Header/readfile does not work when trying to display image outside of website root

kgp43
kgp43 used Ask the Experts™
on
Hi,

I'm using this code to open an image saved outside of web root (home/kenneth/uploads/...)
It works fine in both IE and FF, but it does not work in Chrome - it just keep loading.

# Set headers
header("Cache-Control: public");
header("Content-Description: File Transfer");
header("Content-Disposition: attachment; filename=".$file['original_filename']);
header("Content-Type: application/octet-stream");
header("Content-Transfer-Encoding: binary");
header("Content-Length: ".filesize($absolute_path));

ob_clean();
flush();

# Read the file from disk
readfile($absolute_path);

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$file['download_path'] = "http://".$file['hostname']."/download.php?token=".$token;

<img style="margin: 15px; max-width: 870px" src="<?php echo $file['download_path']; ?>" alt="<?php echo $file['original_filename']; ?>" />

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Ray Paseur
Most Valuable Expert 2011
Top Expert 2016

Commented:
What are you trying to accomplish?  Is it to render an image in the browser viewport or force a download?
kgp43

Author

Commented:
Display an image located outside public_html

Ex.

<img src="/photo.php?fileid=xxxx" />

Photo.php

# Set headers
header("Cache-Control: public");
header("Content-Description: File Transfer");
header("Content-Disposition: attachment; filename=".$file['original_filename']);
header("Content-Type: application/octet-stream");
header("Content-Transfer-Encoding: binary");
header("Content-Length: ".filesize($absolute_path));

ob_clean();
flush();

# Read the file from disk
readfile($absolute_path);

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The image appear correctly in both Firefox and IE, but not in Chrome. Chrome just keep loading, no image appears.
Ray Paseur
Most Valuable Expert 2011
Top Expert 2016

Commented:
You may have a lot more headers than you need.  This article describes how I do it.
http://www.experts-exchange.com/Web_Development/Web_Languages-Standards/PHP/A_10065-Adding-a-Watermark-to-an-Image.html

IIRC the only header you really need is Content-type
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Ray Paseur
Most Valuable Expert 2011
Top Expert 2016

Commented:
I am also a little suspicious of this.  Why do you use that function?
http://php.net/manual/en/function.ob-clean.php
kgp43

Author

Commented:
Hi Ray,

Does not matter what I do, nothing loads in Chrome for me.
http://fs01.imgdrive.com/download.php?token=3L9QZB

header("Content-Description: File Transfer");
header("Content-Disposition: attachment; filename=".$file['original_filename']);
header('Content-Type: '.$file['mimetype']);

# Read the file from disk
readfile($absolute_path);

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I removed ob_flush and cleaned up the headers. Seems I need the extra two or it's not possible to save the image with original filename when right-clicking (save as).
kgp43

Author

Commented:
More error checking.
http://fs01.imgdrive.com/test.php

$absolute_path = "/home/fs01/uploads/2012/12/31/v3hbspfc9d_image.jpg";

header("Content-Description: File Transfer");
header("Content-Disposition: attachment; filename=".basename($absolute_path));
header('Content-Type: application/octet-stream');

# Read the file from disk
readfile($absolute_path);

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Seems the code above start image download.
Going to see if the rest works with it.
kgp43

Author

Commented:
Works not, not sure what the problem was.

header("Content-Description: File Transfer");
header("Content-Disposition: attachment; filename=".basename($absolute_path));
header('Content-Type: '.$file['mimetype']);

# Read the file from disk
readfile($absolute_path);

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Most Valuable Expert 2011
Top Expert 2016
Commented:
Probably just getting rid of the inappropriate headers like Application/Octet Stream was all that was needed.

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