What are best practices for handling user feedback or messages in PHP when generating downloadable files?

When generating downloadable files in PHP, it is important to handle user feedback or messages appropriately to ensure a smooth user experience. One best practice is to use session variables to store feedback messages and display them to the user after the file has been generated. 

<?php
session_start();

// Generate the downloadable file
// ...

// Set feedback message
$_SESSION['message'] = 'Your file has been successfully generated.';

// Redirect to the download page
header('Location: download.php');
exit;
?>
```

In the `download.php` file, you can then display the feedback message to the user:

```php
<?php
session_start();

// Display feedback message
if(isset($_SESSION['message'])) {
    echo $_SESSION['message'];
    unset($_SESSION['message']);
}
?>

Keywords

file handling user input validation error handling download functionality PHP headers

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