Force download a pdf link using javascript/ajax/jquery

javascript

suppose we have a pdf link "http://manuals.info.apple.com/en/iphone_user_guide.pdf"(just for example and to let u know that file is not on my server, i only have the link)...now i have to provide a button on my site that will download the file.

i have tried various things like window.open, href etc. methods but it open the link on other window. i know thats because now all browser comes with a adobe plugin which opens it in another window, but still isnt there any way i give the user the option of download rather than opening it, through client side scripting ..

plz help.. thanks

Here is a Javascript solution (for folks like me who were looking for an answer to the title):

function SaveToDisk(fileURL, fileName) {
    // for non-IE
    if (!window.ActiveXObject) {
        var save = document.createElement('a');
        save.href = fileURL;
        save.target = '_blank';
        save.download = fileName || 'unknown';

        var evt = new MouseEvent('click', {
            'view': window,
            'bubbles': true,
            'cancelable': false
        });
        save.dispatchEvent(evt);

        (window.URL || window.webkitURL).revokeObjectURL(save.href);
    }

    // for IE < 11
    else if ( !! window.ActiveXObject && document.execCommand)     {
        var _window = window.open(fileURL, '_blank');
        _window.document.close();
        _window.document.execCommand('SaveAs', true, fileName || fileURL)
        _window.close();
    }
}

source: http://muaz-khan.blogspot.fr/2012/10/save-files-on-disk-using-javascript-or.html

Unfortunately this is not working for me with IE11, which is not accepting new MouseEvent. I use the following in that case:

//...
try {
    var evt = new MouseEvent(...);
} catch (e) {
    window.open(fileURL, fileName);
}
//...

Use the HTML5 "download" attribute

<a href="iphone_user_guide.pdf" download="iPhone User's Guide.PDF">click me</a>

2021 Update: Now supported in all major browsers! see: caniuse.com/#search=download

If you need to support older browsers, or you're looking for an actual javascript solution (for some reason) please see lajarre's answer

With JavaScript it is very difficult if not impossible(?). I would suggest using some sort of code-behind language such as PHP, C#, or Java. If you were to use PHP, you could, in the page your button posts to, do something like this:

<?php
header('Content-type: application/pdf');
header('Content-disposition: attachment; filename=filename.pdf');
readfile("http://manuals.info.apple.com/en/iphone_user_guide.pdf");
?>

This also seems to work for JS (from http://www.phpbuilder.com/board/showthread.php?t=10149735):

<body>
<script>
function downloadme(x){
myTempWindow = window.open(x,'','left=10000,screenX=10000');
myTempWindow.document.execCommand('SaveAs','null','download.pdf');
myTempWindow.close();
}
</script>

<a href=javascript:downloadme('http://manuals.info.apple.com/en/iphone_user_guide.pdf');>Download this pdf</a>
</body>

Here is the perfect example of downloading a file using javaScript.

Usage: download_file(fileURL, fileName);

Force download a pdf link using javascript/ajax/jquery

Related

Recent Posts