Web form creates txt file and downloads scalar as a file

redmustang has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

Want to take input via web form, manipulate it, which is text and send it back to the user as a file to download without writing to disk.

#!/usr/bin/perl -w

use CGI qw(:standard);
 print header;
  print start_html('Download'),
   h1('Download'),
   start_form,
 p,
   "Feet? ",textfield(-name=>'feet', -size=>5),
   "Inches? ",textfield(-name=>'inches', -size=>5),
 p,
  submit(-value=>'Create File'),
   end_form,
 hr;

if (param()) {
$feet=param('feet');
$inches=param('inches');
$filename=param('feet') . param('inches') . '.txt';
        
$tape = <<END;
It is $feet ft. $inches in.
END

# print header(-type=> "application/octet-stream",
#             -charset=>'UTF-8',
#             -attachment=>$filename);
# print $tape,
             
print "Content-Type: application/octet-stream; name=$filename\n";
print "Content-Disposition:attachment; filename=$filename\"\n\n";
print $tape;
}
[download]

the browser window shows

Content-Type: application/octet-stream; name=53.txt Content-Disposition:attachment; filename=53.txt" It is 5 ft. 3 in.

I haven't been able to get the download part to work however I can see the text by viewing source.

Thanks, Darrell

Comment on Web form creates txt file and downloads scalar as a file Download Code

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: Web form creates txt file and downloads scalar as a file by Corion (Patriarch) on Mar 13, 2011 at 16:31 UTC
You should output proper HTTP headers instead of what you're printing. For a start, HTTP headers are delimited by `\r\n`, not `\n` alone. Also, you might need to output a `HTTP 200 OK` status code.	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re: Web form creates txt file and downloads scalar as a file by wind (Priest) on Mar 13, 2011 at 16:31 UTC
Only send back one header at a time. Test for request_method eq to POST and then send back the file. Like the following: #!/usr/bin/perl -w use CGI qw(:standard); use strict; if (request_method() ne 'POST') { print header; print start_html('Download'), h1('Download'), start_form, p, "Feet? ", textfield(-name => 'feet', -size => 5), "Inches? ", textfield(-name => 'inches', -size => 5), p, submit(-value => 'Create File'), end_form, hr, end_html(); } else { my $feet = param('feet'); my $inches = param('inches'); my $filename = param('feet') . param('inches') . '.txt'; my $tape = <<"END_FILE"; It is $feet ft. $inches in. END_FILE print "Content-Type: application/octet-stream; name=$filename\n"; print "Content-Disposition:attachment; filename=$filename\n\n"; print $tape; } [download] Also, please use strict.	[reply] [d/l]