Yeah, this isn't a PHP specific problem, BUT, in the off chance that PHP could solve the problem (using a different method of sending to the browser, etc) then it becomes PHP relevant... So everyone give the guy a break on the relevance issue. If there were two ways of doing something and you only know one, wouldn't you want to ask if there was a second, better way, that didn't cause the problem you were having? Anyway.. Yeah, this might not be avoidable, although when you click on a link to download a file you can usually still continue browsing, so I'm guessing that there IS another way to do this. Couple of thoughts: 1. Have you tried smaller files just as a test (something that takes like 30 to 60 seconds to download maybe) just to see if you still have the problem? 2. Is it feasible to create the file and provide a "click here to download" or "right-click and select SAVE AS.. to download"? This might force the browser to handle it more like a standard download and not handle it as if it were loading a web page. 3. Speaking of loading as a web page, are you getting a download progress bar or does the browser just keep spinning with it's normal "I'm loading a web page" progress bar? If that was happening, it could be an issue of setting a good MIME type (what was it, like "octet/stream" or something that's a generic "this is a binary file" mime type?). If your browser thinks its downloading HTML, that could lock it up. 4. Lastly... I've noticed when my browser is locked up for whatever reason, that you can usually open another instance of the browser. Going to your desktop and double-clicking on the Internet Explorer icon again, etc. This second copy of IE seems to operate in a different memory space... As a different program. So if you crash or lock up the other instance, as long as you're not grinding your CPU or maxing out your memory, the second instance of IE or whatever should still work ok. I've had IE crash, with a "End Program" type propt and have other instances of IE be fine..... But all the IE windows opened from the original window get nuked by the "End Program" function. Hope this helps at least a little. I'm guessing there's a way to make it download without freezing your IE and I'm guessing it may have something to do with your headers and/or MIME type. If that doesn't work, I'd investigate creating the file and letting the user click a link to download it, forcing the browser to handle it how it sees fit. Good luck! -TG > -----Original Message----- > From: adrian zaharia [mailto:adyzah@xxxxxxxxxxx] > Sent: Wednesday, December 01, 2004 6:42 PM > To: php-general@xxxxxxxxxxxxx > Subject: Re: Browsing while downloading? > > > Hi, > > Thanks for reply, yet: > > 1. i know has nothing to do with php but since now i am doing > it in php i > thought would be a good solution to post here > > 2. bad browser? hmm... i tried: IE, Mozilla&Firefox (Win+Linux), > Opera(Win+Linux), Konqueror.... maybe there is still one > better out there > :P > > Thanks, > > Adrian -- PHP General Mailing List (http://www.php.net/) To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php
