How can I allow only privledged users to download a pdf with php?
- by ThinkingInBits
Lets say I have some pdf files stored on my server and I only want to allow a person who's paid have access to download a particular pdf.
So for an example, let's say I have a bunch of e-books. The only way a user would be able to download e-book A is if his account contains the right credentials for that particular book.
What's the best way to accomplish this?
Any ideas/advice on how to improve my idea are greatly appreciated!
My current idea:
A user places an order
Upon success, a new folder would be
created by their
/account_num/order_id/ A copy of the
particular file would be stored in
this directory
Have php generate an .htaccess that
would only allow access from a url
that contains a random hash embedded
into it.
The only way a user would be able to
access this random hashed page is if
they are signed in as the right user,
and the hash matches up with the hash
stored in the database, otherwise
they are redirected to home page.