Subject: ASPTips: Force "file download" for known file types 

********** THE TIP **********

Force "file download" for known file types

Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) is a wonderful thing, 
allowing your Web browser to automatically display content of many 
different formats natively within the browser window. However, 
sometimes, you may want users to download this content to their 
client computer rather than simply viewing it in the browser. But 
how do you override the browser's determination to render known 
MIME types itself? The answer is to use a content disposition 
header in your Web page.

Suppose you've written an ASP page that contains a link to a known 
MIME type, but you want the user to download the file instead of 
viewing it. Add the following to your script:

response.addHeader "content-disposition", "attachment;
filename=filename.ext"

Then substitute the actual filename and extension, and it's as good 
as done. When your users click on the link, they'll immediately see 
the download dialog box instead of the file's contents.