Force to download a file

yes. set the content disposition and it will download:

 


1. VERSION ONE:
 
<%
Set objFSO = Server.CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
Set objTS = objFSO.OpenTextFile("location of your file")

Response.ContentType = "application/octet-stream"
response.AddHeader "Content-Disposition", "attachment;filename="&request("filename")
Response.Buffer = True
Do While Not objTS.AtEndOfStream
   strChunk = objTS.Read(32)
   strTmp = ""
   For i = 1 to Len(strChunk)
        strTmp = strTmp & ChrB(Asc(Mid(strChunk, i, 1)))
   Next
   Response.BinaryWrite strTmp
   Response.Flush
Loop
objTS.Close
Set objTS = Nothing
Set objFSO = Nothing
%>

2. VERSION 2:
 
Here is a nice article that should help you clear up this question;
http://www.aspemporium.com/aspEmporium/tutorials/vbs_download.asp

But in the mean time, (since you are not sure if you are downloading binary or text data), here is a nice little script that uses the ADO Stream method;

<%
DownloadFileName = Request.QueryString("FileName")
DownloadFolder = "d:\test"
BaseFileName = Split(DownloadFileName, ".")

Set ObjFile = Server.CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
FilePath = Server.MapPath(DownloadFolder)

'Define path to file named in ASP format
InitFileName = FilePath & "\" & BaseFileName(0) & ".asp"

'Define path for temporary download file
DownloadFileName = FilePath & "\" & Replace(Request.ServerVariables("REMOTE_ADDR"),".","") & ".txt"

'Copy file from .ASP to .PDF for downloading
If ObjFile.FileExists(InitFileName) then
ObjFile.CopyFile InitFileName, DownloadFileName
%>

<%
Set objStream = Server.CreateObject("ADODB.Stream")
objStream.Type = adTypeBinary
objStream.Open
'Read the file
objStream.LoadFromFile DownloadFileName
'Send the data to the browser
Response.Expires = 0
Response.Buffer = True
Response.ContentType = "application/text"
Response.Addheader "Content-Disposition", "inline; filename=" & "stream.txt"
Response.Addheader "Content-Length", objStream.size
Response.BinaryWrite(objStream.Read(adReadAll))

'Delete temporary download file and close objects
ObjFile.DeleteFile DownloadFileName
objStream.Close
Set objStream = Nothing
Set objFile = Nothing

Else
Response.Write "File not found...."
End if
Response.End()
%>

 
3. VERSION 3:
 
asp example
http://www.genasis.net/code/download.asp

jsp example
http://www.planet-source-code.com/vb/scripts/ShowCode.asp?txtCodeId=2183&lngWId=2

 
4. VERSION 4:
 
FTP with java to download file

http://forum.java.sun.com/forum?13@165.tfueaxn1bvv^0@.ee85f09/0 
http://forum.java.sun.com/forum?13@165.tfueaxn1bvv^0@.ee77fb6/0 
http://developer.java.sun.com/developer/techDocs/SearchData/qa/about_javas_ftp.html 

 
5. VERSIION 5
 
If you use Content-Disposition in your header, the browser will ask the user what he wants to do with the file;

<%@ Language=VBScript %>

<%
fileName = "Text.txt"
       'ContentType specifies the MIME type of this header.
    Response.ContentType = "text/plain"
       'The AddHeader method adds an HTML header with a specified value.
       'Content-disposition forces the browser to download.
    Response.AddHeader "content-disposition", "attachment; filename=""" & fileName & """"
    Response.End
%>
 

This works great for *.txt, *.asp,.. files, but what if you don't know in advance if it is a PDF file, a PPT file, a DOC file or an XLS file you wish to download(dynamically pass the path of this file)?

In case you don't know the contenttype you can use "application/x-msdownload" as the content type.
Here's part of a file-download script i wrote once

Select Case sFileType
        Case ".asf"
            sContentType = "video/x-ms-asf"
        Case ".avi"
            sContentType = "video/avi"
        Case ".doc"
            sContentType = "application/msword"
        Case ".zip"
            sContentType = "application/zip"
     Case ".css"
            sContentType = "text/css"
     Case ".pdf"
            sContentType = "application/pdf"
        Case ".xls"
            sContentType = "application/vnd.ms-excel"
        Case ".gif"
            sContentType = "image/gif"
        Case ".jpg", "jpeg"
            sContentType = "image/jpeg"
        Case ".wav"
            sContentType = "audio/wav"
        Case ".mp3"
            sContentType = "audio/mpeg3"
        Case ".mpg", "mpeg"
            sContentType = "video/mpeg"
        Case ".rtf"
            sContentType = "application/rtf"
     Case ".htm", "html"
            sContentType = "text/html"
     Case ".asp", ".asa"
            sContentType = "text/asp"
        Case Else
            sContentType = "application/x-msdownload"
End Select

Greetings

I'll accept the answer from markhoy, but as soon as I have 50 points I'll give them TomasBracke.