Stupid html question... at DVinfo.net

Jeff Farris · June 17th, 2002, 09:24 AM

This ought to be easy, but I can't figure it out.

I want to create a button on my site that will download a QT .mov file to the viewers' hard drive. I don't want them to have to think or know to "right click". I know it's possible, because I have used them often in my own surfing.

Any help?

TIA

Ken Tanaka · June 17th, 2002, 10:17 AM

Jeff,
Much like any other anchor link, you would point your link to a QuickTime file. What happens when a visitor actually clicks the link, however, depends in part on the visitor's system configuration and the actual contents of the .mov file. If the visitor has the QT player and the player is configured as a browser plug-in the movie will begin to download and, if it's a streaming movie, will begin to play asap.

Jeff Farris · June 17th, 2002, 12:00 PM

Thanks, Ken. I may ask you to test them tomorrow when my server gets them up.

Rob Lohman · June 18th, 2002, 01:25 AM

It indeed depends on what you have installed. However, you
can more or less force it to download it to send back custom
headers to the browser. You can only do this if you can have
some sort of scripting (ASP or PHP for example) on your server.
However, you need to write a download page which "sends"
the file to the browser with these special headers/

The header you need to add is (according to the official rules):
ContentType = application/octet-stream

However, I found out that this does not work with Internet
Explorer (this browser decides it wants to be smart). You
can make it work anyhow by using a non-existent content
type (like bad/type). An example to add this header with
ASP is:

Response.ContentType = "bad/type"

This needs to be near the top of your ASP. If you are using
ASP I can send you an example of how to send a file through
ASP.

If you do use ASP/IIS you can also setup IIS to insert a special
header if you put the quicktime files in a seperate directory. You
do this by going to the HTTP Headers tab for that directory.

Then ofcourse there is always the easy way by putting up
a text on your site above the link or something that says if the
user wants to download it, instead of view it online, he needs
to right-click and choose save target as (depending on which
browser you've got)...

all in all it doesn't come easy, sorry.

Adam Brooks · June 18th, 2002, 10:31 AM

One other thing you can do is to lift code form a page that works the way you want it too.
Find a web page that pushes the file to you and grab the source code. You should be able to pull apart the code that you need to do what you want.

Adam.

Adam Lawrence · June 18th, 2002, 01:24 PM

Also try winzipping it...IE will automatically download a ZIP file.

June 17th, 2002, 09:24 AM	#1
Jeff Farris Regular Crew Join Date: May 2002 Location: Kansas City, MO Posts: 102	Stupid html question... This ought to be easy, but I can't figure it out. I want to create a button on my site that will download a QT .mov file to the viewers' hard drive. I don't want them to have to think or know to "right click". I know it's possible, because I have used them often in my own surfing. Any help? TIA __________________ Jeff Farris

June 17th, 2002, 10:17 AM	#2
Ken Tanaka Retired DV Info Net Almunus Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Chicago, IL Posts: 6,943	Jeff, Much like any other anchor link, you would point your link to a QuickTime file. What happens when a visitor actually clicks the link, however, depends in part on the visitor's system configuration and the actual contents of the .mov file. If the visitor has the QT player and the player is configured as a browser plug-in the movie will begin to download and, if it's a streaming movie, will begin to play asap. __________________ Lady X Films: A lady with a boring wardrobe...and a global mission. Hey, you don't have enough stuff! Buy with confidence from our sponsors. Hand-picked as the best in the business...Really! See some of my work one frame at a time: www.KenTanaka.com

June 17th, 2002, 12:00 PM	#3
Jeff Farris Regular Crew Join Date: May 2002 Location: Kansas City, MO Posts: 102	Thanks, Ken. I may ask you to test them tomorrow when my server gets them up. __________________ Jeff Farris

June 18th, 2002, 01:25 AM	#4
Rob Lohman RED Code Chef Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Holland Posts: 12,514	It indeed depends on what you have installed. However, you can more or less force it to download it to send back custom headers to the browser. You can only do this if you can have some sort of scripting (ASP or PHP for example) on your server. However, you need to write a download page which "sends" the file to the browser with these special headers/ The header you need to add is (according to the official rules): ContentType = application/octet-stream However, I found out that this does not work with Internet Explorer (this browser decides it wants to be smart). You can make it work anyhow by using a non-existent content type (like bad/type). An example to add this header with ASP is: Response.ContentType = "bad/type" This needs to be near the top of your ASP. If you are using ASP I can send you an example of how to send a file through ASP. If you do use ASP/IIS you can also setup IIS to insert a special header if you put the quicktime files in a seperate directory. You do this by going to the HTTP Headers tab for that directory. Then ofcourse there is always the easy way by putting up a text on your site above the link or something that says if the user wants to download it, instead of view it online, he needs to right-click and choose save target as (depending on which browser you've got)... all in all it doesn't come easy, sorry. __________________ Rob Lohman, visuar@iname.com DV Info Wrangler & RED Code Chef Join the DV Challenge \| Lady X Search DVinfo.net for quick answers \| Buy from the best: DVinfo.net sponsors

June 18th, 2002, 10:31 AM	#5
Adam Brooks Number 1000 Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Boston, Ma Posts: 13	One other thing you can do is to lift code form a page that works the way you want it too. Find a web page that pushes the file to you and grab the source code. You should be able to pull apart the code that you need to do what you want. Adam. __________________ Adam Brooks Media Consultant Boston, Ma.

June 18th, 2002, 01:24 PM	#6
Adam Lawrence _redone_ Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: Las Vegas, NV Posts: 224	Also try winzipping it...IE will automatically download a ZIP file. __________________ Adam Lawrence eatdrink Media Las Vegas NV www.eatdrinkmedia.com