Ad:

PHP Discussion Thread
Marked Solved
Views: 793

Aug 25th, 2009

Sessions, Headers & PDF

Expand Post »

Hi,

I'd be grateful for a little help. I have a script which generates invoices as PDF files and stores above just above www level (so they cannot be access directly via a URL).

I would like users to be able to access their own invoices but nobody elses.

My script as it stands is as follows:

PHP Syntax (Toggle Plain Text)
<?php
 
session_start();
 
if($_SESSION['auth']==false){
   header("HTTP/1.0 404 Not Found");
   exit();
}
 
$invoice_id = $_GET['vid'];
$user_id = $_SESSION['userid'];
 
if (is_numeric ($invoice_id)) 
{
   require(db.php);
 
   $q = $dbh->query(...);
   $n = $q->fetchColumn();
 
   if($n==1){
 
     //output pdf
 
     $filename = "../invoices" . $invoice_id . ".pdf";
 
     header('Content-type: application/pdf');
	header('Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="invoice.pdf"');
	readfile($filename);
 
   }
 
}
<?php

session_start();

if($_SESSION['auth']==false){
   header("HTTP/1.0 404 Not Found");
   exit();
}

$invoice_id = $_GET['vid'];
$user_id = $_SESSION['userid'];

if (is_numeric ($invoice_id)) 
{
   require(db.php);

   $q = $dbh->query(...);
   $n = $q->fetchColumn();

   if($n==1){

     //output pdf
     
     $filename = "../invoices" . $invoice_id . ".pdf";

     header('Content-type: application/pdf');
	header('Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="invoice.pdf"');
	readfile($filename);

   }

}

I've posted a slimmed down the code here and changed a few variable names for security reasons but essentially its the same as what I'm working with.

The basic codes works. The problem arises when an authorised user calls the file. The PDF file is returned, it is not rendered correctly e.g. you see "%PDF-1.7 3 0 ...". I presume this is because session_start() acts like a header? Is there any way round this.

Last edited by ANicholson; Aug 25th, 2009 at 9:48 am.

Similar Threads

[Acrobat Pro] Excel to PDF - No Hyperlinks? in Windows Software
Email FUnction with PHP & PDF pr Word FOrmat in PHP
Banners, Headers, & Titles of website: How to share it among all the pages? in HTML and CSS
How to open access file & pdf file using visual basic? in Visual Basic 4 / 5 / 6
Precompiled Headers & Unexpected EOF error in C++

ANicholson

Reputation Points: 10

Solved Threads: 0

Newbie Poster

Offline

3 posts
since Aug 2009

Permalink

Aug 25th, 2009

Re: Sessions, Headers & PDF

Try

php Syntax (Toggle Plain Text)
 <?php ob_start(); ?>
 <?php ob_start(); ?>

to turn on output buffering (should be the 1st line of your code) and

php Syntax (Toggle Plain Text)
<?php ob_flush(); ?>
<?php ob_flush(); ?>

as the last line to flush the buffered output.

nav33n

Moderator

Featured Poster

Reputation Points: 524

Solved Threads: 356

Purple hazed!

Offline

3,878 posts
since Nov 2007

Permalink

Aug 25th, 2009

Re: Sessions, Headers & PDF

Just to clarify, like so?

php Syntax (Toggle Plain Text)
<?php
ob_start();
 
// .. all my other code
 
ob_flush();
 
?>
<?php
ob_start();

// .. all my other code

ob_flush();

?>

If so, no joy

ANicholson

Reputation Points: 10

Solved Threads: 0

Newbie Poster

Offline

3 posts
since Aug 2009

Permalink

Aug 25th, 2009

Re: Sessions, Headers & PDF

Hmm.. I tried your code snippet and it worked fine. There is one thing that I'd always do after having a header, an exit. This might or might not fix the problem, but try having an exit after readfile function.

nav33n

Moderator

Featured Poster

Reputation Points: 524

Solved Threads: 356

Purple hazed!

Offline

3,878 posts
since Nov 2007

Permalink

Aug 25th, 2009

Re: Sessions, Headers & PDF

ah ha, that does fix it

.

was appearing not to work due to another error - which I've now fixed - dodgy URL rewrite.

thank you.

Last edited by ANicholson; Aug 25th, 2009 at 10:06 am.

ANicholson

Reputation Points: 10

Solved Threads: 0

Newbie Poster

Offline

3 posts
since Aug 2009

Permalink

Aug 25th, 2009

Re: Sessions, Headers & PDF

Wohoo! Good luck..

nav33n

Moderator

Featured Poster

Reputation Points: 524

Solved Threads: 356

Purple hazed!

Offline

3,878 posts
since Nov 2007

Permalink

Aug 25th, 2009

Re: Sessions, Headers & PDF

this is the code,check it out

php Syntax (Toggle Plain Text)

1.
<?php ob_start(); ?>

vincent2085

Reputation Points: -22

Solved Threads: 4

Junior Poster in Training

Offline

53 posts
since Aug 2009

This thread is solved

Either the thread starter or a moderator has marked this thread as solved. You can most likely trust the responses and answers given. There is most likely no reason for any further responses to be posted here. If you have a related question, please start a new thread in this forum instead.

This thread is more than three months old

No one has posted to this discussion for at least three months. Please let old threads die and do not reply to them unless you feel you have something new and valuable to contribute that absolutely must be added to make the discussion complete. Otherwise, please start a new thread in this forum instead.

Previous Thread in PHP Forum Timeline: I need to go 7 days into the future

Next Thread in PHP Forum Timeline: Include, cant make it work

DaniWeb Message

Cancel Changes

User Name
Password