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Multiple download functionality

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FileExplorer
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Thomas
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Thomas asked on 17 May 2010, 07:12 PM
I need to build a file download manager that will let users select multiple files and download them all at once with no other prompts than the first to determine where on their local machine to save the files. Is it possible to do this with the FileExplorer control? If it is not possible, does anyone have any recommendations about a third-party control that would enable this functionality?

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Dobromir
Telerik team
answered on 20 May 2010, 11:14 AM
Hi Thomas,

Unfortunately, It is not possible to download multiple files at once with a single prompted dialog. This limitation comes from the web itself - for each file the browser should send a different request.

For such scenario, the only workaround that I can offer you is to ZIP the selected files on the server and download that zip file. Please take a look at the following KB articles for more detailed information on how to achieve this:
Custom field in the GridContextMenu. Pass the selected item's path to the server when the field is clicked.
Pass all of the selected items' paths to the server

Greetings,
Dobromir
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Thomas
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answered on 20 May 2010, 06:10 PM
The problem is that in the case where this will be used, the combined file size could easily get over 2-4 GB which is outside the range that ZIP will handle.
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Dobromir
Telerik team
answered on 25 May 2010, 01:19 PM
Hi Thomas,

In order to avoid this problem I suggest you to use Zip64 format which does not have this file-size limitation. There are several open source libraries that support Zip64 - for example DotNetZip.

All the best,
Dobromir
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Thomas
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answered on 25 May 2010, 03:09 PM
Wouldn't Zip64 require that the user that downloads the files have something that will uncompress a Zip64 file or will Windows natively unzip Zip64?
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Dobromir
Telerik team
answered on 26 May 2010, 01:49 PM
Hi Thomas,

ZIP64 format is natively supported by Windows Vista and later versions, thus users with Windows XP will need additional software to unzip such files.

Unfortunately, if this is a showstopper, I am unable to provide you another suitable workaround for such scenario.

Best wishes,
Dobromir
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Thomas
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answered on 10 Nov 2010, 08:50 PM
Dobromir,

I noticed in the 2010.3.1109 version of the ASP.NET controls that the RadAsyncUpload control uses a bit of Flash to allow for multiple file selection. Is there any hope of Telerik implementing some equivalent trick for providing for multiple downloads. As mentioned in the original post, I'm trying to build a download manager that would allow clients to choose multiple files. (It'd be nice if MS provided a means to tap into its File Transfer Manager used for things like MSDN but I digress...). Even if each file represented a new request, that would be fine as long as there were a means to send subsequent files to the same location as the first file.
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Dobromir
Telerik team
answered on 12 Nov 2010, 04:17 PM
Hi Thomas,

I am afraid that I would have to disappoint you. The required feature cannot be implemented. Allowing 'silent' downloads on the user's machine will be a huge security breach.

Regarding the MS File Transfer Manager, it is a separate desktop application which the user starts - such approach is the only possible solution for multiple downloads.

Kind regards,
Dobromir
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Thomas
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answered on 12 Nov 2010, 06:46 PM
Microsoft handles the scenario of Firefox users downloading from MSDN via Java applet (the File Transfer Manager only works through IE. Probably an ActiveX control). It is a shame since it is a core piece of functionality to any file management system.
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Vinh
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answered on 01 Feb 2012, 05:07 AM
Hi,

I'm using the DBContentProvider.  but I'm having a problem with selecting multiple files and zip. and send to handle.ashx.  Is there any way I can have the sample for this?  I already have the code for context menu "download" for single item and "zip & download" for multiple items.

Thanks
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Dobromir
Telerik team
answered on 03 Feb 2012, 01:16 PM
Hi Vinh,

You can pass the path to multiple selected files to the handler through URL. IF you pass the same parameter multiple times to the Handler the parameter in the Request will contain all values separated by comma (,). For example, if you pass the following query string to the Handler.ascx:
Handler.ascx?path=image1.jpg&path=image2.jpg&path=image3.jpg

The value of the Request.Params["path"] parameter on the server will be like follows:
"image1.jpg,image2.jpg,image3.jpg"


Regards,
Dobromir
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Keshia
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answered on 16 Mar 2016, 08:30 PM

Hi Dobromir,

I know this is an old post but you mentioned it is not possible to download multiple files with a single prompt; is it possible to do multiple downloads at all?

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Vessy
Telerik team
answered on 21 Mar 2016, 04:21 PM
Hi Keshia,

The multiple donload is still not among the buult-in functionality of RadFileExplorer but the should not be a problem to be achieved using the API of the control. A little reasearch lead me to a blog post of a client of ours, describing in details how he has achieved the multiple download functionality ith the control. You can review the approach implemented by him here:
http://monox.mono-software.com/blog/post/Mono/118/Multiple-download-in-Telerik-RadFileExplorer/

Regards,
Vessy
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Dobromir
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Thomas
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Vinh
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Keshia
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Vessy
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