file downloading using client-side javascript
npm install downloadjsIt specifies the contents and name of a new file placed in the browser's download directory. The input can be a URL, String, Blob, or Typed Array of data, or via a dataURL representing the file's data as base64 or url-encoded string. No matter the input format, download() saves a file using the specified file name and mime information in the same manner as a server using a Content-Disposition HTTP header.
npm install downloadjs bower install downloadjsrequire("downloadjs")(data, strFileName, strMimeType);
#### text dataURL - live demo
download("data:text/plain,hello%20world", "dlDataUrlText.txt", "text/plain");
#### text blob - live demo
download(new Blob(["hello world"]), "dlTextBlob.txt", "text/plain");
#### text url - live demo
download("/robots.txt");
#### text UInt8 Array - live demo
var str= "hello world", arr= new Uint8Array(str.length);
str.split("").forEach(function(a,b){
arr[b]=a.charCodeAt();
});
download( arr, "textUInt8Array.txt", "text/plain" );
#### html Blob - live demo
download(new Blob(["hello world".bold()]), "dlHtmlBlob.html", "text/html");
#### ajax callback - live demo
(note that callback mode won't work on vanilla ajax or with binary files)
$.ajax({
url: "/download.html",
success: download.bind(true, "text/html", "dlAjaxCallback.html")
});
#### Image via ajax for custom filename - live demo
var x=new XMLHttpRequest();
x.open( "GET", "/diff6.png" , true);
x.responseType="blob";
x.onload= function(e){download(e.target.response, "awesomesauce.png", "image/png");};
x.send();
You can expect it to work for the vast majority of your users, with some common-sense limits:
* Devices without file systems like iPhone, iPad, Wii, et al. have nowhere to save the file to, sorry.
* Android support starts at 4.2 for the built-in browser, though chrome 36+ and firefox 20+ on android 2.3+ work well.
* Devices without Blob support won't be able to download Blobs or TypedArrays
* Legacy devices (no a[download]) support can only download a few hundred kilobytes of data, and can't give the file a custom name.
* Devices without window.URL support can only download a couple megabytes of data
* IE versions of 9 and before are NOT supported because the don't support a[download] or dataURL frame locations.
* Can I tell when a download is done/canceled? No.
* How can I style the temporary download link? Define CSS class styles for .download-js-link.
* What's up with Safari? I don't know either but pull requests that improve the situation are welcome.
* Why is my binary file corrupted? Likely: an incorrect MIME or using jQuery ajax, which has no bin support.
* How big of files work? Depends, try yourself: File Echo Demo... I do a 1GB dl routinely on a thinkpad...