Prevent direct access to files like an EDM(?)

Question

i have a php web app used by several users. They can upload files in a directory : "files" a sub directory is created with the unique name given to the user "foo" and the file is stored, so: mydomain.com/files/foo/thefilename.doc

It works but to prevent direct access to the file and to prevent others users to access a file they don't belong, i placed a .htaccess file with:

Order Deny,Allow
Deny from all

It works BUT, in my web app if the user "foo" want to access and display his files, he receive a 403 error.

How can i do (like an EDM Electronic Document Management) to store files prevent direct access but give access to the right user?

Thanks a lot

Answer 1

You can do it by getting dynamically with PHP and rendering file-contentens.

Maybe like this:

$filename = $_GET['filename'];
// TODO: fill $allowedFiles[];
if (!in_array($filename, $allowedFiles))
   exit;

header('Content-Type: text');
header('Content-Disposition: attachment;filename="' . $filename . '"');
header('Cache-Control: max-age=0');

echo file_get_contents($filename);

Of course it's just concept

Answer 2

Why don't use a session?

just add <?php session_start() ?> at the begin of each page (before <! DOCTYPE> . And limit the access to some file following the user logged?

More info about the php session