Download File Using jQuery

Question

How can I prompt a download for a user when they click a link.

For example, instead of:

<a href="uploads/file.doc">Download Here</a>

I could use:

<a href="#">Download Here</a>

 $('a').click... //Some jquery to download the file

This way, Google does not index my HREF's and private files.

Can this be done with jQuery, if so, how? Or should this be done with PHP or something instead?

Answer 1

Hidden iframes can help

Answer 2

Here's a nice article that shows many ways of hiding files from search engines:

http://antezeta.com/news/avoid-search-engine-indexing

JavaScript isn't a good way not to index a page; it won't prevent users from linking directly to your files (and thus revealing it to crawlers), and as Rob mentioned, wouldn't work for all users.
An easy fix is to add the rel="nofollow" attribute, though again, it's not complete without robots.txt.

<a href="uploads/file.doc" rel="nofollow">Download Here</a>

Answer 3

I suggest you use the mousedown event, which is called BEFORE the click event. That way, the browser handles the click event naturally, which avoids any code weirdness:

(function ($) {


    // with this solution, the browser handles the download link naturally (tested in chrome and firefox)
    $(document).ready(function () {

        var url = '/private/downloads/myfile123.pdf';
        $("a").on('mousedown', function () {
            $(this).attr("href", url);
        });

    });
})(jQuery);

Answer 4

I might suggest this, as a more gracefully degrading solution, using preventDefault:

$('a').click(function(e) {
    e.preventDefault();  //stop the browser from following
    window.location.href = 'uploads/file.doc';
});

<a href="no-script.html">Download now!</a>

Even if there's no Javascript, at least this way the user will get some feedback.