File Downloads

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by Stephen >> Wed, 16 Mar 2005 21:54:43 GMT

Hi,
I am wanting to track file downloads within our web system.

We send out emails to users to let them know that some documents they have previously requested have been updated or modified, and give them a link to connect back to our site to obtain the documents.
At the moment I am only tracking that a user has visited our downloads page, and record them as having obtained the documents, but I am wanting to be more sure that they have actually successfully downloaded them. These are tender documents, so if someone has not managed to retrieve the latest ammendments they could be seriously disadvantaged, so I need to track if they downloaded, not just if they visited the download page, or not even that they started the download, but that the download was not interrupted and was completed successfully.

They are static zip files being downloaded.
So ideally, I would like some way for our system to be automaticaly notified once the download has completed, NOT just that they have visited the download page.

Does anyone have any ideas on how this can be done?
Many thanks
Stephen

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by Robert Barr >> Thu, 17 Mar 2005 4:10:22 GMT

You need something running on the client to report the download status to the server ... I guess javascript would be the obvious choice (watch out for cross-browser compatibility issues).

The client is generally responsible for completing a download on the web, so I've never come across a javascript solution to this problem, but I have seen dedicated download managers. This may be an option (using Jade thin client, or a java applet) if you *really* need to be sure the files have arrived.

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by Stephen >> Thu, 17 Mar 2005 21:45:49 GMT

Thanks.
I can't use JavaScript though, cause once the file download starts, and the little window pops up saying Save, Open or Cancel, then it loses all "contact" with the browser window that opened it.
Once the download has started I can close the original browser window, or go off browing another site while the file downloads.
So it would have to be a server-side solution.

Allistar, in reply to your question - I am using the jadhttp.dll to expose the Jade database. The page with the links on to initiaite the download, and record that they have visited the page, is a Jade page. The files are static pages on the web server. I thought about the files being served straight from the Jade database, but Jade can not stream a binary file directly to the web (another posting I made to this newsgroup (7/12/2004 - Tips & techniques)).
In any case, I wouldn't want to stream some of these file directly from within Jade. If I had a user on a dial up trying to download a 15Mb file, I don't want a Jade license locked up for hours streaming the file to this user. So I actually want to keep them static.
And yes, I realise I could make something to say the download has started, but its if/when it finishs that is what I am really after.

Thanks everyone.

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by Robert Barr >> Sun, 20 Mar 2005 20:57:03 GMT

'streaming' still wouldn't guarantee receipt.

A Jade thin client executing on the client PC would also tie up a licence for long downloads. I haven't come across any java source for such a utility, but there are plenty of 'chat' applet examples on the web that could perhaps form the basis of a download manager.

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by Frank >> Tue, 1 Aug 2006 18:00:04 GMT

ffeigel@t-online.de

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by allistar >> Thu, 17 Mar 2005 4:51:57 GMT

Hi Stephen,
You haven't mentioned which technology you are using to expose your JADE database on the web. Are the files served straight from the database or are they links to static files sitting on the web server?

If the former then you should be able to track in you JADE system when the file download is started. If the latter then it would be possible to check the log files whe na download is started. I know in Apache there is quite a bit of advanced logging you can do, such as more extreme logging from a particular directory. You could match ip addresses and times of the downloads with the ip they logged into your JADE web site with.

This of course only lets you know whether they started the download, not whether it was successfully completed.

Regards,
Allistar.
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Allistar Melville
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Silvermoon Software
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by cnwjhp1 >> Thu, 17 Mar 2005 7:01:43 GMT

If the client side idea doesn't work out, maybe you could arrange it so that "the download" includes two files (the second being a dummy), and when the second one starts the first must have completed? I don't know if this is possible, but I thought I'd mention it.