Rails - Oct 2008 - Internet Explorer and Windows Media Player cause double send_file downloads?

Hi,

Our Rails application allows WAV file downloads.  The user clicks on a
link, or
clicks a button, and the WAV file gets sent as a response, using
send_file.

It looks like IE is discarding the initial WAV file and passing the
URL to Windows
Media Player.  Windows Media Player then re-requests the file!!

In addition to the performance problems, this design problem causes
failures in the
case of the download being initiated from a POST, since the re-request
from the
Media Player is only a GET, not a POST.

How do I prevent this re-request?

Thanks,
David

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dtrusty-U6r7FCv0h4VBDgjK7y7TUQ@public.gmane.org wrote:
> Hi,
>
> Our Rails application allows WAV file downloads.  The user clicks on a
> link, or
> clicks a button, and the WAV file gets sent as a response, using
> send_file.
>
> It looks like IE is discarding the initial WAV file and passing the
> URL to Windows
> Media Player.  Windows Media Player then re-requests the file!!
>
> In addition to the performance problems, this design problem causes
> failures in the
> case of the download being initiated from a POST, since the re-request
> from the
> Media Player is only a GET, not a POST.
>
> How do I prevent this re-request?
>   
I have found that the way that works for me (I use this for PNG) is to 
serve it up with the mime type ''application/unknown'' so that
IE does not
try to interpret what program should handle the information coming down.

Cheers,
Mohit.
10/5/2008 | 10:59 AM.



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> Our Rails application allows WAV file downloads.  The user clicks on a
> link, or
> clicks a button, and the WAV file gets sent as a response, using
> send_file.
>
> It looks like IE is discarding the initial WAV file and passing the
> URL to Windows
> Media Player.  Windows Media Player then re-requests the file!!
>
> In addition to the performance problems, this design problem causes
> failures in the
> case of the download being initiated from a POST, since the re-request
> from the
> Media Player is only a GET, not a POST.
>
> How do I prevent this re-request?
I don''t think you can.  Years ago a collegue had an issue with large  
PDF''s being sent as a result of a POST.  The PDFs that were under 1meg
IE would download and then give that file to Adobe.  Above 1meg and it  
would download some if it, then pass it to Adobe -- losing all the  
POST variables in the process.

The only solution we found was to convert that POST into a GET (or  
redirect it to a temp url that is a get).  And suffer with the re- 
sending.

This was probably 6 years ago though... but sounds like it hasn''t  
changed one bit.

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Philip Hallstrom wrote:
>> Our Rails application allows WAV file downloads.  The user clicks on a
>> link, or
>> clicks a button, and the WAV file gets sent as a response, using
>> send_file.
>>
>> It looks like IE is discarding the initial WAV file and passing the
>> URL to Windows
>> Media Player.  Windows Media Player then re-requests the file!!
>>
>> In addition to the performance problems, this design problem causes
>> failures in the
>> case of the download being initiated from a POST, since the re-request
>> from the
>> Media Player is only a GET, not a POST.
>>
>> How do I prevent this re-request?
>>     
>
> I don''t think you can.  Years ago a collegue had an issue with
large
> PDF''s being sent as a result of a POST.  The PDFs that were under
1meg
> IE would download and then give that file to Adobe.  Above 1meg and it  
> would download some if it, then pass it to Adobe -- losing all the  
> POST variables in the process.
>
> The only solution we found was to convert that POST into a GET (or  
> redirect it to a temp url that is a get).  And suffer with the re- 
> sending.
>
> This was probably 6 years ago though... but sounds like it hasn''t
> changed one bit.
>   
I had a similar problem that a dynamically generated PNG was 
re-requested when a user right clicks and does a ''save'' (both
in FF and
IE).  There was a GET request triggered after the initial POST that 
generated the image.

We got around this by setting the mime type to application/unknown for 
the content.  That way, IE and FF do not try to decode the content and 
do not try to ''support'' it through plugins, external programs,
etc.  I
think it just asks to save the file.

I think I replied this in an earlier mail.  But, either way, hope this 
helps.

Cheers,
Mohit.
10/7/2008 | 1:13 PM.


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dtrusty-U6r7FCv0h4VBDgjK7y7TUQ@public.gmane.org wrote:
> On Oct 4, 9:59 pm, Mohit Sindhwani
<mo_m...-RxrYI66vbj0AvxtiuMwx3w@public.gmane.org> wrote:
>   
>> dtru...-U6r7FCv0h4VBDgjK7y7TUQ@public.gmane.org wrote:
>>     
>>> Hi,
>>>       
>>> Our Rails application allows WAV file downloads.  The user clicks
on a
>>> link, or
>>> clicks a button, and the WAV file gets sent as a response, using
>>> send_file.
>>>       
>>> It looks like IE is discarding the initial WAV file and passing the
>>> URL to Windows
>>> Media Player.  Windows Media Player then re-requests the file!!
>>>       
>>> In addition to the performance problems, this design problem causes
>>> failures in the
>>> case of the download being initiated from a POST, since the
re-request
>>> from the
>>> Media Player is only a GET, not a POST.
>>>       
>>> How do I prevent this re-request?
>>>       
>> I have found that the way that works for me (I use this for PNG) is to
>> serve it up with the mime type ''application/unknown''
so that IE does not
>> try to interpret what program should handle the information coming
down.
>>
>> Cheers,
>> Mohit.
>> 10/5/2008 | 10:59 AM.
>>     
>
>
> I tried setting the ''type'' to
''application/unknown''.
>
> The problem persists.  The Windows Media Player re-requests the file,
> using an http GET request.
>
> Any ideas?
Does it work in Firefox?  Does it show that the MIME type is unknown?
Sorry, I''m out of ideas for now in that case.  Hopefully someone else 
can help.

Cheers,
Mohit.
10/8/2008 | 12:56 AM.


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