How can users save a PDF which I'm loading with readfile()?

[DeX]

I don't want my users to be able to load all PDF on my system so I verify them with a token and then load their PDF like so:

if ($location)
    {
        header('Content-Type: application/pdf');
        readfile($location);
    }

The problem is when they right click it to save, it tries to save as pdf-loader.php instead of the quote-123.pdf filename. They're trying to save them as the quote numbers so they are easily matched up with each customer quote and they're not the most savvy computer users. Even when using the Chrome menus to select SAVE, it still tries to save the same way.

[requinix]

If you don't mind forcing a download instead of presenting it in the browser then you can do

header('Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="quote-123.pdf"');

Otherwise make the URL to the PDF be something that ends in /quote-123.pdf.

You can use URL rewriting (nicer) or change your /path/to/script.php to be like /path/to/script.php/quote-123.pdf which should still invoke your PHP script (easier).

[kicken]

If you don't mind forcing a download instead of presenting it in the browser

If you use inline instead of attachment it'll still display in the browser while also using the custom filename (in chrome and firefox at least).

Edited December 20, 2016 by kicken

[requinix]

If you use inline instead of attachment it'll still display in the browser while also using the custom filename (in chrome and firefox at least).

And saving uses the filename? Huh. Didn't know that.

[DeX]

Thank you very much! I had to make a slight change, this is what ended up working.

        // set application type as PDF
        header('Content-Type: application/pdf');
        // set file to display on screen with downloadable filename
        header('Content-Disposition: inline; filename="' . $filename . '"');
        readfile($location);