Download File Using Javascript/jQuery

Question

I have a very similar requirement specified here.

I need to have the user\'s browser start a download manually when $(\'a#someID\').click();

But

Answer 1

To improve Imagine Breaker 's answer, this is supported on FF & IE :

var evt = document.createEvent("MouseEvents");
evt.initMouseEvent("click", true, true, window, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, false, false, false, false, 0, null);

function downloadURI(uri, name) {
    var link = document.createElement("a");
    link.download = name;
    link.href = uri;
    link.dispatchEvent(evt);
}

In other words, just use a dispatchEvent function instead of click();

Answer 2

I ended up using the below snippet and it works in most browsers, not tested in IE though.

let data = JSON.stringify([{email: "test@domain.com", name: "test"}, {email: "anothertest@example.com", name: "anothertest"}]);

let type = "application/json", name = "testfile.json";
downloader(data, type, name)

function downloader(data, type, name) {
	let blob = new Blob([data], {type});
	let url = window.URL.createObjectURL(blob);
	downloadURI(url, name);
	window.URL.revokeObjectURL(url);
}

function downloadURI(uri, name) {
    let link = document.createElement("a");
    link.download = name;
    link.href = uri;
    link.click();
}

Update

function downloadURI(uri, name) {
    let link = document.createElement("a");
    link.download = name;
    link.href = uri;
    link.click();
}

function downloader(data, type, name) {
    let blob = new Blob([data], {type});
    let url = window.URL.createObjectURL(blob);
    downloadURI(url, name);
    window.URL.revokeObjectURL(url);
}

Answer 3

I don't know if the question is just too old, but setting window.location to a download url will work, as long as the download mime type is correct (for example a zip archive).

var download = function(downloadURL) {

   location = downloadURL;

});

download('http://example.com/archive.zip'); //correct usage
download('http://example.com/page.html'); //DON'T

Answer 4

Firefox and Chrome tested:

var link = document.createElement('a');
link.download = 'fileName.ext'
link.href = 'http://down.serv/file.ext';

// Because firefox not executing the .click() well
// We need to create mouse event initialization.
var clickEvent = document.createEvent("MouseEvent");
clickEvent.initEvent("click", true, true);

link.dispatchEvent(clickEvent);

This is actually the "chrome" way solution for firefox (I am not tested it on other browsers, so please leave comments about the compilability)