How to make a link download file instead of print it

Change the link code like

<a href="https://onlineservices.bupa.com.sa/Visitor/Econtract.aspx?dR7fRY/tbxJpA3ZN+luuk72Bpl2NxpXf"
 target="_blank" class="action_icon" title="Download Insurance" download>

Open in new window

Refer

https://www.samanthaming.com/tidbits/38-html-download-attribute/

ASKER

Hi Xujin
I tried adding the attribute 'download' but the link is still opening the print dialog instead of just downloading
Here is my code in vb.net

theDownloadVisa = driver.FindElement(By.XPath("/html/body/div[1]/div[1]/div[1]/section[2]/div[1]/div[4]/div[4]/div[2]/div/table/tbody/tr[" & CStr(z) & "]/td[8]/a[2]"))
If theDownloadVisa IsNot Nothing Then
Dim downloadfileName As String = theDownloadVisa.GetAttribute("href")
driver.ExecuteScript("arguments[0].setAttribute('download','" & downloadfileName & "');", theDownloadVisa)
theDownloadVisa.Click()
end if

what Am I doing wrong?

The website https://onlineservices.bupa.com.sa/Visitor/Econtract.aspx?dR7fRY/tbxJpA3ZN+luuk72Bpl2NxpXf

has onload='window.print()'

It is not a pdf

Unless you can remove or overwrite the print, you will have to dismiss the dialog

ASKER

Hi Michel,
If that is the case, then there is no browser way to override this event...Correct?

Likely not.
You can use a proxy

Since you have an HTML page, you can't download it. If you can convert the HTML page to PDF and upload it to the server, then the download will work. Also for the download attribute to work, link needs to be in the same domain.

ASKER

Michel,
What do you mean by using the proxy?

Michel and Yujin,
Remember the domain that I download from is not under my control. I am just using 2 links in it to automate the downloading of the files that the site exposes. Is the use of proxy still an option?

If it is a third-party site, that provides HTML and you need to provide a PDF file to your site visitor, you may better off making a PHP script, that reads this web page, converts it to PDF, makes it available for download.

ASKER

Dear Yujin,
I am not using PHP, I use ASP.NET however, the application that I download from is a desktop application using VB.NET. Can you send me a code to read a webpage and convert it to pdf? I am not good at all in this kind of HTML script. I can use this code in my website using ASP.NET to create a pdf on my domain then I download using the desktop application. Do you think that would work, If you can send me this code, I believe that will solve my problem unless I am missing something?
Thanks

So what Yujin suggested IS a proxy or in this case a scraper

https://www.google.com/search?q=vb.net+scrape+web+page

ASKER

Hi Yujin
Sorry, I got nowhere with the scraper links, it is a new concept to me, and I feel very hard to proceed, Is there an easy guide for me?
Thanks

I don't have experience with ASP.NET, so can't provide a script. The idea is you read HTML documents using ASP.NET script, then convert it to PDF, which users can download. Someone with ASP.NET experience may be able to help with it.

ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION