[SOLVED] Scanning directory.

[waynew]

Ok, my script selects information from database and writes it to a .doc file. What I'm trying to do next is scan through the directory that it was saved in, which I can do... but is there a way to choose the file that was last modified (ie last created) and then automatically start a download? Any help would be greatful!

[lemmin]

This function will get the modification time of a file, but you will have to loop enumerate through all of the files in the folder and test them against eachother.

http://www.php.net/manual/en/function.filemtime.php

[waynew]

Okay, I have this so far:

 

//scans given directory.
function scan_directory($directory){

      $i = 0;
  $filetimes = array(); //store filetime
  $files = array(); //store file
      $handle=opendir($directory);
      
      while (($file = readdir($handle))!==false) {
  $filetimes[$i] = filemtime($file);
  $files[$i] = $file;
  $i++;
      }

      closedir($handle);
}

[ober]

http://us2.php.net/asort

 

Set the indexes of your array to the file name, then sort the array using the above function.  Since your array values are simply integers, the biggest number will be the most recent file changed.  Once it's sorted, I believe your last array element should be most recently modified file (and just grab the key of that one to get the file name).

[lemmin]

Does it work? I don't know if it gives you access when you get the files that way. I would use something like this:

function scan_directory($directory)
{
$files = glob($directory."\*");
$mostrecent = 0;
foreach($files as $file)
{
	$newtime = filemtime($file);
	if ($newtime > $mostrecent)
	{
		$mostrecent = $newtime;
		$newest = $file;
	}
}
return $newest;
}

[ober]

That would definitely be cleaner than my idea.

[waynew]

Thanks guys. I reckon that I'm going the wrong way about it though. Is there a way to force the download of a .doc file? Thanks for the help.

[lemmin]

This is from the header documentation on the PHP site:

 

If you want the user to be prompted to save the data you are sending, such as a generated PDF file, you can use the » Content-Disposition header to supply a recommended filename and force the browser to display the save dialog.

<?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');
?> 

http://www.php.net/header

[waynew]

Ok, what's happening is that I'm writing to a doc file in the same script. After writing to this file, I want it to start an automatic download. Now, after this file is written, I have the headers:

 

header('Content-type: application/doc');
header('Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="downloaded.doc"');
readfile($file); //$file refers to the $file that was written.

 

I keep getting this error however:

 

 

Warning: readfile() expects parameter 1 to be string, resource given in C:\Apache\htdocs\losttenderletters.php on line 203

 

 

Surely it should be able to use the $file?

 

 

[waynew]

Okay, I have it working. But it's not actually downloading. Instead its showing in the browser, on that very page. Is this because I'm on a localhost?