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DataTables / TableTools

Please note that TableTools has now been retired and replaced by the Buttons and Select extensions which offers significant improvements and API integration with the rest of DataTables and the other extensions.
http://datatables.net/
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Downloads not notifying the user that they occur #45

Closed michaelherold closed 10 years ago

michaelherold commented 10 years ago

When using the download feature (either to CSV or to PDF), there is no notification from the browser that the download is complete like from a traditional download. This is causing a client of ours a lot of confusion. I don't believe it's a configuration issue on our end, because I am seeing the same behavior on the example TableTools page.

Steps to reproduce:

  1. Navigate to the TableTools page linked above.
  2. Click the "CSV" button.
  3. Choose a download location (or let the browser pick its default - either way).
  4. File downloads, but does not notify the user.

Expected behavior:

During (4) the browser should raise a notification (through the download bar in Chrome, download progress in Firefox, an alert box, or similar function) that the download is first occurring and then finished.

I tested this in Chrome 31.0.1650.57 and Firefox 27.0.1 on Ubuntu 12.04 (x64) and Chrome 33.0.1750.117 m, Internet Explorer 11.0.9600.16476, and Firefox 27.0.1 on Windows 7 (x64).

DataTables commented 10 years ago

I think there is a slight misunderstanding here - there is no download, therefore the browser's download notifications never get triggered. The file is create by the Flash run time and saved locally using its APIs, so there is no download.

I suppose Flash might be able to trick the browser into thinking there is a download - but that's something to take up with Adobe!

If you wanted to have an actual download, you would need to trigger a server-side script with your buttons. Or possibly use data://.

I wrote about some of the upcoming APIs in HTML5 which will allow TableTools to step away from Flash: http://next.datatables.net/blog/2014-01-31 . But not yet, since none of the browsers implement these draft specs yet.