Datasheets can no longer be viewed online?

[Andrew Neil]

eg, this morning, https://www.st.com/en/evaluation-tools/stm32f4discovery.html

 

It used to be possible to right-click the link, and choose ‘Open in new tab’ - and the PDF would, indeed, open in a new browser tab.

That no longer works: it insists that you download the file.

Same if I copy & paste the link here.

https://www.st.com/resource/en/datasheet/stm32f407vg.pdf

 

This applies to both the ‘Download datasheet’ button on the main page:

 

and the link on the ‘Documentation’ tab:

 

But the Application Note links can still be viewed online; eg,

https://www.st.com/resource/en/application_note/an4230-introduction-to-random-number-generation-validation-using-the-nist-statistical-test-suite-for-stm32-mcus-and-mpus-stmicroelectronics.pdf

 

This is Really Bad - because it means it is no longer possible to post links to specific pages in datasheets; eg,

https://www.st.com/resource/en/datasheet/stm32f407vg.pdf#page=1

which I do a lot; eg, here:

Where I link to page 63 of the datasheet, as that’s where the OP’s question is specifically answered - like this

https://www.st.com/resource/en/datasheet/stm32h743vi.pdf#page=63

 

I’m using Chrome Version 153.0.8010.48 (Official Build) (64-bit) on Windows 11 - as I always have.

 

PS:

Chrome has just updated itself to Version 154.0.8037.58 (Official Build) (64-bit) - the problem persists.

Edge Version 153.0.4234.48 (Official build) (64-bit) is (unsurprisingly) the same.

[Andrew Neil]

It used to be possible to right-click the link, and choose ‘Open in new tab’ - and the PDF would, indeed, open in a new browser tab.

I’ve mentioned this before:

So something has changed recently!

 

From that thread, see also:

https://community.st.com/feedback%2Dforum%2D118/st%2Dweb%2Dserver%2Dbug%2Dfor%2Dpdf%2Dfiles%2D124287

by ​@Piranha - which seems to describe the issue.

[Andrew Neil]

This is what I see for that datasheet in Chrome’s “Developer Tools”:

For the App Note:

 

[Andrew Neil]

Thus it seems that the ST website is using the wrong Content-Disposition header in its response:

• attachment forces the browser to download the file;
   
• inline would allow the browser to display it.

https://stackoverflow.com/a/1395173

 

 

[Andrew Neil]

Seems there is a Chrome extension which I could use to fix this locally on my PC:

https://superuser.com/a/1220688

But that still won’t address the issue of the #page references for others.