PHP Tutorial: Downloadable Scripts

TRUSTAbyss

I find alot of questions regarding how to prompt a user for a PHP download. I've
created a way to easily make this happen with just two lines of code. I have not
found a better way to do this. This is too simple!
Step 01.
The first thing you need to do is add your PHP code to a simple text file, which
can be any name. I will use test.txt as an example.
Step 02.
You need to place the following code in a new PHP file, which can be called anything
you want. I will use script.php as an example.

<?php
/**
 * Downloadable PHP code
 * Created by: Josh (TRUSTAbyss)
 *
 * Provided by: trustabyss.com
 */

header("Content-Type: application/force-download");

// Add the path to your text file

@readfile("test.txt");
?>

Step 03:
Now all you have to do is put the PHP and text file in your htdocs. Now when
you link to the script.php file, you will get a download prompt. Hopefully this
will help someone with the distribution of their PHP scripts.
Note: This does not allow you to save processed PHP code. Only the original
code you've written locally will be saved as a download.

pkSML

Thanks, Josh. That's really helpful!
Here is another way to do let someone download a file. The advantage is that you can specify the default filename that someone will see when they choose to download the file.

<?php 
// We'll be outputting a PDF 
header('Content-type: application/pdf'); 

// It will be called downloaded.pdf 
header('Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="downloaded.pdf"'); 

// The PDF source is in original.pdf 
readfile('original.pdf'); 
?>

TRUSTAbyss

Content-Disposition isn't supported in all IE browsers. What I did was set a new
MIME Type for the PHP file, for the browser to show as a download.

loloyd

Actually, "Content-Disposition" is not a valid generic HTTP/1.x header field, hence its non-wide support among HTTP/1.x-compliant browsers.
I find that declaring a "bogus" application MIME subtype like "Content-Type: application/force-download" to be elegant, convenient and simple. The application MIME type is useful enough for this purpose, to help fool clients that they have no handler for something like a force-download subtype.
Thanks for this info, TRUSTAbyss. And thanks also to pkSML for additional discussion.