download PDF ?

[Asch]

Hi, I have pdf files on my page...Actually the user can click on the link and view the file with Adobe...I want to put a second link next to so that the user is able to download by clicking on it and not "right clik save as..." and it should work on any browser...
does smoeone know how to do that ??

thx

asch
:D

[toicontien]

The choice to download a file or open it with a helper application is handled in the individual browser preferences. Unless someone hasn't set files with a .pdf extension to open with Acrobat, it will automatically open in the browser window within an instance of Acrobat.

The only workaround I can think or is to save the pdf as a .zip file. ZIP files are usually set to be downloaded without opening up any helper applications. Then you probably need to save a copy of the PDF using Aladin Systems Stuffit Expander so Mac users can download a copy too. Winzip doesn't have a version for the Mac OS (hence the name WINzip ;) ).

I haven't had a chance to try this out, but could you save a copy of the PDFs on an FTP server and link to that? (e.g. <a href="ftp://ftp.somedomain.com/document.pdf"> )?

You could also put the PDFs on an ftp server and then just link to the folder on the ftp server that contains the PDF. Then the person can click the link, open an ftp connection within their browser, and download the PDF via an ftp connection, which shouldn't trigger Acrobat to open up.

But that requires an ftp server that allows anonymous logins.

[pyro]

You could take a look at http://www.infinitypages.com/research/download.htm It doesn't work perfectly in NN/Mozilla (it will download the file, but add a .php extention) but will force a download.

[Bullschmidt]

And of course some other benefits of a .zip file are that one .zip file can contain multiple other files. And a .zip file is generally smaller (and thus faster to download) than other files.

[Asch]

nce explanation guys... thx didnt expect so much :o)....

pyro, ya the problem is that its adding a .php :o)...it s gonna be on a server for buisness people so they most have no idea of that :O)...

the idea of zipping the file is good I thought about it...but while pdf is allready very compressed... ziping it after , will it not dammage the file or put it in a bad quality ??

<a href="ftp://ftp.somedomain.com/document.pdf">
ya this is ok if you have a .zip....or something else..:o)

the best will be a download script that works on all...and ads no .php ...duhhh :o)...and i have no time to do that, righting a guestbook took me already 2 months, so go for an download...youpila :O) lol...!!

asch
Royal Programmer


:D

[AdamGundry]

ziping it after , will it not dammage the file or put it in a bad qualityThe Zip compression format is lossless, which means no data is lost when it is compressed. I believe it uses run-length encoding.

You should be able to use a standard Zip utility such as pkzip, Winzip or ZipMagic.

Adam