PHP - How Reliable Putenv ('tz=mytimezone')

Which is more reliable (functionality wise - not compatibility wise).

Using Javascript (new Date(); function to detect user/visitor time automatically) or PHP's (Date and Time extension - DateTime:: - where the user/visitor selects their timezone themselfs)

To retrieves the users/visitors time?

Hi all,

I've tried many, many variations of php download script using readfile() fread() fpassthru() etc... but none seem reliable. I can download small files perfectly fine, but say I have a 30 or 90mb zip file the download ocassionally bombs out and says the download is complete even though the full file hasn't been transferred.
I have tired it on several browsers with pretty much the same issue. The interesting bit for me is that if I download the same file across different browsers (whether or not they start at the same time or not) on my computer the download stops at the same time (not same point into download) for each browser.  Its as if the connection is being reset on my website on a global basis...

The important part of my script as it is at the moment:

Code: [Select]
// resumable download?
$is_resume = TRUE;

//Gather relevant info about file
$size = filesize($path);
$fileinfo = pathinfo($path);

@ini_set('magic_quotes_runtime', 0);
set_time_limit(0);
apache_setenv('no-gzip', '1');
mb_http_output("pass");

// required for IE, otherwise Content-disposition is ignored
if(ini_get('zlib.output_compression')) { ini_set('zlib.output_compression', 'Off'); }
 
//workaround for IE filename bug with multiple periods / multiple dots in filename
//that adds square brackets to filename - eg. setup.abc.exe becomes setup[1].abc.exe
$filename = (strstr($_SERVER['HTTP_USER_AGENT'], 'MSIE')) ?
preg_replace('/\./', '%2e', $fileinfo['basename'], substr_count($fileinfo['basename'], '.') - 1) :
$fileinfo['basename'];

$file_extension = strtolower($fileinfo['extension']);

    //This will set the Content-Type to the appropriate setting for the file
    switch($file_extension) {
        case 'zip': $ctype='application/zip'; break;
        case 'pdf': $ctype='application/pdf'; break;
        default:    $ctype='application/force-download';
    }

    //check if http_range is sent by browser (or download manager)
    if($is_resume && isset($_SERVER['HTTP_RANGE'])) {
        list($size_unit, $range_orig) = explode('=', $_SERVER['HTTP_RANGE'], 2);
        if ($size_unit == 'bytes') {
            //multiple ranges could be specified at the same time, but for simplicity only serve the first range
            //http://tools.ietf.org/id/draft-ietf-http-range-retrieval-00.txt
            list($range, $extra_ranges) = explode(',', $range_orig, 2);
        } else {
            $range = '';
        }
    } else {
        $range = '';
    }

    //figure out download piece from range (if set)
    list($seek_start, $seek_end) = explode('-', $range, 2);

    //set start and end based on range (if set), else set defaults
    //also check for invalid ranges.
    $seek_end = (empty($seek_end)) ? ($size - 1) : min(abs(intval($seek_end)),($size - 1));
    $seek_start = (empty($seek_start) || $seek_end < abs(intval($seek_start))) ? 0 : max(abs(intval($seek_start)),0);

    //add headers if resumable
    if ($is_resume) {
        //Only send partial content header if downloading a piece of the file (IE workaround)
        if ($seek_start > 0 || $seek_end < ($size - 1)) {
            header('HTTP/1.1 206 Partial Content');
        }
header('Accept-Ranges: bytes');
        header('Content-Range: bytes '.$seek_start.'-'.$seek_end.'/'.$size);
    }

    header("Cache-Control: cache, must-revalidate"); 
    header("Pragma: public");
    header('Content-Type: ' . $ctype);
    header("Content-Disposition: attachment; filename=\"".$filename."\"");
    header('Content-Length: '.($seek_end - $seek_start + 1));

    //open the file
    $fp = fopen($path, 'rb');
    //seek to start of missing part
    fseek($fp, $seek_start);

    //start buffered download
    while(!feof($fp)) {
        //reset time limit for big files
        set_time_limit(0);
        print(fread($fp, 1024*8));
        flush();
        ob_flush();
    }
    fclose($fp);
exit();

I did have the following section in replace of the above fread section up until this morning (but same issue):

Code: [Select]
// http headers for zip downloads
header("Pragma: public");
header("Expires: 0");
header("Cache-Control: must-revalidate, post-check=0, pre-check=0");
header("Cache-Control: public");
header("Content-Description: File Transfer");
header("Content-type: application/octet-stream");
header("Content-Disposition: attachment; filename=\"".$filename."\"");
header("Content-Transfer-Encoding: binary");
header('Content-Length: '.$size);
ob_end_flush();
@readfile($path);

I have tried different headers and so forth, but all generally seem to bomb out occassionally before the download completes. But they don't bomb out at a particular point in the file size (ie at 25mb). Just seems to work and then die at the same time across different browsers, even when they are started at different times.

Very strange and I've spent days modifying the script and still no answers. Sometimes the files download fine, but bomb out too many times for it to be satifactory to leave.

Any help or pointers would be much appreciated.

I launched my new website about a month ago.  I switched from one web host to another due to poor hosting performance.  Now I'm running into the same issue again -- poor web hosting performance.   My first web host was Hostgator.  My current web host is AT&T.  I hate the thought of switching to a different web host every month trying to find one that will reliably host my site.  Does anyone here have a reliable web host that they use and would recommend?   My question is relative since what is reliable for a simple web site, may not be reliable for one that is more complex.  For this reason, I can't simply trust web host reviews.   My website isn't overly complicated, but it's more complex than just basic HTML.  It uses a lot of PHP, as well as a MySQL database that only has two small tables.  The website uploads and downloads small text files regularly.  It also sends E-mail attatchments quite often.   Because I just launched, my website isn't getting a ton of traffic -- about 10 users per day.  However, I'm beginning to run into the same problem as before.  My web host's server is starting to show itself as being unreliable.  As with my first web host, it seems as if it may be due to overcrowding on the shared server.   Do any of you run any moderately complex websites?  If so, who do you use for a reliable web host?   I've considered setting up my own server with a LAMP configuration and hosting the site myself.  However, I don't know a lot about Linux or Apache, and so would like to avoid this.  But because the computer would only be hosting my own website, and no one else's, I have to believe that a LAMP setup would be more reliable than a shared server that is overcrowded.   A reliable web host is really what I'm looking for.  But I don't want to keep going down the road of trial and error.  If anyone uses a web host that reliably supports their moderately-complex website, then I would love to hear from you.  I'm sick of my site failing due to server issues.  Like the Duracel commercial says, "It just has to work!"   Please forgive me if you feel that my post doesn't correctly fit the forum category.  I tried to figure out which category best fits this topic, but none of them seemed to be perfectly suitable.   Thank you for your time, as well as for any suggestions.