NAME

    CGI::Easy::SendFile - send files from CGI to browser

VERSION

    This document describes CGI::Easy::SendFile version v2.0.1

SYNOPSIS

        use CGI::Easy::SendFile qw( send_file );
    
        my $r = CGI::Easy::Request->new();
        my $h = CGI::Easy::Headers->new();
    
        my $data = send_file($r, $h, '/path/file.zip');
        print $h->compose();
        print ${$data};
    
        # -- send "file" generated in memory instead of real file
        my $dynamic_file = '…some binary data…';
        my $data = send_file($r, $h, \$dynamic_file);
    
        # -- simulate static image served by web server 
        #    (without "download file" dialog popup in browser)
        my $data = send_file($r, $h, 'avatar.png', {
                type    => 'image/png',
                cache   => 1,
                inline  => 1,
        });

DESCRIPTION

    This module provide single function, which helps you prepare CGI reply
    for sending file to browser.

EXPORTS

    Nothing by default, but all documented functions can be explicitly
    imported.

INTERFACE

 send_file

        $data = send_file( $r, $h, '/path/file.zip' );
        $data = send_file( $r, $h, '/path/file.zip', \%opt );
        $data = send_file( $r, $h, \$dynamic_file );
        $data = send_file( $r, $h, \$dynamic_file, \%opt );

    Prepare HTTP headers and content for CGI reply to send file.

        $r      CGI::Easy::Request object
        $h      CGI::Easy::Headers object
        $file   STRING (file name) or SCALARREF (file contents)
        %opt
          {type}    STRING (default "application/x-download")
          {range}   BOOL (default TRUE if $file is STRING,
                                  FALSE if $file is SCALARREF)
          {cache}   BOOL (default FALSE)
          {inline}  BOOL (default FALSE)

    {type}

      Custom value for 'Content-Type' header. These are equivalents:

          $data = send_file($r, $h, $file, {type=>'image/png'});
      
          $data = send_file($r, $h, $file);
          $h->{'Content-Type'} = 'image/png';

    {range}

      Enable/disable support for sending partial file contents, if
      requested (this is usually used by file downloader applications to
      fetch files faster using several simultaneous connections to download
      different file parts). You shouldn't enable this option for dynamic
      files generated by your CGI if contents of these files may differ for
      different CGI requests sent by same user to same url.

      If your web server configured to gzip CGI replies, it will disable
      this feature. To make this feature working disable gzip in web server
      (usually by adding  SetEnv no-gzip  in  .htaccess  file).

      When enabled and user requested partial contents will change 'Status'
      to '206 Partial Content'.

    {cache}

      Enable/disable caching file contents.

      HTTP header 'Expires' will be removed if {cache} is TRUE, or set to
      'Sat, 01 Jan 2000 00:00:00 GMT' if {cache} is FALSE.

      If {cache} is TRUE and $file is STRING will set 'Last-Modified'
      header; when browser use 'If-Modified-Since' and file doesn't changed
      will set 'Status' to '304 Not Modified' and return REF to empty
      string to avoid sending any needless data to browser.

      You may want to add custom 'ETag' caching manually:

          $h->{ETag} = calc_my_ETag($file);
          if ($r->{ENV}{IF_NONE_MATCH} eq $h->{ETag}) {
              $h->{Status} = '304 Not Modified';
              $data = \q{};
          } else {
              $data = send_file($r, $h, $file, {cache=>1});
          }
          print $h->compose(), ${$data};

    {inline}

      Try to control how browser should handle sent file (this have sense
      only for file types which browser can just show instead of asking
      user where to save downloaded file on disk - like images).

      If FALSE will set 'Content-Disposition' to 'attachment', this should
      force browser to save downloaded file instead of just showing it.

    Return SCALARREF with (full/partial/empty) file contents which should
    be send as body of CGI reply.

LIMITATIONS

    Sending large files will use a lot of memory - this module doesn't use
    temporary files and keep everything in memory.

SUPPORT

 Bugs / Feature Requests

    Please report any bugs or feature requests through the issue tracker at
    https://github.com/powerman/perl-CGI-Easy-SendFile/issues. You will be
    notified automatically of any progress on your issue.

 Source Code

    This is open source software. The code repository is available for
    public review and contribution under the terms of the license. Feel
    free to fork the repository and submit pull requests.

    https://github.com/powerman/perl-CGI-Easy-SendFile

        git clone https://github.com/powerman/perl-CGI-Easy-SendFile.git

 Resources

      * MetaCPAN Search

      https://metacpan.org/search?q=CGI-Easy-SendFile

      * CPAN Ratings

      http://cpanratings.perl.org/dist/CGI-Easy-SendFile

      * AnnoCPAN: Annotated CPAN documentation

      http://annocpan.org/dist/CGI-Easy-SendFile

      * CPAN Testers Matrix

      http://matrix.cpantesters.org/?dist=CGI-Easy-SendFile

      * CPANTS: A CPAN Testing Service (Kwalitee)

      http://cpants.cpanauthors.org/dist/CGI-Easy-SendFile

AUTHOR

    Alex Efros <powerman@cpan.org>

COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE

    This software is Copyright (c) 2009- by Alex Efros <powerman@cpan.org>.

    This is free software, licensed under:

      The MIT (X11) License