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Not really HTML... more a browser thing: File download autoplay


L.Adlon

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Sorry if this is not an appropriate location for this question, but I'm hoping someone can help out here. It's more a browser thing than HTML, technically...

 

If I give a link (in an email) to an online .mov file, I find that browsers like Firefox will autoplay the file, and will not allow the user to save the file.

 

I'm trying to find a method to link the file, and allow the person to download the file to their computer. (I'm delivering digital download products)

 

I could simply rename the extension, so it won't be recognized as a movie file, and instruct the customer to rename it back to .mov... but that could be a bit tricky (for non-computer savvy customers) who don't have extensions visible on their system (...and I don't know how things would work on mobile devices and other systems I'm not as familiar with).

 

I could upload the files as a .zip... and opening it would be easy on Win7, where .zips are supported natively (right click on it and Extract)... but on XP, you'd need to download a zip program, and I have no idea what the deal would be on mobiles and Macs.

 

I'm just trying to think of the easiest means to provide a direct link for customers (specifically, ones who are not as computer savvy, or don't have the ideal setup for whatever method I end up using).

 

Any suggestions?

 

(Such a ridiculously easy thing, made complicated by an otherwise well-meaning feature!)

 

(I see someone else asked a similar question, with regards to an mp3 link... but in my case, I'm not putting the link on a webpage, but sending it in an email.)

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Ha! Once again, my tradition of figuring out the answer right after posting the question still continues...

 

Okay, so one (good) solution is to simply upload it as normal, as a .mov file... and then rather than have the customer click the link in the email, have them right click on it, and select Save As....

 

So, the only question, though, is whether this function is available on all devices/browswers? (I guess we'd be talking about email programs, since they would be right clicking on the link in their email program, unless they are using web-based mail).

 

Just want to be sure it'll work for everyone (and I don't have all existing devices/browsers to fully check them all).

 

Any comments?

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Selecting a link on touch screen by touch, when pressing down for awhile, a menu well(in my experiance) open up with selection.

 

What you might what to try is to put the file in another file.

 

I understand you want ot provide ease~ for your cuostomer, but this to me would be ease~ enough.... and ones again we come to vie digital hand held device... why not the click event be a function that send the file via email instead of the click event be the file it self.

 

And you should give the choice to either play the video vie broswer with out downloading or to download; i.e. two links with label before or above them indicating the choices.

 

Are you doing this via php?

 

What programming langauge are you writing this all in?

Edited by L8V2L
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Yikes, that's way out of my league... I know next to nothing about PHP scripting.

 

Thing is, the link would be in an email, not a webpage... so not much control can be had.

 

I can't just email the files themselves, as they are well over 10 megs.

 

This is basically a fully manual process, where I get notified by PayPal when someone deposits money (makes an order), and I then prepare the folder and file, and email a direct link to that file.

 

There's obviously better (and fully automated) ways to do it, but creating that is well beyond me (and I've had a seriously frustrating time trying to research 3rd party providers for that sort of thing).

 

Thanks for the suggestion, though... Just way over me, unfortunately.

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Yikes, that's way out of my league... I know next to nothing about PHP scripting. Thanks for the suggestion, though... Just way over me, unfortunately.

Php isn't hard, it just take time my friend. And what better place to spend that time than w3school's tutroails on php!Or partner up with someone who know how.
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Content-disposition. It's an HTTP header that allows you to specify how a resource should be downloaded, in-line or as an attachement.You can set the header using server-side scripting, or perhaps by your web server's configuration. Which web server are you using?All popular web browsers are aware of the header, but whether they follow your instructions might depend on things like user preferences and which plug-ins are available. I'm unsure how email clients behave so you may need to do some testing.As a programming task, it's fairly trivial to implement. Why not hire a coder to do it for you? Or have a crack at it yourself and post your code back here if you get stuck. You may even find there's some code on the Internet you can cut'n paste and adapt to your needs.

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