downloading pdf file using php and html link

Question

i have written some code to select a row from a database and generate a link. the link is working ok but when i try to download the pdf i get this:

����)�^�z8��AQ�[��rr�=��73KJ��KR]�PD�H�����>3;,;~˾����ɫS����/ؤ���,������=??<8��3��L�����e�\I�aN�i.����A�.�����������|x�F�oN���1>MʙJ�#�Mz�'�N��?K��sx`D�5gژ�r&�N3��M�f����߱9<]R��,))�dj���D@k&O-�7V����M��d�I��HMN=��9��/�ubS���`189\S�����f�p_��T�T�&ӭ���E>�O�)eAœ

displaying on the page.

my code is:

<?php
$sql="SELECT * from table1 where invoice_number = '".$_GET["inv"]."' and sequence = '".$_GET["seq"]."' ";
$rs=mysql_query($sql,$conn) or die(mysql_error());
if(mysql_num_rows($rs) > 0)
{
    $result=mysql_fetch_array($rs);

    $file = 'http://www.domain.co.uk/invoices/'.$result["pdf"].'';
    $filename = 'Custom file name for the.pdf'; /* Note: Always use .pdf at the end. */

    header('Content-type: application/pdf');
    header('Content-Disposition: inline; filename="' . $filename . '"');
    header('Content-Transfer-Encoding: binary');
    header('Content-Length: ' . filesize($file));
    header('Accept-Ranges: bytes');

    @readfile($file);
}
?>

any ideas how i can make it download the file rather than try and display it in the browser. please note, its a shared hosting server so i cannot make many changes on the actual server itself

Answer 1

Change the following:

header('Content-Disposition: inline; filename="' . $filename . '"');

to

header('Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="' . $filename . '"');