Download pdf file from a string using Jquery - php

Question

All,
I have a PHP5 application written with Zend Framework and MVC. On my home page, I want to incorporate the functionality to download a dynamically generated pdf file. The way this is done is:
User clicks "download file" link.
On Click, an AJAX call occurs to a PHP controller, which takes the form data, generates the pdf and returns it as a string.
My javascript function now has the pdf string.
How can I display the user an "Open/Save" dialog to download the pdf file from javascript?
I have the following code:
<script type="text/Javascript">
$('#dlcontent').click(function(e) {
$.ajax({
type: 'POST',
url: "/downloads/dlpolicies",
data: $("#frmMyContent").serialize(),
cache: false,
dataType: "html",
success: function(html_input){
alert(html_input); // This has the pdf file in a string.
//ToDo: Open/Save pdf file dialog using this string..
}
});
});
</script>
Thanks

Answer 1

I would try to keep this simple. Just sumbit the form with a target="_blank" and then have PHP force the file download.
HTML CODE
<script type="text/Javascript">
$('#dlcontent').click(function(e) {
e.preventDefault();
$("#frmMyContent").submit();
});
</script>
<form id="formMyContent" action="/downloads/dlpolicies" target="_blank" ... >
...
</form>
Then on your server side, you need to tell PHP to send the response as a "download".
PHP Code
$this->getResponse()
->setHeader('Content-Disposition', 'attachment; filename=result.pdf')
->setHeader('Content-type', 'application/pdf');
Got this from here:
Zend Framework how to set headers

Answer 2

The simplest way of doing it is open a new window with URL to pdf string.

Answer 3

Add an element to your page where you want the link to go. It can be a span or a div or a cell in a table or whatever you want. Give it a unique ID. Then use jQuery to set the html of that element. I refer to it as somepageelement here.
$('#dlcontent').click(function(e) {
$.ajax({
type: 'POST',
url: "/downloads/dlpolicies",
data: $("#frmMyContent").serialize(),
cache: false,
dataType: "html",
success: function(html_input){
$('#somepageelement').html('Click here to download the pdf');
}
});
});