Returning a CSV file from CGI

[willdooUK]

Hi - I have a csv file sitting in a directory that only my CGI script can see. This is good, 'cos it means that it can't be got at from a web browser.

I want to let the sales team get at the file, so I'm writing an HTML page which submits a password to a simple CGI script. The script should check the password is OK, then return the CSV file.


However:

What I'd like to happen is for the browser to pop up a 'save as' dialogue box, and let the user save the file. This is what would happen if I gave the users the direct URL of the file.

At the moment, I can only manage to get the script to print it out to the browser, so the content appears as a web page.

Can I get the CGI to not splurge it out to the page? Change the header type maybe? I guess it has something to do with the perceived MIME type.

Any help is much appreciated.

willdooUK
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Donny Hathaway

[earthboundmisfit]

Yes, you can alter the MIME type of the displayed page by calling $q->header('application/unknown');

[arturo]

You could also use your webserver's built-in access control to do this job. Simply put the file in a directory and tell your webserver that only those with the right password can access the files in that directory.

perl -e 'print "How sweet does a rose smell? "; chomp ($n = <STDIN>); 
+$rose = "smells sweet to degree $n"; *other_name = *rose; print "$oth
+er_name\n"'