I'm using the following code to onLoad of FileReader to create a tag and put inside the href the result from FileReader. Which is a base64 string.

   let reader = new FileReader()
    reader.readAsDataURL(myInputTypeFile.files[0])

    reader.onloadend = (e) => {
        let file
        for (let i = 0; i < attachInput.files.length; i++) {
            file = attachInput.files[i]

            if (file.type === 'application/pdf'){
                let anchor = document.createElement('a')
                anchor.setAttribute('class', 'q-attached-file')
                anchor.setAttribute('title', file.name)
                anchor.setAttribute('href', reader.result)
                anchor.innerText = file.name
                myElement.appendChild(anchor)
            }
        }
    }

This is the html produced:

But when I click on the element I just see 'about:blank' loaded on browser.

UPDATE

this how the reader.result string is in console.log()

I'm using the following code to onLoad of FileReader to create a tag and put inside the href the result from FileReader. Which is a base64 string.

   let reader = new FileReader()
    reader.readAsDataURL(myInputTypeFile.files[0])

    reader.onloadend = (e) => {
        let file
        for (let i = 0; i < attachInput.files.length; i++) {
            file = attachInput.files[i]

            if (file.type === 'application/pdf'){
                let anchor = document.createElement('a')
                anchor.setAttribute('class', 'q-attached-file')
                anchor.setAttribute('title', file.name)
                anchor.setAttribute('href', reader.result)
                anchor.innerText = file.name
                myElement.appendChild(anchor)
            }
        }
    }

This is the html produced:

But when I click on the element I just see 'about:blank' loaded on browser.

UPDATE

this how the reader.result string is in console.log()

• javascript
• html
• base64

Share Improve this question Follow edited Jan 15, 2018 at 20:33 CommonSenseCode asked Jan 15, 2018 at 20:26 CommonSenseCodeCommonSenseCode 25.5k3838 gold badges148148 silver badges196196 bronze badges 3

• Base64 strings for the href are perfectly valid - are you sure that your Base64 is indeed correct? Are you also sure that you have a PDF Viewer assigned to your 'Open With' for your browser? – Obsidian Age Commented Jan 15, 2018 at 20:29
• kinda looks like your data uri is missing a ",". Here is data uri format from mozilla documentation: data:[<mediatype>][;base64],<data> developer.mozilla/en-US/docs/Web/HTTP/Basics_of_HTTP/… Probably not your problem but I always like to start with the small stuff first. – victor Commented Jan 15, 2018 at 20:32
• @ObsidianAge pls see the update – CommonSenseCode Commented Jan 15, 2018 at 20:34

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1 Answer 1

Sorted by: Reset to default 5

If your user is in a browser that supports the download attribute, you can add it to your anchor tag.

<a download href="...">

However not all browsers support the download attribute. Check the support tables.

There is a lib that does some tricky stuff to sidestep some of the differences between browsers. If you don't mind a few extra kb, try using DownloadJS.