.NET MVC: Return a FilePathResult without using a relative path

Question

I want to return a link to a PDF which will initiate a download on the client-side. I have a method that looks like this:

public ActionResult DownloadPdf()
{
    return File("bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf", "application/pdf", Server.UrlEncode("bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf");
}

I always get a System.IO.DirectoryNotFoundException because my URL gets used as a relative path (something like C:\mydir\bitcoin.org\bitcoin.pdf is searched for and not found). How can I return something hosted elsewhere?

Tobias · Accepted Answer · 2014-10-06 17:46:48Z

0

To return a file hosted off-site as a FileResult, you need to download the file first, and then return that to the client. Something like this should work:

public ActionResult DownloadPdf()
{
    using (var client = new WebClient())
    {
        byte[] bytes = client.DownloadData("http://bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf");
        return File(bytes, "application/pdf", Server.UrlEncode("bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf"));
    }
}

I don't know what your requirements are, but it seems like it would be easier to just link to the off-site resource, or host it yourself so you don't have to download it to the server every time it is requested.

To my knowledge, this is the only way to can return a file you don't host as a FileResult.

If you have any questions, or if anything is unclear, please let me know.

answered Oct 6, 2014 at 17:46

Tobias

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