Saving a file locally instead of on the server

Question

I have a php script which opens a csv file, edits it, then saves it using 'file_put_contents'. The saved location is the same server directory which contains the script.

file_put_contents($destination,$string);

However, I want the user to have control over where the file is saved on their computer (ie. locally.) Preferably, using a dialogue pop-up on their browser.

How would this be achieved? Do I need to add header information to the php script? Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

• To save file in local with popup of window you can use JS (Blob Object) for it :

// ajax get data from server ( you can push file to server for editting it and return)
// data return of php : return stream_get_contents($file);
$.ajax({
    type: "post",
    url: url,
    data: {...},
    success: function (data) {
        let blob = new Blob([data], { type: 'application/csv;charset=utf-8;' });
        handleSaveCsv(blob);
    }
});


async function handleSaveCsv(blob){
    if( window.showSaveFilePicker ) {
        const handle = await showSaveFilePicker({
            suggestedName: 'csvExportName.csv',
            types: [{
                description: 'csv file',
                accept: {'application/csv': ['.csv']},
            }],
        });
        const writable = await handle.createWritable();
        await writable.write( blob );
        writable.close();
    }
    else {
        const saveCsv = document.createElement( "a" );
        saveCsv.href = URL.createObjectURL( blob );
        saveCsv.download= 'csvExportName.csv';
        saveCsv.click();
        setTimeout(() => URL.revokeObjectURL( saveCsv.href ), 6000 );
    }
}

window.showSaveFilePicker for opening popup window