PHP Force File Download [duplicate] - php

Question

This question already has answers here:
Forcing to download a file using PHP
(10 answers)
Closed 9 years ago.
I am trying to use PHP to force a download on a client computer (with the file dialog- nothing sinister). I have found many pages that recommend I use the header() function to control the response from my PHP script, but I am having no luck with this. The code I have is as follows:
$file = $_POST['fname'];
if(!($baseDir . '\\AgcommandPortal\\agcommand\\php\\utils\\ISOxml\\' . $file)) {
die('File not found.');
} else {
header('Pragma: public');
header('Content-disposition: attachment; filename="tasks.zip"');
header('Content-type: application/force-download');
header('Content-Length: ' . filesize($file));
header('Content-Description: File Transfer');
header('Content-Transfer-Encoding: binary');
header('Connection: close');
ob_end_clean();
readfile($baseDir . '\\AgcommandPortal\\agcommand\\php\\utils\\ISOxml\\' . $file);
}
I am calling it using this JavaScript:
$.ajax({
url: url,
success: function(text) {
var req = new XMLHttpRequest();
req.open("POST", 'php/utils/getXMLfile.php', true);
req.setRequestHeader("Content-type", "application/x-www-form-urlencoded");
req.send('fname=' + encodeURIComponent(text));
}
});
This returns the contents of the file as text, but does not trigger a download dialog. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Answer 1

Instead of using AJAX, just redirect the browser to the relevant URL. When it receives the content-disposition:attachment header, it will download the file.

Answer 2

Few suggestions:
1.
if(!($baseDir . '\\AgcommandPortal\\agcommand\\php\\utils\\ISOxml\\' . $file)) {
Instead:
if(!file_exists($baseDir ....)){
2.Don't need size.
3.Try this one:
header('Content-Description: File Transfer');
header('Content-Type: application/octet-stream');
header('Content-Disposition: attachment; filename='.basename($fullpath));
header('Content-Transfer-Encoding: binary');
header('Expires: 0');
header('Cache-Control: must-revalidate, post-check=0, pre-check=0');
header('Pragma: public');
ob_clean();
flush();
readfile($fullpath);
exit;

Answer 3

I would try sending a header from PHP like this, to replace your application/force-download header:
header("Content-type: application/octet-stream");

Answer 4

Kolink's answer worked for me (change the window location to the php file), but as I want to send POST variables along with the request, I ended up using a hidden form instead. The code I am using is as follows:
var url = 'php/utils/getXMLfile.php';
var form = $('<form action="' + url + '" method="post" style="display: none;">' +
'<input type="text" name="fname" value="' + text + '" />' +
'</form>');
$('body').append(form);
$(form).submit();
Thanks for all the answers!