How can I let a user download multiple files when a button is clicked?

Question

So I have a httpd server running which has links to a bunch of files. Lets say the user selects three files from a file list to download and they're located at:

mysite.com/file1 
mysite.com/file2
mysite.com/file3

When they click the download button I want them to download these three files from the links above.

My download button looks something like:

var downloadButton = new Ext.Button({
  text: "Download",
  handler: function(){
    //download the three files here
  }
});

Answer 1

The best way to do this is to have your files zipped and link to that:

The other solution can be found here: How to make a link open multiple pages when clicked

Which states the following:

HTML:

<a href="#" class="yourlink">Download</a>

JS:

$('a.yourlink').click(function(e) {
    e.preventDefault();
    window.open('mysite.com/file1');
    window.open('mysite.com/file2');
    window.open('mysite.com/file3');
});

Having said this, I would still go with zipping the file, as this implementation requires JavaScript and can also sometimes be blocked as popups.

Answer 2

This was the method which worked best for me and didn't open up new tabs, but just downloaded the files/images I required:

var filesForDownload = [];
filesForDownload( { path: "/path/file1.txt", name: "file1.txt" } );
filesForDownload( { path: "/path/file2.jpg", name: "file2.jpg" } );
filesForDownload( { path: "/path/file3.png", name: "file3.png" } );
filesForDownload( { path: "/path/file4.txt", name: "file4.txt" } );

$jq('input.downloadAll').click( function( e )
{
    e.preventDefault();

    var temporaryDownloadLink = document.createElement("a");
    temporaryDownloadLink.style.display = 'none';

    document.body.appendChild( temporaryDownloadLink );

    for( var n = 0; n < filesForDownload.length; n++ )
    {
        var download = filesForDownload[n];
        temporaryDownloadLink.setAttribute( 'href', download.path );
        temporaryDownloadLink.setAttribute( 'download', download.name );

        temporaryDownloadLink.click();
    }

    document.body.removeChild( temporaryDownloadLink );
} );

Answer 3

I fond that executing click() event on a element inside a for loop for multiple files download works only for limited number of files (10 files in my case). The only reason that would explain this behavior that made sense to me, was speed/intervals of downloads executed by click() events.

I figure out that, if I slow down execution of click() event, then I will be able to downloads all files.

This is solution that worked for me.

var urls = [
  'http://example.com/file1',
  'http://example.com/file2',
  'http://example.com/file3'
]

var interval = setInterval(download, 300, urls);

function download(urls) {
  var url = urls.pop();

  var a = document.createElement("a");
  a.setAttribute('href', url);
  a.setAttribute('download', '');
  a.setAttribute('target', '_blank');
  a.click();

  if (urls.length == 0) {
    clearInterval(interval);
  }
}

I execute download event click() every 300ms. When there is no more files to download urls.length == 0 then, I execute clearInterval on interval function to stop downloads.

Answer 4

You can either:

1. Zip the selected files and return the one zipped file.
2. Open multiple pop-ups each prompting for a download.

Note - option one is objectively better.

Edit Found an option three: https://stackoverflow.com/a/9425731/1803682

Answer 5

I've solved this a different way by using window.location. It works in Chrome, which fortunately is the only browser I had to support. Might be useful to someone. I'd initally used Dan's answer, which also needed the timeout I've used here or it only downloaded one file.

var linkArray = [];
linkArray.push("http://example.com/downloadablefile1");
linkArray.push("http://example.com/downloadablefile2");
linkArray.push("http://example.com/downloadablefile3");    

function (linkArray) {
  for (var i = 0; i < linkArray.length; i++) { 
    setTimeout(function (path) { window.location = path; }, 200 + i * 200, linkArray[i]);
  }        
};

Answer 6

    <!DOCTYPE html>
    <html ng-app='app'>
        <head>
            <title>
            </title>
            <link rel="stylesheet" href="http://maxcdn.bootstrapcdn.com/bootstrap/3.3.6/css/bootstrap.min.css">
            <link rel="stylesheet" href="style.css">
        </head>
        <body ng-cloack>        
            <div class="container" ng-controller='FirstCtrl'>           
              <table class="table table-bordered table-downloads">
                <thead>
                  <tr>
                    <th>Select</th>
                    <th>File name</th>
                    <th>Downloads</th>
                  </tr>
                </thead>
                <tbody>
                  <tr ng-repeat = 'tableData in tableDatas'>
                    <td>
                        <div class="checkbox">
                          <input type="checkbox" name="{{tableData.name}}" id="{{tableData.name}}" value="{{tableData.name}}" ng-model= 'tableData.checked' ng-change="selected()">
                        </div>
                    </td>
                    <td>{{tableData.fileName}}</td>
                    <td>
                        <a target="_self" id="download-{{tableData.name}}" ng-href="{{tableData.filePath}}" class="btn btn-success pull-right downloadable" download>download</a>
                    </td>
                  </tr>              
                </tbody>
              </table>
                <a class="btn btn-success pull-right" ng-click='downloadAll()'>download selected</a>

                <p>{{selectedone}}</p>
            </div>
            <script src="https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.12.0/jquery.min.js"></script>
            <script src="https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/angularjs/1.4.8/angular.min.js"></script>
            <script src="script.js"></script>
        </body>
    </html>


app.js


var app = angular.module('app', []);            
app.controller('FirstCtrl', ['$scope','$http', '$filter', function($scope, $http, $filter){

$scope.tableDatas = [
    {name: 'value1', fileName:'file1', filePath: 'data/file1.txt', selected: true},
    {name: 'value2', fileName:'file2', filePath: 'data/file2.txt', selected: true},
    {name: 'value3', fileName:'file3', filePath: 'data/file3.txt', selected: false},
    {name: 'value4', fileName:'file4', filePath: 'data/file4.txt', selected: true},
    {name: 'value5', fileName:'file5', filePath: 'data/file5.txt', selected: true},
    {name: 'value6', fileName:'file6', filePath: 'data/file6.txt', selected: false},
  ];  
$scope.application = [];   

$scope.selected = function() {
    $scope.application = $filter('filter')($scope.tableDatas, {
      checked: true
    });
}

$scope.downloadAll = function(){
    $scope.selectedone = [];     
    angular.forEach($scope.application,function(val){
       $scope.selectedone.push(val.name);
       $scope.id = val.name;        
       angular.element('#'+val.name).closest('tr').find('.downloadable')[0].click();
    });
}         


}]);

plunker example: https://plnkr.co/edit/XynXRS7c742JPfCA3IpE?p=preview

Answer 7

This works in all browsers (IE11, Firefox, Microsoft Edge, Chrome and Chrome Mobile) My documents are in multiple select elements. The browsers seem to have issues when you try to do it too fast... So I used a timeout.

<select class="document">
    <option val="word.docx">some word document</option>
</select>

//user clicks a download button to download all selected documents
    $('#downloadDocumentsButton').click(function () {
        var interval = 1000;
        //select elements have class name of "document"
        $('.document').each(function (index, element) {
            var doc = $(element).val();
            if (doc) {
                setTimeout(function () {
                    window.location = doc;
                }, interval * (index + 1));
            }
        });
    });

This solution uses promises:

function downloadDocs(docs) {
    docs[0].then(function (result) {
        if (result.web) {
            window.open(result.doc);
        }
        else {
            window.location = result.doc;
        }
        if (docs.length > 1) {
            setTimeout(function () { return downloadDocs(docs.slice(1)); }, 2000);
        }
    });
}

 $('#downloadDocumentsButton').click(function () {
    var files = [];
    $('.document').each(function (index, element) {
        var doc = $(element).val();
        var ext = doc.split('.')[doc.split('.').length - 1];

        if (doc && $.inArray(ext, docTypes) > -1) {
            files.unshift(Promise.resolve({ doc: doc, web: false }));
        }
        else if (doc && ($.inArray(ext, webTypes) > -1 || ext.includes('?'))) {
            files.push(Promise.resolve({ doc: doc, web: true }));
        }
    });

    downloadDocs(files);
});

Answer 8

This is the easiest way I have found to download multiple files.

$('body').on('click','.download_btn',function(){
    downloadFiles([
        ['File1.pdf', 'File1-link-here'],
        ['File2.pdf', 'File2-link-here'],
        ['File3.pdf', 'File3-link-here'],
        ['File4.pdf', 'File4-link-here']
    ]);
})
function downloadFiles(files){
    if(files.length == 0){
        return;
    }
    file = files.pop();
    var Link = $('body').append('<a href="'+file[1]+'" download="file[0]"></a>');
    Link[0].click(); 
    Link.remove();
    downloadFiles(files);
}

This should be work for you. Thank You.

Answer 9

you could go for the iframe

NOTE: though this is one of the few ways to download multiple files at once, without creating pop-up, this won't work with files that can be rendered in browser. check js comment

NOTE 2: some browsers may ask for permission to download multiple files from the same page

function download(){
  const links = ["mysite.com/file1", "mysite.com/file2", "mysite.com/file3"]
  // only works with files that don't render in browser
  // ie: not video, not text, not photo
  for(let i = 0; i < links.length; i++) {
    var frame = document.createElement("iframe");
    frame.src = links[i];
    frame["download"] = 1
    document.body.appendChild(frame);
  }
}

iframe{
  display: none;
}

<body>
  <div onclick="download()">Download</div>
</body>

Answer 10

//It is possible when using Tampermonkey (Firefox or Chrome).
//They added the GM_Download command.
//You can use it like this download multiple files One time:


// ==UserScript==
// @name        
// @description 
// @match       
// @grant       
// @grant       GM_download
function setup_reader(file) {
    var name = file.name;
    var reader = new FileReader();
    reader.onload = function (e) {
        var bin = e.target.result; //get file content
        var lines = bin.split('\n');
        for (var line = 0; line < lines.length; line++) {
            console.log(lines[line]);
            GM_download(lines[line], line + '.jpg');
        }
    }
    // reader.readAsBinaryString(file);
    reader.readAsText(file, 'utf-8');//
}