Filedownloading using PHP code

@sitehatcheryDec 16.2006 — #

[code=php]
 $result=mysql_query('select file_name, file_title from files');
 while($row=mysql_fetch_array($result)){
 echo '<a href="path_to_file/'.$row['file_name'].'">'.$row['file_title'].'</a>';
 }
 [/code]

Whether you have the file stored in the database or you are storing it in a file and referencing it in the database, you still have to declare a path to the file to be reachable by your web users. This will either be declared within $row['file_name'] itself, or within the href attribute. I've never stored the file directly in the database myself in a blob field, so I'm not exactly sure how you would reference it in the href attribute. But the code structure would be the same.

@NightShift58Dec 16.2006 — #

[code=php]<?php
 
 ...
 select content from table
 ...
 
 $thisFILEname = $myDBfilename;
 $thisFILEcontent = $myDBcontent;
 header ("Content-Type: application/force-download");
 header ("Content-Disposition: attachment; filename='$thisFILEname');
 header ("Content-Transfer-Encoding: binary");
 print $thisFILEcontent;
 [/code]

Using the above method, you can essentially "force" a download of just about anything, WITHOUT having to first store it on disk and then linking to it.

This technique is usually used for displaying graphics that have been generated "on-the-fly" but can be used for any other content.

In the above example, the use of $thisFILEname and $thisFILEcontent are really superfluous. I put them in there so you can better follow the logic. The basic idea is that you're going to get a file name from your table, as well as the content, which is what the variables $myDBfilename and $myDBcontent stand for in the example.

Please note that I have a "<?php" at the beginning and nothing at the end of the script. That was not an oversight.

Filedownloading using PHP code

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