Doubt over downloading!

[jbhavin]

hi, suddenly i have a got a doubt or confusion..

Now using database and asp, the user searches a pdf doc or a wav file... and when i href that , he can download..

or in short when i diplay all the files on server he can clock and download!

so when do i basically require a FTP?

[Mark_A]

Were you letting users download docs via ftp before?
You can still allow that if you wish?
But you dont have to.

FTP is file transfer protocol so its intended for copying files from machine to machine.

What I dont like about pdf in websites is that unless a pdf document is clearly indicated I tend to click by mistake rather than right mouse click and downloading and when clicking directly IE for example will spawn the acrobat reader and open the file from the server / local cache .. rather than simply downloading it to open later.

Were there a simple (html) way I could force download rather than open, I would likely try that on some sites.

Anyhow you dont have to use ftp now if you dont want to.

[jbhavin]

Thankx Mark

But, well my real doubt is, when should I really use FTP and When i dont have to.

for example Ihave to make a website where ".wav" files are to be uploaded and downloaded regularly...

now in the site , if I display the file with href tag, isnt that enough?

why FTP, if its a bad question please bear , i am quite new to this conectps, jus want to clear it up!

[korkus2000]

If you are going to have a real membership of people you know then you may want ftp. The problem is it opens your server files open with the FTP port. I would suggest using an http download and upload.