i tested says there are allready 4 files in it, i have no idea why.
Secondly: when i print the response from this controller function in js frontend(using echo in controller var_dump($zip)) i get the zip file properties.. name+ numFile+4 (+4 for some reason), but when i $zip->close() i can't access the properites echoed zip properties are empty.
Third: the redirect headers, which i used in both ways: before i closed the $zip and after(currently they are before the closing) are not doing anything.. they should produce a donwload form in a browser, are they not?
If somebody could help me i would be so greatful. I need to do this due sunday and i have been fiddling around this for about 8hrs now.(this is my first time doing this). I have done quite a lot of googling and it works for others. I am on ununtu on nginx, php v5.6 and i installed the php zip extension and i am testing it localy on ubuntu mozilla browser.
UPDATE: It doesn't work in chrome either, so it's not firefoxes problem.

Answer 1

Try this:
public function downloadPictures()
{
$pictures = Input::get('photos');
$file_paths = array();
foreach ($pictures as $picture_id) {
$path = $this->photos->getFilepath($picture_id, 'original');
array_push($file_paths, $path);
}
$zip = new ZipArchive;
$zipname = 'silke.zip';
$zip->open($zipname, ZipArchive::CREATE);
foreach ($file_paths as $file) {
$content = file_get_contents($file);
$zip->addFromString(basename($file), $content);
}
header("HTTP/1.1 200 OK");
header("Pragma: public");
header("Expires: 0");
header("Cache-Control: must-revalidate, post-check=0, pre-check=0");
header("Cache-Control: private",false);
header('Content-type: application/zip');
header('Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="'.$zipname.'"');
header('Content-Length: ' . filesize($zipname));
$zip->close();
readfile($zipname);
}
Most important is the Content-Lengthand the readfileline.
Don't echo anything else, it will corrupt the download.
Update: A more selfcontained test:
$testData = array(
'test1.txt' => 'Test1',
'test2.txt' => 'Test2',
'test3.txt' => 'Test3',
'test4.txt' => 'Test4',
);
$zip = new ZipArchive;
$zipname = 'slike.zip';
$zip->open($zipname, ZipArchive::CREATE);
foreach ($testData as $filename => $content) {
$zip->addFromString($filename, $content);
}
header("HTTP/1.1 200 OK");
header("Pragma: public");
header("Expires: 0");
header("Cache-Control: must-revalidate, post-check=0, pre-check=0");
header("Cache-Control: private",false);
header('Content-Type: application/force-download');
header('Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="'.$zipname.'"');
header('Content-Length: ' . filesize($zipname));
$zip->close();
readfile($zipname);
Also this has header('Content-Type: application/force-download');