Response.WriteFile() -- not working asp net mvc 4.5

Question

I've looked at many resources and the following should work, however my save as dialog box is never showing (not browser specific):

Response.ContentType = "application/octet-stream";
string downloadName = "Request "+request.RequestID+ "_researchExport.doc";
Response.AddHeader("Content-Length", 
    new System.IO.FileInfo(FileName).Length.ToString());
Response.AddHeader("Content-Disposition", 
    string.Format("attachment; filename={0};", downloadName));
Response.WriteFile(FileName);
Response.Flush();
Response.End();

The file definitely exists. I've also tried the following:

Using Response.TransmitFile(FileName) instead
Leaving out Response.End()
Leaving out the Content-Length header
Using this.ControllerContext.HttpContext.Response

Any help would be greatly appreciated

I have attempted to use the suggested answer here: stackoverflow.com/questions/8897458/… but this also did not work — lohiaguitar91
– lohiaguitar91, Commented Mar 17, 2013 at 7:32
Update: I did get an HTTP connection closed error on Response.End(), but cannot reproduce it. — lohiaguitar91
– lohiaguitar91, Commented Mar 17, 2013 at 21:34

Joachim Isaksson · Accepted Answer · 2013-03-17 07:44:56Z

2

Not sure if it's your only problem, but the file name in the Content-Disposition header is supposed to be a quoted-string, so you'll need to add quotes around it, particularly since it contains spaces;

Response.AddHeader("Content-Disposition", 
    string.Format("attachment; filename=\"{0}\"", downloadName));

On a side note, Response.End() also flushes the buffer, so your Response.Flush() is redundant.

edited Mar 17, 2013 at 7:44

answered Mar 17, 2013 at 7:39

Joachim Isaksson

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3 Comments

lohiaguitar91 Over a year ago

Here's the file name: C:\Users\MyName\Documents\Project\MyTest\MyTest\researcherExport.doc which contains no spaces.

Joachim Isaksson Over a year ago

@lohiaguitar91 string downloadName = "Request "+request.RequestID+ "_researchExport.doc"; would seem to build a file name Request xx_researchExport.doc with a space in it.

lohiaguitar91 Over a year ago

ah yes. I did remove the space to now read "Request+request.RequestID+ "_researchExport.doc" however still no download prompt. Checked many different resources and it seems like what I'm doing should work. Surrounding it in a try-catch block did not produce any exception.

lohiaguitar91 · Accepted Answer · 2013-03-22 18:48:28Z

0

Solved the issue. I was using Ajax to call this function from one of my views. This didn't work (I am not sure why), but I think it may be because I have multiple controllers. Calling this from @HTML.ActionLink() had the prompt display properly.

answered Mar 22, 2013 at 18:48

lohiaguitar91

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