PHP url params and return to calling page

Question

My php script is supposed to download a .zip file, and increment a counter. In the code below, the parameters passed in on the URL are not being recognized, so the line to download a file doesn't do anything, and if the file download doesn't work, the count loops endlessly, incrementing the count. My provider is using PHP V5.2.

I'd like for the passed parms to work, but I can live with hardcoding "myapp.zip" in the tag.

I need to return to the page that called count.php after it's work is done.

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
<?php
//$Down=$_GET['Down'];
$Down=$_Post['Down'];
echo "File:" . $Down;?>
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
<head>

  <meta content="en-us" http-equiv="Content-Language" />
  <meta content="text/html; charset=utf-8" http-equiv="Content-Type" />
  <!--meta http-equiv="refresh" content="0;url=<?php echo $Down;?>"/-->
  <meta http-equiv="refresh" content="0;url=MyApp.zip"/>
</head>
<body>
  <?php
   $filePath = 'count.txt';
   // If file exists, read current count from it, otherwise, initialize it to 0
   $count = file_exists($filePath) ? file_get_contents($filePath) : 0;
   // Increment the count and overwrite the file, writing the new value<br />
   file_put_contents($filePath, ++$count);
   // Display current download count
   //echo "Downloads:" . $count;
   //header("Location: $r.htm");
?>
</body>
</html>

It's called from r.htm like this:

<form method="post" action="count.php?Down=myapp.zip" style="text-align: center">
<input type="submit" value="Download MyApp">
</form>

You cant do it with php only. Client made request to HTTP-server and server responce that content-type is ZIP, after downloading that cant send new header with redirect — Barif
– Barif, Commented Mar 24, 2013 at 21:13
your question is not clear, do you want to write count + 1 to 'count.txt' then redirect to the previous url? — razz
– razz, Commented Mar 24, 2013 at 21:24
@barif - I was afraid of that. I suppose I'll have to put a button on it. I really wanted it to be transparent. — Mike
– Mike, Commented Mar 24, 2013 at 21:43
@razzak - Download the file, increment the counter, return to r.htm. — Mike
– Mike, Commented Mar 24, 2013 at 21:45
does it have to be in php only? you can use ajax to increment the counter without having to redirect the user! — razz
– razz, Commented Mar 24, 2013 at 21:49

Funk Forty Niner · Accepted Answer · 2013-03-24 22:42:27Z

1

Here you go (tested)

Count.php

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
<?php

if(isset($_POST['down'])){
$down = 'myapp.zip';
}

echo "File: <a href='$down'>$down</a>";

if(!isset($_POST['down'])){
die('NO ACCESS');

// or give them a link to go to the form and click on the button
//die('<a href="formdown.htm">Use the form to download</a>');
}

?>

<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
<head>

  <meta content="en-us" http-equiv="Content-Language" />
  <meta content="text/html; charset=utf-8" http-equiv="Content-Type" />
  <!--meta http-equiv="refresh" content="0;url=<?php echo $Down;?>"/-->

</head>
<body>
  <?php
   $filePath = 'count.txt';
   // If file exists, read current count from it, otherwise, initialize it to 0
   $count = file_exists($filePath) ? file_get_contents($filePath) : 0;
   // Increment the count and overwrite the file, writing the new value<br />
   file_put_contents($filePath, ++$count);
   // Display current download count
   //echo "Downloads:" . $count;
   //header("Location: $r.htm");
?>
</body>
</html>

Form:

<form method="post" action="count.php" style="text-align: center">
<input type="hidden" name="down" value="$file" />
<input type="submit" value="Download MyApp" />
</form>

edited Mar 24, 2013 at 22:42

answered Mar 24, 2013 at 21:45

Funk Forty Niner

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21 Comments

Funk Forty Niner Over a year ago

Mike, this could also be modified so that if someone tries to view the source to download it directly, value="myapp.zip" could be changed to value="$file"; in count.php with code as $file= "(path_to)myapp.zip"; (also tested).

Mike Over a year ago

_ Thanks, but it's just not seeing the parms on the URL. r.htm blinks, the counter is incremented, and r.htm is still in the browser.

Funk Forty Niner Over a year ago

@Mike I didn't add the redirection to r.htm. I figured you could modify the script to redirect to your preferred URL. Just comment out the //header("Location: $r.htm"); - However $r.htm and r.htm are two different things.

razz Over a year ago

value="$file" ? you can't use php variables in html code unless you wrap it with <?php ?> and in this case it is undefined even if you wrap it!

Funk Forty Niner Over a year ago

@razzak It worked for me, I tested it. Copy the source files and upload one called myapp.zip. ;-)

|

Funk Forty Niner · Accepted Answer · 2013-03-25 11:26:47Z

This version Mike, increments the counter if the user clicks the download button, which will immediately prompt the user to save the file (somewhere on their computer).

count.php

<?php

if(isset($_POST['down'])){

$filePath = 'count.txt';
   $count = file_exists($filePath) ? file_get_contents($filePath) : 0;
   // Increment the count and overwrite the file, writing the new value<br />
   file_put_contents($filePath, ++$count);

header("Cache-Control: public");
header("Content-Description: File Transfer");
header("Content-Disposition: attachment; filename=myapp.zip");
header("Content-Type: application/zip");
header("Content-Transfer-Encoding: binary");

readfile("myapp.zip");
}

if(!isset($_POST['down'])){
//die('NO ACCESS');

die('<a href="form.htm">Use the form to download</a>');
}

?>

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">

<html>
<head>

</head>

<body>

</body>
</html>

The form:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<head>

</head>

<body>

<form method="post" action="count.php" style="text-align: center">
<input type="hidden" name="down" value="file" />
<input type="submit" value="Download MyApp" />
</form>

</body>

</html>

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