How to get a pdf file on amazon s3 to be viewed and downloaded?

[Joshua Shapiro]

Cristian – thanks for finding me on the other s2member forum and
answering and suggesting I come here

s2member pro is a powerful plugin to make a membership service
but it takes time to learn how it does it thanks to the brilliant work
of Jason and his support team

however no one so far either at support or another consultant I am speaking
to has a solution to the following challenge

1) how can I display the member pdf file in a pdf viewer that works within the structure of
my wordpress site – when the pdf file is in a bucket on amazon s3 – PDF viewer gives
the error message “Invalid URL” –

2) how can I get a message to our member who wishes to download this file (pdf on
amazon s3) rather than the built in plugin in the browser taking over the screen and
then just displaying the pdf file

this means that via the link to the pdf file on amazon s3, via the codes given via s2member pro
the pdf file can be accessed – but I have no way so far to achieve 1) or 2) does anyone have
any ideas – what is working for you?

will I have the same problem with an mp3 file that the browsers will assume when clicked
the member wants to play on-line and not download

I have tried support to get an answer but I imagine we are in the holiday season and
everyone get busy with christmas and special days

thank you Cristian for doing this forum

Joshua

[Joshua Shapiro]

Cristian – I tried to send you a message via the contact function of the forum and it didn’t let me do so
is there any way I can talk with via email or skype (my email is crystalskullexplorers@gmail.com)
thank you – Joshua

[Cristián Lávaque]

how can I get a message to our member who wishes to download this file (pdf on
amazon s3) rather than the built in plugin in the browser taking over the screen and
then just displaying the pdf file

The PDF or MP3 will be opened in the browser, depending on how the browser is configured, I guess. Some will open it and others will download it to the computer.

how can I display the member pdf file in a pdf viewer that works within the structure of
my wordpress site – when the pdf file is in a bucket on amazon s3

You may need to generate a URL with a key. See: WP Admin -> s2Member -> Download -> Advanced

tried to send you a message via the contact function of the forum and it didn’t let me do so
is there any way I can talk with via email or skype

Sorry, I hardly use skype or email lately, but I’ll be checking this forum almost daily. Thanks for the heads up about the contact form, I’ll look into that.

thank you Cristian for doing this forum

🙂

[Joshua Shapiro]

Cristian

in regard to your answer:

You said:

The PDF or MP3 will be opened in the browser, depending on how the browser is configured, I guess. Some will open it and others will download it to the computer.

I say – so does this mean that no matter what shortcodes I use in s2member they can not over-ride the behavior of the browser, I tested this in chrome, firefox, opera and ms browser – everyone had a plugin open the pdf file – even if I show the s2mempro settings or shortcode to not to do inline – it still will ignore this and open the pdf file or play the mp3 file – I need to make sure that no matter what browser a person uses that I can have the same result – to download (which I have never achieved with a pdf on amazon s3 not matter what I try) or to open the pdf file in a viewer from within a word press site?

you said:
You may need to generate a URL with a key. See: WP Admin -> s2Member -> Download -> Advanced

I have used the advanced features given and still unable to have through the browser I use working within
the page framework of my wordpress website to have the pdf file displayed in either the plugin PDF viewer
or have a way via indicating the pdf file is inline to display the pdf file to display outside of the built in pdf plugin
within the browser – it seems all the browser if they see a pdf file will take over the full screen and display the pdf
file within the browser’s plugin and not a word press pdf viewer plugin

for these two situation do I have no other options? or must I then forget about using amazon s3 and put all
the member files under the s2-files sub directory – if I do this I know the plugin PDF viewer works but then I lose
the advantage of placing the member files with a faster system with amazon s3

thank you Cristian

Joshua

[Cristián Lávaque]

I never had to sort that out before, so I needed to research it a little to answer.

Here’s what I found at another forum: http://www.tipsandtricks-hq.com/forum/topic/force-a-file-to-download-instead-of-showing-up-in-the-browser

1) In the S3 console, select an object, and then click the ‘properties’ button (if the properties window at the bottom isn’t already visible).
2) Click the ‘add more metadata’ button, and add: Key: Content-Disposition Value: attachment

To add the metadata to all the files of a bucket or just a folder in a couple of clicks with CloudBerry Explorer.

1) right click your folder (or bucket) and select “Set Http Headers”
2) In the new window, click “Add”
3) For Http Headers, choose: “content disposition” and for Value: attachment; filename=
4) Click “OK”
5) At the bottom, select: Keep existing headers, overwrite values for headers with the same name and add new headers (from the list specified above)

Let me know if that helps. 🙂

• This reply was modified 8 years ago by Cristián Lávaque.

[Joshua Shapiro]

Cristian you are an angle from God and I appreciate your help

you are the second person who has told me about set http headers – but when I right click on our bucket
this option does not appear – I have looked everywhere on amazon s3 and I can not find this option – could it be working with the firefox browser I don’t see it and should try chrome

on the first part I was able to add content dispostion – value attachment
now I don’t know if I needed to delete the other meta data I setup before
which was content-type text-plain (as I read someone else to suggest to force it to download)

in any case, it is possible unless I can find how to set http headers – that even
making the change to add content disposition – when I click on the link to our pdf
file on amazon s3 – using the code via s2member pro – we still see the pdf file
being displayed in the browser …

so so far we still are at an impass
plus I am assuming if and when we can get this working, this means we
will have to live with just letting our members download the files and not be
able to all view (the pdf files) or hear (the mp3 files)

any more ideas or suggestions —

any ideas if there is a way to get the plugin PDF Viewer to work with our pdf file on amazon s3
(the dvelopers said it won’t work)

thank you again Cristian

Joshua

[Cristián Lávaque]

now I don’t know if I needed to delete the other meta data I setup before

I don’t think it was needed. I just did a test leaving the others as they were, and the link now downloads the file instead of opening it.

when I click on the link to our pdf file on amazon s3 – using the code via s2member pro – we still see the pdf file being displayed in the browser

Hmm…

Did you verify that PDF is not in your Inline Files setting? WP Admin -> s2Member -> Download -> Inline File Extensions

Also, can I see the shortcode for your file link?

I am assuming if and when we can get this working, this means we will have to live with just letting our members download the files and not be able to all view (the pdf files) or hear (the mp3 files)

I thought that’s what you wanted, that the files always get downloaded instead of opened. If I misunderstood, could you please correct and explain in detail the behavior you want? Thanks!

any ideas if there is a way to get the plugin PDF Viewer to work with our pdf file on amazon s3

I don’t know… This one? https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/pdf-viewer/oemmndcbldboiebfnladdacbdfmadadm?hl=en

[Joshua Shapiro]

Hi Cristian

my ultimate goal is to offer a way for our member to view and download our pdf member files
and to hear or download the mp3 files

I haven’t tested the mp3 files yet because I have yet to resolve the issue with the pdf file
always being viewed by the interal pdf viewer plugin of the browser

yes I did ask in the download options that a pdf extension be an inline file

here is the code on the page I am using:

click here

maybe there is something else I need to add here because this pdf file is on amazon s3
what did you do to get your file to offer a download option

thank you Cristian

Joshua

PS – if I have to live with just offer the pdf files as a download its ok
or maybe I can explain to our member is they wish to view the pdf, another plugin
takes over and the screen

PSS – I don’t know if you have time Cristian but would it help if I let you
be a user on our site and you looked around? I have tried setting up everything
I read in the instructions for s2member pro

[Joshua Shapiro]

Cristian

I just played with a pdf file within options within my browser, and using Foxfire I saw there is an application
you can specify to work with file types – for pdf it was setup to display the file – so no settings I use within s2member pro
have any effect it appears

when I changed the application to download, it downloaded the file to my computer and when I set it to ask
it had a window that asked whether I wanted to view the pdf or download it

so how can we prepare for the situation of our member how they will perceive the pdf file – I am sure (although I have
tested this yet) I will run into the same situation with an mp3 file if it will automatically be played which since our mp3 files
could be an hour it would probably be better to let them be downloaded

do you have any suggestions how we can offer these two member files so the member is not confused what
is going on since how they setup their browser takes presidence (I believe) over what we use in s2memberpro linked
to downloading or viewing/playing

Joshua

[Cristián Lávaque]

Sorry for the wait, I’ve been travelling and with little internet the past days.

I think I understand better what you want: make it possible to download or view in the browser, not just one, right?

You could have a couple of links, one to view and the other to download. You could set the default to download, and then have the view link set to inline.

Try removing the pdf and mp3 extensions from here: WP Admin -> s2Member -> Download -> Inline

Then use a s2File shortcode for the file to give the download link.

Below it duplicate the shortcode, but add the download attribute set to yes. WP Admin -> s2Member -> Download -> Shortcode Attributes -> download

Let me know how it goes. I hope that helps. 🙂

[Joshua Shapiro]

Hi Cristian

this is what I found out so far – for example I use Foxfire – I saw there are applications for what to do with a pdf file
and what to do with an mp3 file (basically 3 options view/play, download or ask which one?)

so it doesn’t seem to matter what I do in s2member pro – if I try to download or view the pdf
the settings in the browser are over riding it – so it was suggested to me by a friend who is a developer
to offer 3 things

a) let the person click on the link directly and as it happened with me, my application was set to view
the pdf they would see this but then when I changed my setting to download, the file was downloaded automatically

b) suggest (but I think on a mac if a person click directly on their link since they don’t have two buttons on their mouse
they are asked what to do) to Window users to right-click the mouse to download

c) make a zip file of all the member files for the month – which would be downloaded

does this sound like a good plan since there is no way to know what setting each member will have for pdf and mp3
files in their browser?

the key is that via the settings I gave for amazon s3 within s2member pro is working

but again this is the code I used (I didn’t add the in-line part – maybe if I do this would force
the pdf to be downloaded, can you tell me Cristian as I wanted to offer for each member file two links?

click here

you see above I don’t have the setting about in-line – but I again believe the behavior within the browser
will be based on the application or plugin controling how to handle pdf files

also another developer suggested when the pdf file is viewed to open in a separate window
so they don’t lose the link to the member page where the files are to be downloaded

I just got a test site where I can try options and also the RC version of s2member

don’t worry Cristian about the delay to answer, everything happens in its right time

Joshua

[Author]

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