# Question about creating a link to download **URL:** \ **Category:** Rails\ **Created:** [March 25, 2009, 7:54pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/question-about-creating-a-link-to-download/163880 "2009-03-25T19:54:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![bloc](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/e8c25b/32.png) [@bloc](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/bloc)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2009, 7:54pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/question-about-creating-a-link-to-download/163880/1 "2009-03-25T19:54:39Z")
Hi Folks, I’m new to Rails and working on a project where after the user logs in they can click on a link to download an exe file ( say for example the file is at [http://test.com/test.exe](http://test.com/test.exe)). I want to keep the link to the exe file hidden. What are the best ways to implement this step. I was thinking about using the redirect to url but I have been getting an error saying that I cannot use two redirect’s in a function. Also, I was thinking of using NET:HTTP to use http request but I have no idea how to implement this. Thanks!! ---
**Author:** ![bloc](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/e8c25b/32.png) [@bloc](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/bloc)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2009, 8:05pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/question-about-creating-a-link-to-download/163880/2 "2009-03-25T20:05:24Z")
On Mar 25, 6:54 pm, Jay D. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > Hi Folks, > > I’m new to Rails and working on a project where after the user logs in > they can click on a link to download an exe file ( say for example the > file is athttp://test.com/test.exe). I want to keep the link to the exe > file hidden. What are the best ways to implement this step. > > I was thinking about using the redirect to url but I have been getting > an error saying that I cannot use two redirect’s in a function. redirect won’t hide the url > Also, I was thinking of using NET:HTTP to use http request but I have no > idea how to implement this. You could but it would block the mongrel for the entire time it took to download the file. What’s not clear from your example is whether this file is on your server or somewhere else. Fred ---
**Author:** ![bloc](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/e8c25b/32.png) [@bloc](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/bloc)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2009, 8:11pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/question-about-creating-a-link-to-download/163880/3 "2009-03-25T20:11:59Z")
Thanks for the reply. The exe file is on another server. Thanks! Frederick C. wrote: > On Mar 25, 6:54�pm, Jay D. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > > > Hi Folks, > > > > I’m new to Rails and working on a project where after the user logs in > > they can click on a link to download an exe file ( say for example the > > file is athttp://test.com/test.exe). I want to keep the link to the exe > > file hidden. What are the best ways to implement this step. > > > > I was thinking about using the redirect to url but I have been getting > > an error saying that I cannot use two redirect’s in a function. > > redirect won’t hide the url > > > Also, I was thinking of using NET:HTTP to use http request but I have no > > idea how to implement this. > > You could but it would block the mongrel for the entire time it took > to download the file. > > What’s not clear from your example is whether this file is on your > server or somewhere else. > > Fred ---
**Author:** ![bloc](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/e8c25b/32.png) [@bloc](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/bloc)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2009, 9:17pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/question-about-creating-a-link-to-download/163880/4 "2009-03-25T21:17:37Z")
On Mar 25, 7:11 pm, Jay D. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > Thanks for the reply. > > The exe file is on another server. OK. I was asking because if on the same server then things like X-Send- File or X-Accel-Redirect work very nicely. You certainly could use net/ http to get the file and then send the response to the user although for anything but the smallest of files you’ll need to start sending the data before you have grabbed all of it (because otherwise the user will get bored or the browser will time you out) and I’m not sure there’s a nice way of doing that in rails. Fred ---
**Author:** ![bloc](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/e8c25b/32.png) [@bloc](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/bloc)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2009, 12:50pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/question-about-creating-a-link-to-download/163880/5 "2009-03-27T12:50:31Z")
On Mar 26, 3:54 am, Jay D. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > ## end > > Posted viahttp://www.ruby-forum.com/. Try using send\_file function 🙂 [http://apidock.com/rails/ActionController/Streaming/send\_file](http://apidock.com/rails/ActionController/Streaming/send_file) ---
**Author:** ![bloc](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/e8c25b/32.png) [@bloc](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/bloc)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2009, 2:12pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/question-about-creating-a-link-to-download/163880/6 "2009-03-27T14:12:48Z")
Jay D. wrote: > Hi Folks, > > I’m new to Rails and working on a project where after the user logs in > they can click on a link to download an exe file ( say for example the > file is at [http://test.com/test.exe](http://test.com/test.exe)). I want to keep the link to the exe > file hidden. What are the best ways to implement this step. > You can make an expirable link à -la Rapidshare, and/or use > X-Accel-Redirect provided by Nginx, we use the latter to stream VOD. ---
**Author:** ![bloc](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/e8c25b/32.png) [@bloc](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/bloc)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2009, 9:54pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/question-about-creating-a-link-to-download/163880/7 "2009-03-25T21:54:41Z")
This is an example. I tried this below code but it blocks mongrel until the whole file is read which is over 500 MB. def download send\_data(open(‘[http://mirrors.gigenet.com/ubuntu/intrepid/ubuntu-8.10-desktop-i386.iso](http://mirrors.gigenet.com/ubuntu/intrepid/ubuntu-8.10-desktop-i386.iso)’).read, :filename =\> ‘ubuntu-8.10-desktop-i386.iso’ , :type =\> ‘application/force-download’, :disposition =\> ‘attachment’) end