Why does adding ":remote => true" cause my file download not to launch?

Question

I’m using Rails 5. I have set up this link for downloading a file

<%= link_to image_tag("cc_icon.png"), scenario_download_cc_path(subscription.scenario), :remote => true %>

which links to this controller method

def download_cc
  scenario = Scenario.find(params[:scenario_id])
  send_data scenario.cc_data, filename: "#{scenario.title}.imscc", type: 'application/zip', :disposition => 'attachment'
end

But when I click on the link above, even though I see a remote call being made, no file download appears in my browser (I’ve tried this on both Chrome and Firefox). How do I make this work? Note, removing “remote => true” is not an option because then the URL in my address bar changes, which I don’t want.

Answer 1

I've not seen the remote option used with file downloads. It's mostly designed for AJAX form posting and URL hits like deleting a record or action calls that make sense to do over AJAX.

If you want the link to force a "Save As..." dialog, use the download attribute in the link. A 'bare' download attribute will force the "Save As..." dialog. Its value will be the download filename. So <a href="/my/download/action" download="file_100.zip"> opens a dialog prompting you to save file_100.zip.