March 14, 2012
displaying pdf files stored in myql database PHP
Question by Samer El Gendy
i am trying to display pdf files stored in mysql database in the browser when the user request to.
structure of the mysql table:
CREATE TABLE `file` (
`id` Int Unsigned Not Null Auto_Increment,
`name` VarChar(255) Not Null Default 'Untitled.txt',
`mime` VarChar(50) Not Null Default 'text/plain',
`size` BigInt Unsigned Not Null Default 0,
`data` MediumBlob Not Null,
`created` DateTime Not Null,
PRIMARY KEY (`id`)
)
php code:
$query = "
SELECT `type`, `name`, `size`, `data`, `mime`
FROM `file`
WHERE `id` = {$id}";
$result = $dbLink->query($query);
if($result) {
// Make sure the result is valid
if($result->num_rows == 1) {
// Get the row
$row = mysqli_fetch_assoc($result);
// Print headers
header('Accept-Ranges: bytes');
header('Content-Transfer-Encoding: binary');
header("Content-Type: ".$row['mime']);
header("Content-Length: ".$row['size']);
header("Content-Disposition: inline; filename=".$row['name']);
echo $row['data'];
}
}
code to save file to database:
if(isset($_FILES['uploaded_file'])) {
// Make sure the file was sent without errors
if($_FILES['uploaded_file']['error'] == 0) {
// Connect to the database
$dbLink = new mysqli('localhost', 'REDACTED',"REDACTED", 'pdfs');
if(mysqli_connect_errno()) {
die("MySQL connection failed: ".mysqli_connect_error());
}
// get all required data
$name = $dbLink->real_escape_string($_FILES['uploaded_file']['name']);
$type = $dbLink->real_escape_string($_FILES['uploaded_file']['type']);
$data = $dbLink->real_escape_string(file_get_contents($_FILES ['uploaded_file']['name']));
$size = intval($_FILES['uploaded_file']['size']);
// Create the SQL query
$query = "
INSERT INTO `file` (
`name`, `type`, `size`, `data`, `created`
)
VALUES (
'{$name}', '{$type}', {$size}, '{$data}', NOW()
)";
// Execute the query
$result = $dbLink->query($query);
// Check if it was successfull
if($result) {
echo 'Success! Your file was successfully added!';
}
else {
echo 'Error! Failed to insert the file'
. "<pre>{$dbLink->error}</pre>";
}
however, when i try to view a pdf, adobe reader start loading and then i get this error massage: the file is damaged and could not be repaired.
am i doing something wrong?
Answer by Starx
Frankly, I don’t like this way at all.
KISS
Keep it Short & Simple
Whatever you are trying to do, there is better way of doing it.
- If security is the problem you have .htaccess and access roles
- If file handling is the problem you have PHP.
- If protected download is a problem then again with the combination of PHP and its session handling, you can do it.
- If viewing is the problem you have browser that.
- If you want to force download the file, then PHP’s
header
tags is enough.