[removed] How to open a returned file via AJAX

Question

This is similar to: How to open a file using JavaScript?

Goal: to retrieve/open a file on an image\'s double click

function getFile(filename){
   // sett         


        

Answer 1

Seems to me there's no reason to do this via AJAX. Just open the new window to get_file.pl?filename=... and let the browser handle it. If the user has a plugin capable of handling the Content-Type sent by get_file.pl, the file will display; otherwise, it should download like any other file.

function getFile(filename) {
   window.open('get_file.pl?filename=' + filename,'title');
}

jQuery('#imgID').dblclick(function() { 
   getFile('someFile.docx');
});

---

Edit: If you want to POST to your script, you can do it with some <form> hackery:

function getFile(filename) {
    var win = 'w' + Math.floor(Math.random() * 10000000000000);
    window.open('', win,'width=250,height=100');
    var f = $('<form></form>')
            .attr({target: win, method:'post', action: 'get_file.pl'})
            .appendTo(document.body);

    var i = $('<input>')
            .attr({type:'hidden',name:'filename',value:filename})
            .appendTo(f);

    f[0].submit();
    f.remove();
}

Of course, this is somewhat silly since it is impossible to hide your data from "prying eyes" with developer tools. If your filename really is sensitive, issue access tokens to the client, and look up the data in your sever script.