Downloading attachments with Content-Disposition header using headless browsers or alternative methods

Other Questions Headless Browser
1

I’m trying to figure out how to download a file that has a Content-Disposition header set as an attachment. I’m working with headless browsers, specifically PhantomJS and CasperJS, but I’m open to other solutions too.

Here’s what I’m dealing with:

{
  "contentType": "text/plain",
  "headers": [
    {"name": "Content-Disposition", "value": "attachment; filename=\"UserList_2023.csv\""},
    {"name": "Content-Type", "value": "text/plain"},
    {"name": "Content-Length", "value": "512"}
  ],
  "status": 200,
  "url": "https://example.com/export/users"
}

The server sends this response when I request the file. How can I programmatically save this as a file using a headless browser setup? Any tips or code examples would be really helpful. Thanks!

2

hey there! i’ve dealt with this before. instead of using headless browsers, try using a regular http library like requests in python. it’s way easier to handle the content-disposition header and save the file. you can grab the filename from the header and write the content to a file directly. works like a charm for me!

3

Using headless browsers for file downloads can be challenging when a Content-Disposition header is involved. Based on my experience, a more straightforward approach is to use a dedicated HTTP client library. For instance, Python’s requests or Node.js’s axios allow you to access response headers directly, extract the filename, and write the response content to a file without relying on browser limitations. This method tends to be faster and provides better error handling, resulting in a more reliable and efficient download process.

4

Having experimented with different headless browser setups, I’ve noticed that reliably capturing file downloads can be a bit challenging with PhantomJS and CasperJS, particularly when a Content-Disposition header is involved. One method that worked in my experience is intercepting the request and handling the file saving manually. For example, you could catch the response using network event listeners and then write the body to a file with the appropriate filename. Newer solutions like Puppeteer can also streamline the process with more modern APIs and better error handling. Just be sure to check for network issues and unexpected server responses, which might require additional handling.