setting the filename for a downloaded file in a rails application

Question

I have a controller action that allows a user to download a file with an extension of .ppt . It\'s not really a powerpoint binary, just an xml-ish format that powerpoint can

Answer 1

You could use send_data:

send_data pptdata, :filename => 'your_file_name.ppt', 
   :disposition => 'inline', :type => "multipart/related"

Another advantage of this is you can use x-sendfile, so that you're mongrel/thin isn't waiting while the client downloads the data.

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Another option would be to have a route like:

/elements/3/files/foo.ppt

Then in your show method for the FilesController you can send whatever the id parameter would be.