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Deny PDF viewing through URL

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    #16
    Re: Deny PDF viewing through URL

    I'm sorry for not getting back to this thread sooner. The problem with my example is the line
    Code:
    Response.body = file.to_blob(pdf_file)
    You should change it to
    Code:
    ? file.to_blob(pdf_file)
    Steve, your code sets a bunch of extra headers
    • You set the content length which is not needed because the server does this anyway. You setting it shouldn't hurt, but it slows the processing down a bit.
    • You explicitly tell the browser to prompt to save the file by setting content disposition and the mime type to octet stream. It sounds like you don't want this behavior, so you can remove the content disposition and use the application/pdf mime type.
    • You need to remove the transfer encoding header - the response has no transfer encoding when it is sent by the server so this will cause unexpected and unpredictable behavior in browser when they try to decode it.


    You also have headers to prevent the PDF from being cached by the browser. This may or may not be desired by others, so I just wanted to point out their function.

    Lenny Forziati
    Vice President, Internet Products and Technical Services
    Alpha Software Corporation

    Comment


      #17
      Re: Deny PDF viewing through URL

      Unfortunately it doesn't work with mime_type of pdf, even though I note seveal forum posts indicating success.

      response.mime_type = "application/pdf" opens in notepad as garbage.
      response.mime_type = "application/x-pdf" opens in browser as garbage.

      It only works if I include all three of these lines and omit the application/pdf line. Leaving out any line either opened as garbage in the browser or presented a 'corrupt pdf' error message.

      Code:
      response.mime_type = "application/octet-stream"
      RESPONSE.ADD_HEADER("Content-Type: application/octet-stream")
      RESPONSE.ADD_HEADER("Content-Disposition: attachment; filename=" + session.__protected__acct + pdf)
      I'm using a large pdf as an example, 30 pages of text. V8 of Adbobe Reader.
      Steve Wood
      See my profile on IADN

      Comment


        #18
        Re: Deny PDF viewing through URL

        Can you please email me a copy of your PDF to test with?

        Lenny Forziati
        Vice President, Internet Products and Technical Services
        Alpha Software Corporation

        Comment


          #19
          Re: Deny PDF viewing through URL

          OK, I worked with Lenny on this offline. It works now, as Lenny described. They key is that the A5W page must only have the xbasic code, none of the HTML tags that are normally part of a A5W page. The final code is below and that is ALL that should be in the A5W page source.

          The protected session variable is my own invention and becomes part of the document is seeks, and so no one can "guess" a valid PDF document name. If they access the A5W page with no pdf= parameter, it just says "No document to display...".

          Code:
          <%a5 
          dim pdf as c
          dim pdf_folder as c = "[PathAlias.DOC_Path]\\" 
          dim pdf_file as c
          if eval_valid("session.__protected__acct")
          	if PDF = "" then
          	    ? "No document to display. Please press the Back button."
          	else
          	    pdf_file = pdf_folder + session.__protected__acct + pdf
          	    if file.exists(pdf_file) then
          			response.mime_type = "application/pdf"
          			?file.to_blob(pdf_file)
          		    else
          			? "No document to display. Please press the Back button."
          	   end if
          	end if
          end if 
          %>
          I should mention I notice a little enhancement that I think went undocumented in the release notes. Now if you create an A5W page and strip out the HTML, the file will always open in Source mode, even if your default editor is WYSIWYG. And, if you try to toggle to WYSIWYG mode, it will warn you that the default HTML will be added back if you do so. That's a great safety feature since otherwise you always forget which file needs to be in source mode vs WYSIWYG.
          Last edited by Steve Wood; 07-30-2007, 08:11 PM. Reason: the last paragraph
          Steve Wood
          See my profile on IADN

          Comment


            #20
            Re: Deny PDF viewing through URL

            Hi @ all,

            unfortunately neither the proposal of Lenny (error code 403) nor another solution is working for me. I'm desparately looking for a solution to post pdf files (account statements) which have to be secured by the security system.
            any help is more than appreciated. at present I'm converting pdf's to jpegs and publish them in a database field. you can imagine how long the upload time is. at least 50 min.
            best regards
            Matthias

            Comment


              #21
              Re: Deny PDF viewing through URL

              What's wrong with my proposal? I am using it right now in a security framework enabled system.
              Steve Wood
              See my profile on IADN

              Comment


                #22
                Re: Deny PDF viewing through URL

                thanks Steve.
                I'll try it again. perhaps it was me who made an error while inserting it.
                I'll be back it any case.

                Comment


                  #23
                  Re: Deny PDF viewing through URL

                  Steve, again a display of my ignorance, but; if I have a document in my A5Webroot named "Chicago" and it is the pdf file that I want or if I have pdf files in that webroot in a folder named "Document Library", where and how do I plug that information in to this code to retrieve said file? What do I have to do to take advantage of your "session_protected_account" variable?

                  Comment


                    #24
                    Re: Deny PDF viewing through URL

                    Hi,

                    I have used Steve and Lenny's code. Thank you. Now that i have this in place on an A5W page. What do i need to place in the VIEW link in the grid so that the correct document opens based on the selection.

                    Doc_Name ------ VIEW

                    Thanks

                    Denis

                    Comment

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