Creating an excel file with EPPlus, but it is always read-only

Question

I'm creating/sending a file with EPPlus like this:

using (ExcelPackage package = new ExcelPackage())
{

    ExcelWorksheet worksheet = package.Workbook.Worksheets.Add("Sheet");
    ... //create file here

    Response.Clear();
    Response.ContentType = "application/xlsx";
    Response.AddHeader("content-disposition", "attachment; filename=" + filename + ".xlsx");
    Response.BinaryWrite(package.GetAsByteArray());
    Response.End();
}

Everything works fine, except the file always comes back as read-only, and I can't figure out why. Within the "package" object, there is a file object with a IsReadOnly field, but the file object is null. I anticipate that I'm not creating the xcel file correctly, but this is the only way I could figure out how to create the file well. Initially I was using a memory stream, but doing that, I ran into issues when the excel file was bigger than 50 rows.

Edit/update: So I initiate the code block by clicking a button "Download as Excel File". The code runs, creating the file, and the user is prompted with a "You have chose to open: thisismyexcelfile.xlsx which is a: XLSX file (size here) from: mywebsite. What should firefox do with this file?" After selecting "Open with OpenOffice Calc" the spreedsheet opens and displays appropriately but is read-only.

Edit/update: I checked the file properties with OpenOffice. Under Properties/Security there is a "Open file Read Only" checkbox, but it is already unchecked and disabled.

What do you mean when you say that the file "comes back as read-only"? Could you describe the scenario more precisely? — Thomas Levesque
– Thomas Levesque, Commented Aug 5, 2013 at 13:59
Are you sure it's not MS Office doing that? That's the default for any files downloaded off the net. It makes them readonly and gives a security warning. — Vivek
– Vivek, Commented Aug 5, 2013 at 14:13
I don't actually have MS Office, but I did consider that it was OpenOffice doing it. Is there a way I can prevent that or do I just have to assume the user knows how to work around this? — dckuehn
– dckuehn, Commented Aug 5, 2013 at 14:17
Actually I think it's the browser that makes the file read-only when you choose to open it directly. If you save it somewhere explicitly, it doesn't happen. So in any case, the issue is not in your code. — Thomas Levesque
– Thomas Levesque, Commented Aug 5, 2013 at 15:00

dckuehn · Accepted Answer · 2016-07-06 20:26:54Z

6

I found this example, I see 3 main differences

Response.ContentType is set to application/vnd.openxmlformats
Response.WriteFile is used instead or Response.BinaryWrite

In this example the file is being saved to the server, sent as response and then deleted

void ExportToExcel(Event evt)
{
    var fileInfo = new FileInfo(Path.GetTempPath() + "\\" +  
                            DateTime.Now.Ticks + ".xlsx");

    using (var xls = new ExcelPackage(fileInfo))
    {
        var sheet = xls.Workbook.Worksheets.Add(evt.Title);

        sheet.Cell(1, 1).Value = "First name";
        sheet.Cell(1, 2).Value = "Last name";
        sheet.Cell(1, 3).Value = "E-mail";
        sheet.Cell(1, 4).Value = "Phone";
        sheet.Cell(1, 5).Value = "Registered";
        sheet.Cell(1, 6).Value = "Live Meeting";

        var i = 1;
        foreach(var attendee in evt.Attendees)
        {
            i++;

            var profile = attendee.Profile;
            sheet.Cell(i, 1).Value = profile.FirstName;
            sheet.Cell(i, 2).Value = profile.LastName;
            sheet.Cell(i, 3).Value = profile.Email;
           sheet.Cell(i, 4).Value = profile.Phone;
            sheet.Cell(i, 5).Value = att.Created.ToString();
            sheet.Cell(i, 6).Value = att.LiveMeeting.ToString();
        }

        xls.Save(); 
    }

    Response.Clear();
    Response.ContentType = "application/vnd.openxmlformats";
    Response.AddHeader("Content-Disposition", 
                   "attachment; filename=" + fileInfo.Name);
    Response.WriteFile(fileInfo.FullName);
    Response.Flush();

    if (fileInfo.Exists)
        fileInfo.Delete(); 
}

edited Jul 6, 2016 at 20:26

dckuehn

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answered Aug 5, 2013 at 14:33

Mauricio Gracia Gutierrez

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1 Comment

Mauricio Gracia Gutierrez Over a year ago

taken from gunnarpeipman.com/2010/05/…

dckuehn · Accepted Answer · 2016-08-17 15:29:56Z

0

From the comments, I was able to verify that saving the file to a location on the disk and opening it directly did not open the file as read-only, implying the problem was not with the code, but the browsers handling of files downloaded from the internet.

answered Aug 17, 2016 at 15:29

dckuehn

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