file download problem using readfile()

[natalalaa]

Hi,

I'm having problems with downloading files from a server.
The .txt files are being downloaded correctly, but types like .doc or .jpg are not being displayed correctly, but appear as a page of symbols, e.g.

ÐÏ à¡± á > þÿ Q S þÿÿÿ P ÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿì¥Á q` ø ¿ Œ

My code:

$downloaddir = '/Snap429640/captprimary/hostingSlowRep/admin/support/uploads/';
$fname = urldecode($fname);
$downloadfile = $downloaddir . $fname;

$size = filesize($downloadfile);
$type = filetype($downloadfile);

header("Content-Disposition: attachment; filename=$fname");
header("Content-Length: $size");
header("Content-Type: $type");
header("Content-Transfer-Encoding: binary");

readfile($downloadfile);

Could anyone help?

Thanks,
Natalia

[hexburner]

Or you use application/octet-stream, or you leave the type empty.
If the content-type is empty, the browsers tries to identify the mimetype.

<?
    $downloaddir = '/Snap429640/captprimary/hostingSlowRep/admin/support/uploads/';
    $fname = urldecode($fname);
    $downloadfile = $downloaddir . $fname;
 
    $size = filesize($downloadfile);
    $type = "application/octet-stream"; // For direct download
    $type = "" // Empty for use in browser, eg an image
 
    header("Content-Disposition: attachment; filename=$fname");
    header("Content-Length: $size");
    header("Content-Type: $type");
    header("Content-Transfer-Encoding: binary");
 
    echo readfile($downloadfile);
?>

[barbara1712]

Try this.
Hope it will help.

$downloaddir = '/Snap429640/captprimary/hostingSlowRep/admin/support/uploads/';
    $fname = urldecode($fname);
    $downloadfile = $downloaddir . $fname;
 
    $size = filesize($downloadfile);
    $type = "application/octet-stream"; // For direct download
    
 
    header("Cache-Control: no-store, no-cache, must-revalidate");
header("Cache-Control: post-check=0, pre-check=0", false);
header("Cache-Control: private",false);
header("Pragma: no-cache");
header('Content-Type:'. $type);
header ("Content-Disposition: attachment; filename=\"". basename($downloadfile)."\";");
header("Content-Transfer-Encoding: binary\n");
header ("Content-Length: " . filesize($downloadfile));
 
    echo readfile("$downloadfile"); 

[natalalaa]

Still doesn't work.

I'm getting the pop up window prompting me to choose the program for opening the file OK. It showes the correct file format, but still doesn't want to display the file

[barbara1712]

Ok.Try for your $type variable

$file_extension = strtolower(substr(strrchr($downloadfile,"."),1));
switch( $file_extension )
{
    case "pdf": $type="application/pdf"; break;
    case "zip": $type="application/zip"; break;
    case "doc": $type="application/msword"; break;
    case "xls": $type="application/vnd.ms-excel"; break;
    case "ppt": $type="application/vnd.ms-powerpoint"; break;
    case "gif": $type="image/gif"; break;
    case "png": $type="image/png"; break;
    case "jpg": $type="image/jpg"; break;
    case "mp3": $type="application/iTunes"; break;
    default: $type="application/force-download";
} 

[natalalaa]

It looks like the problem is not in the $type, but in the way the file is being downloaded from the server. The type is being recognised correctly (I can see it on the pop up screen) and the program to open it if being suggested correcty by windows, but what's in the file is somehow corrupted. I checked if files on the server and they are fine there. Any ideas?

[Intruder]

I have similar problem with readfile function.
I tried to show image with simple code:
<?php
$myfile = '2.gif';
header("Content-Type: image/gif");
header("Content-Length: " . filesize($myfile));
readfile($myfile);
?>
Instead of the image I received string:
GIF89ab
Then I tried to see what data is actually read, with such code:

$s = file_get_contents($myfile) ;
echo filesize($myfile)." ".strlen($s);
echo ($s);

I received this:
39509 39509
The file size and length of $s are equal.
I tried to display data in $s. But I still receive only GIF89ab string.
So the problem somewhere in the way the data is sent to the browser.
I am not good at PHP. Any ideas?

[natalalaa]

I found a simple solution for that: instead of read file I just made a link <a href="myfilepath">open the file<a> on the site, that leads to the correct file on the server. Works fine. If the file if gif or jpg it simply opens in a new window; if it's doc or xls or anything that can't be open in a browser I'm getting a prompt asking what program I would like to usu to open the file.

Hope it helps.
Natalia

[barbara1712]

Yeah,

But,I think it not secure.
i.e. anyone can download the file by typing the url in browser.

So writing a php script to download the file is a good option.

[Intruder]

Unfortunaly this solution is not applicable in my case.
I have problem with code that calls my function.
<img src="download.php"/>
Where download.php is my script.
And the purpose of my function is to display image.
Any ideas?

[natalalaa]

Try to put fopen('your full file path'); in your script.

[maksimovic]

This one works like a dream

// give file to download
download("/path/to/your/file.zip");


/**
     * Download file
     *
     * @param string $path
     * @param string $type
     * @param string $name
     * @param bool $force_download
     * @return bool
     */
    function download($path, $name = '', $type = 'application/octet-stream', $force_download = true) {

        if (!is_file($path) || connection_status() !== 0);

        if($force_download) {
            header("Cache-Control: public");
        } else {
            header("Cache-Control: no-store, no-cache, must-revalidate");
            header("Cache-Control: post-check=0, pre-check=0", false);
            header("Pragma: no-cache");
        }

        header("Expires: ".gmdate("D, d M Y H:i:s", mktime(date("H")+2, date("i"), date("s"), date("m"), date("d"), date("Y")))." GMT");
        header("Last-Modified: ".gmdate("D, d M Y H:i:s")." GMT");
        header("Content-Type: $type");
        header("Content-Length: ".(string)(filesize($path)));

        $disposition = $force_download ? 'attachment' : 'inline';

        if(trim($name) == '') {
            header("Content-Disposition: $disposition; filename=" . basename($path));
        } else {
            header("Content-Disposition: $disposition; filename=\"" . trim($name)."\"");
        }

        header("Content-Transfer-Encoding: binary\n");

        if ($file = fopen($path, 'rb')) {
            while(!feof($file) and (connection_status()==0)) {
                print(fread($file, 1024*8));
                flush();
            }
            fclose($file);
        }

        return((connection_status() == 0) && !connection_aborted());
    } 

First parameter is required, $name is automatically detected from $path (if you want to use the same name, otherwise you can override it with custom one), $force_download - pretty straightforward what it means, as well as $type