I'm working on my first pylons app, and part of it allows a user
to download a file.  Following the example in ch.6 of the Pylons Book,
that is working ok.  I can successfully select a file and have it
download to my desktop.
    I would like to be able to redirect the user to another page after
the download has been initiated, or at least put up a "yay, it's
finished" page, but that doesn't appear to be possible.  So I was
wondering what it is that one normally does in a case like this?  What
I've been able to find suggests that it is necessary to open a
separate window...does that sound right?  Or is there a better way?
     Pointers to any generic documentation on how to do this would be
appreciated; pointers to pylons-specific documentation (or recipes)
would be even better.

Thank you,
Tim

--
Mike Orr <sluggos...@gmail.com>

Something like this:
http://somafm.com/play/spacestation

I think Mike is right; there is no way to embed instructions for the browser
into a downloaded file.

On Oct 29, 2:16 pm, Matt Feifarek <matt.feifa...@gmail.com> wrote:

Having the "yay" page come up and then automatically start the
download would be fine, though I assume that would mean I would have
to temporarily leave the sheltering embrace of pylons for the script.
I guess I could also just put a "Done" button somewhere below the
"download" button and have the user click that to move on.

Anyway, thank you for the responses.  Knowing what is and isn't
possible seems to be half the battle sometimes.

Perhaps the most succulent way would be a redirect HTML page (3xx)
that says, "Your download will begin shortly.  <Click here> if it
doesn't.  <Continue onward / Return to product summary>".   The
redirect would cause the download to automatically start, but would
not move from the page.  The page would technically be an error
message, but if you use your regular site template it will have all
the logos and menus people expect, so it'll look like a regular page.

--
Mike Orr <sluggos...@gmail.com>

--
Mike Orr <sluggos...@gmail.com>

Though, people like Sourceforge have been doing this for years. Maybe once
the download starts, the browser won't cancel it.

        Thanks again for your illuminating responses.  As you have no doubt
surmised, most of the problem is that I don't know what I'm doing!
        I'm not doing anything esoteric; I'm just a re-noob whose last serious
foray into web apps was with cgi/perl over ten years ago.  So I'm sure
that the things I want to do are pretty standard...it is just that I'm
woefully ignorant.  Having said that, I've found Pylons a fairly
comfortable ride, and put up most of the app without too many issues.
        I did note Matt's suggestion of the META tag in an earlier email, but a
quick google search didn't yield anything that I was able to connect
with downloading.  But as you've indicated that this is a common
solution, I will take a better look this time around.  I don't mind
reading documentation; sometimes the problem is not knowing enough to be
able to ask the right question.
        Mike's suggestion about the redirect is also interesting, and
immediately made sense.
        I appreciate the pointers!

Best,
Tim

You can see an example. There may be script in there, too... I haven't
parsed it thoroughly.

Also, check out this:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/freevo/files/kaa-metadata/0.7.7/kaa-m...

Sourceforge has been doing this for years. Though I can't see the meta tag
in there anymore; they must be using a script.