Issues when downloading file from Slim Framework

Question

I want to download file through Slim Framework (The reason why I'm using Slim Framework is because I want to write a simple REST API). I found this post: Download file from Slim Framework 2.4 and this post: http://help.slimframework.com/discussions/questions/359-file-download. I followed the method. Here is my code:

$app->get('/download/:id', 'authenticate', function($id) use ($app)
{    
    $log = '../download/'.$id.'/myfile.zip';

    $res = $app->response()->headers();
    $res['Content-Description'] = 'File Transfer';
    $res['Content-Type'] = 'application/octet-stream';
    $res['Content-Disposition'] ='attachment; filename=' . basename($log);
    $res['Content-Transfer-Encoding'] = 'binary';
    $res['Expires'] = '0';
    $res['Cache-Control'] = 'must-revalidate';
    $res['Pragma'] = 'public';
    $res['Content-Length'] = filesize($log);

    readfile($log);    

    // NOTE: 
//        $response = array();
//        $response["error"] = false;
//        echoRespnse(200, $response);

});

I'm using the Google Chrome's Advanced Rest Client application to test. The problem is the browser hung after the file downloaded.If I comments out the NOTE part in my source code, the browser won't hang again. But I got a "Unexpected token P" error.

Can anybody help? Thanks.

Answer 1

Try the solution here: PHP readfile() adding extra bytes to downloaded file.

You lack the calls to ob_clean, flush and exit.

The problem might be becasue of extra characters output with the rest of the file contents.

Answer 2

For Slim 3, I had a bit of struggle. I struggled with this in Slim 3.0. I was trying something like the following and the pdf binary was getting displayed on the screen.

$header['Content-Description']  = 'File Transfer';
$header['Content-Disposition'] = 'attachment; filename="' .basename("$file") . '"';

// ...
$response   = $response->withHeader($header);

In order to make it work, you need to set the key/value pairs using $response->withHeader(). And it works like a charm. For example:

$response   = $response->withHeader('Content-Type', 'application/pdf');
$response   = $response->withHeader('Content-Description', 'File Transfer');
$response   = $response->withHeader('Content-Disposition', 'attachment; filename="' .basename("$file") . '"');
$response   = $response->withHeader('Content-Transfer-Encoding', 'binary');
$response   = $response->withHeader('Expires', '0');
$response   = $response->withHeader('Cache-Control', 'must-revalidate');
$response   = $response->withHeader('Pragma', 'public');
$response   = $response->withHeader('Content-Length', filesize($file));

Answer 3

maybe it's a little late but you can use this package for slim http file response : https://github.com/mhndev/slim-file-response

Answer 4

Is the solution above working for you? Here's my code, which just outputs obscure characters directly into the browser window:

$app->get('/file/:fileid', function($fileid) use ($app)
{
    $zip = new ZipArchive();
    $zipname = "zipfile3.zip"; // Zip name
    $zip->open($zipname,  ZipArchive::CREATE);
    $files = array ( "sprecher_inserts_en_VB.doc" );

    foreach ($files as $file) {
        $path = "uploads/".$file;
        if(file_exists($path)){
            $zip->addFromString(basename($path),  file_get_contents($path));  
        }
        else{
            echo"file does not exist";
        }
    }
    $zip->close();
    // after that, the zip file is on the server and valid when downloaded manually (e.g. by entering its URL directly)

    $res = $app->response()->headers();
    $res['Content-Description'] = 'File Transfer';
    $res['Content-Type'] = 'application/octet-stream';
    $res['Content-Disposition'] ='attachment; filename=' . basename($zipname);
    $res['Content-Transfer-Encoding'] = 'binary';
    $res['Expires'] = '0';
    $res['Cache-Control'] = 'must-revalidate';
    $res['Pragma'] = 'public';
    $res['Content-Length'] = filesize($zipname);

    ob_clean();    
    flush();
    readfile($zipname);    
    exit();
});

The output in the browser window is the following, no dialog for downloading the file is loaded whatsoever: