Best way to return a user-generated file, AJAX or Forms?

Posted by Bill Zimmerman on Stack Overflow See other posts from Stack Overflow or by Bill Zimmerman
Published on 2010-03-28T16:43:47Z Indexed on 2010/03/28 16:53 UTC
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Hi,

I'm new to web programming, so I need some help.

I am writing a custom file-creation app for my site. A user visits the page, clicks on some various options and toggles some checkboxes, and the presses a 'download now' link.

I have a PHP backend which will be processing the submission, and generating a PDF file. After the user presses the download link, I want the download to start like it would for any static link.

My question is: What is the best way to do this? From my limited understanding, I have a choice between using AJAX or somehow using forms to submit the data. What are the advantages/disadvantages of each? Does anyone have any good links to examples?

Thanks

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