Serving files and redirecting using headers.

[Gooseman]

Hi,

I have a page where form data is passed to a php page (just script) to
process the input. This page calls a function to output a file:

function sendFileViaHead er($path, $name) {
$fp = fopen($path . $name, 'r');
header("Cache-Control: ");// leave blank to avoid IE errors
header("Pragma: ");// leave blank to avoid IE errors
header("Content-type: application/octet-stream");
header("Content-Disposition: attachment; filename=\"" . $name .
"\"");
header("Content-length: ".(string)(file size($path . $name)));
fpassthru($fp);
}

The original script then calls a further header that will redirect the
user page to a different (or updated original page):

header('Locatio n: http://www.new.com');

However, only the file is sent. The second header is never called. It
is either one or the other. Never both. How do I get around this (I've
tried buffering - ob_start(), ob_end_flush() to no avail)?

Thanks!

[Pedro Graca]

Re: Serving files and redirecting using headers.

Gooseman wrote:[color=blue]
> I have a page where form data is passed to a php page (just script) to
> process the input. This page calls a function to output a file:
>
> function sendFileViaHead er($path, $name) {
> $fp = fopen($path . $name, 'r');
> header("Cache-Control: ");// leave blank to avoid IE errors
> header("Pragma: ");// leave blank to avoid IE errors
> header("Content-type: application/octet-stream");
> header("Content-Disposition: attachment; filename=\"" . $name .
> "\"");
> header("Content-length: ".(string)(file size($path . $name)));
> fpassthru($fp);
> }
>
> The original script then calls a further header that will redirect the
> user page to a different (or updated original page):
>
> header('Locatio n: http://www.new.com');
>
> However, only the file is sent. The second header is never called.[/color]

headers sent after output are not recognized as headers by the browser
(if they get sent at all). If you redirect before sending the file
contents, that is what happens: the browser honors the redirect and
never receives the file.
[color=blue]
> How do I get around this?[/color]

Unless I miss something (like maybe JavaScript), you don't.

Provide a link to download the file and another link for the 'redirect'.

<a href="file_outp ut.php">downloa d the file</a>.
After you downloaded the file, <a href="http://www.new.com">pr oceed
to the redirected site</a>.

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