2024-08-14
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Glad Chinda
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Aug 14, 2024 â‹… 14 min read

Programmatically downloading files in the browser

Glad Chinda Full-stack web developer learning new hacks one day at a time. Web technology enthusiast. Hacking stuffs @theflutterwave.

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5 Replies to "Programmatically downloading files in the browser"

  1. Hello. Great article! One comment though: in the function `downloadBlob` you declare a `clickHandler` that gets a value of an arrow function, which uses the `this` keyword. Since arrow functions do not have `this`, and you use `this` in a `setTimeout` callback function — it ends up being `undefined`, which throws when you perform the `.` operator on it (to call the `removeEventListener` method).
    Thanks for the article!
    Eran

  2. Hi Eran, thanks for pointing that out. That was an error on my part.

    The `clickHandler` function is supposed to be a regular JS function as opposed to an arrow function — that way, it would have the correct `this` binding internally (the target element) when it is eventually used as an event listener callback. If you notice in the subsequent Codepen snippets, you’d observe that the `clickHandler` function was defined as a regular function instead of as an arrow function.

    Thanks again for spotting that out.

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