asked on 9/28/2018

Trying to display file in browser with php

I have this code. This is the entire php file:

<?php
// read file & display. File passed in $_GET
$path = "../summsp/" . $_GET['file'];
echo get_file_contents($path);
exit;
?>

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I execute it like this:

https://www.lakoshvac.com/disp_summary.php?file=18075summary.pdf

I get a blank screen.

The directory structure is in the attached file. I cannot show you the file contents (pdf) because it is sensitive.

Why do I get a blank screen?

Thanks
Server_dir_sructure.JPG

PHP

Last Comment

Julian Hansen

9/29/2018

ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION

Chris Stanyon

9/28/2018

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Richard Korts

9/28/2018

ASKER

Perfect. I figured the function was wrong because it was not bolded in my html editor, but sometimes, it doesn't bold them all.

Thanks.

Richard

Chris Stanyon

9/28/2018

No worries Richard,

I would suggest that HTML editors are generally quite poor when it comes to analyzing PHP. A proper IDE would be a better choice. Add in error_reporting and you'll see exactly what's going on at runtime. Without it, you're effectively black-boxing your script - allowing it to fail silently with no hint as to what went wrong.

Another tip - when developing, keep an eye on your browsers built-in development tools. Loading up the page you linked to responded with a 500 Internal Server Error, so that's a good indication that your code is not working properly.

Richard Korts

9/28/2018

ASKER

It worked perfectly for me.

I'll ask the customer to try it.

Richard

Julian Hansen

9/29/2018

Also take a look at readfile() - this function exists for precisely this use case

<?php
// read file & display. File passed in $_GET
$path = "../summsp/" . $_GET['file'];

header("Content-type: application/pdf");
header("Content-Disposition: inline; filename=filename.pdf");

readfile($path);

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Richard Korts

9/29/2018

ASKER

Thanks.

FYI, I don’t know if Paula got ahold of you, we need your help (paid) again on our Media Wiki site. If she has NOT contacted you, please contact her.

Thanks,

Richard

Julian Hansen

9/29/2018

Thanks Richard, will do