Java EE (Java Enterprise Edition) General Discussion

I have trouble to make my download servlet work in Internet Explore. I have gone through all the previous postings and done some research on the internet, but still can't figure out the solution. <br>
I have a jsp page called "download.jsp" which contains a URL to download a file from the server, and I wrote a servlet (called DownloadServlet) to look up the corresponding file from the database based on the URL and write the file to the HTTP output to send it back to the browser. <br>

the URL in download.jsp is coded like <a href="/download/<%= currentDoc.doc_id %>/<%= currentDoc.name %>">on the browser, it will be sth like , the number 87 is my internal unique number for a file, and "myfile.doc" is the real document name. <br>

in my web.xml, "/download/" is mapped to DownloadServlet <br>

the downloadServlet.java looks like

-----------------------------------------
tem_name = ... //read DB for file name

// set content type

if ( tmp_name.endsWith(".doc")) {
response.setContentType("application/msword");
}
else if ( tmp_name.endsWith(".pdf")){
response.setContentType("application/pdf");
}
else if ( tmp_name.endsWith(".ppt")){
response.setContentType("application/vnd.ms-powerpoint");
}
else if ( tmp_name.endsWith(".xls")){
response.setContentType("application/vnd.ms-excel");
}
else {
response.setContentType("application/download");
}

// set HTTP header

response.setHeader("Content-Disposition",
"attachment; filename=\""+tmp_name+"\"");

OutputStream os = response.getOutputStream();

//read local file and write back to browser

int i;
while ((i = is.read()) != -1) {
os.write (i);
}
os.flush();

------------------------------------------

Everything works fine in Netscape 7.0, when I click on the link, Netscape prompts me to choose "open using Word" or "save this file to disk". That's exactly the behavior I want. <br>

However in IE 5.50, the behavior is VERY STRANGE.

First, when I click on the URL, the popup window asks me to "open the file from its current location" or "save the file to disk". It also says "You have chosen to download a file from this location, ...(some url).. from localhost"

(1) If I choose "save the file to disk", it will save the rendered "download.jsp" (ie, the currect page with URL I just clicked, which isn't what I want).

(2)But if I choose "open the file from its current location", the 2nd popup window replaces the 1st, which also has the "Open ..." and "Save.." options, but it says "You have chosen to download a file from this location, MYFILE.doc from localhost". (notice it shows the correct file name now)

(3) If I choose "Save..." on the 2nd window, IE will save the correct file which is "myfile.doc"; if I choose "Open ...", a 3rd replaces the 2nd window, and they look the same, and when I choose "Open..." on the 3rd window, IE will use Word to open it.

any ideas?

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