CODEWITHSUNDEEP
http-headershttp-status-code-404mime-types
Zsolt Szilagyi
Zsolt Szilagyi

Reputation: 5016

Error 404 for file download without browser redirection?

on a website I display links to PDF files. When the first time call for a file arrives, the request gets redirected to a php-script that generates and returns the file. Additionally, it saves the file to the linked location so next time it will be directly availibe. I send the pdf mime type to make the browser open a download dialog instead of redirecting.

Due to reasony beyond my control, one out of 20 files cannot be generated.

How to respond?

Error 404 or 500 would direct the browser to an error page, while sending a mime-type would let the user download an empty / defect pdf file. Is there an established best practise? How to let the user know that a file link is broken, yet keep him on the site without redirect?

Upvotes: 0

Views: 1561

Answers (1)

SaleCar
SaleCar

Reputation: 1196

I had the same problem and solved it as follows:

If you have link to file, for example:

<a download href="/files/document.pdf">Click to download</a>

And if you don't want the browser redirect to blank/error page if the file doesn't exist, just reply with 204 without any content.

Nothing will happen, the user will stay where he is without redirection.

In php it would look something like this:

if (!readfile("/files/document.pdf") {
    http_response_code(204);
    die();
}

Upvotes: 1

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