Download

practisevoodoo

06-21-2002, 10:06 PM

How do you set up a link so that a file is downloaded when it is clicked.

prezbedard

06-21-2002, 10:19 PM

You usually have to right click on a link to save the file.

You you could do some form of onclick event to handle it.

Nightfire

06-22-2002, 05:13 AM

<a href="file.ext">Click here to download</a>

<edit>Of course the above depends on what type of file you want to be downloaded.</edit>

jkd

06-22-2002, 05:17 AM

If you have access to the .htaccess file:
http://www.javascriptkit.com/howto/htaccess9.shtml

:)

neil.c

06-26-2002, 08:28 PM

i'm also looking for something similar, i.e. a link that saves a file to disk instead of the file being opened by the browser. is there some easy way to do this? can js replicate the browser's file > save command or is there a setting in the <a> tag that might work? or is it another of these things that can't be done without server-side access? i don't have access to .htaccess or any server-side languages.

Nightfire

06-26-2002, 08:31 PM

Can;t you just put it in a zip file?

neil.c

06-26-2002, 08:41 PM

fair enough but id already thought of that. but what about that winzip plugin that opens zips immediately in a temp folder?
its not exactly essential that i can do this, i just thought there might be a way to save stuff.

jkd

06-27-2002, 12:40 AM

I believe IE has some sort of behavior you can use that forces the File Save As box... I'd search msdn.microsoft.com for it. :)

tommysphone

06-27-2002, 08:11 AM

If you don't mind the material being saved as a .htm document then this could be used -

In the <head> tag put

<script language="JavaScript" type="text/JavaScript">
var now = false;
function saveIt(){
if (document.execCommand){
if (now){document.execCommand("SaveAs");}
}
}
</script>

In the <body> tag put
<body onLoad="now=true">

The link on the page to be saved put

<a href="javascript:;" onClick="saveIt();">

<p>Save This Page</a></p>

I saw this a few days ago from another post on this site by boxer_1! Credit where its due.

I would ask, what are the document types you want to allow users to download? .doc .xls .pdf .jpg .gif?
This would have some bearing on other possible download methods/solutions.

EG - Save doscuments as .pdf Yep, you need the software but I'd say a majority of users have the plugin so viewing is straight fwd.
You could post instructions for the saving of the documents and hey presto. Done.

neil.c

06-27-2002, 11:23 AM

ok what about .docs and .jpegs? i can hardly put a link on them, no matter where the script is. and i'd rather have it so that the files are downloaded and saved without opening - like doing a right-click on link > save target as.

thanks for the .html one, this will be useful somewhere.

i'll look on msdn to see if IE has anything like this.

Jeepers

06-27-2002, 11:42 PM

The only reason a file is opened by an app is because the extention is recognised. If you put a totaly wierd extention that would not be recognised then it would download to disc. On the download page just put instructions on how to rename once downloaded.

oracleguy

06-28-2002, 04:55 AM

If you don't want to require that your clients have winzip or compatible decompressor, WinZip does make a program that will let you convert .zip files to .exe files that can automatically extract.

practisevoodoo

07-15-2002, 12:10 PM

Thanks, I've sorted out the problem now.

SYP}{ER

07-15-2002, 05:35 PM

Originally posted by practisevoodoo
Thanks, I've sorted out the problem now.

How'd you do it, then? Just in case someone else has your problem and searches the forum for it ;) Plus I'm curious :p