Download a file with mvc

Question

I need to allow the user on my site to download a file (xml File)

I tried

 public FileResult DownloadFile(string fileid)
 {
     if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(fileid))
     {            
         byte[] fileBytes = Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes(FileData);
         return File(fileBytes, System.Net.Mime.MediaTypeNames.Application.Octet,FileName + ".bccx");
     }
         return null;
 }

ajax:

function downloadFile(id) {
        $.ajax({
            url: sitePath + "Controller/DownloadFile?fileid=" + id,
            type: 'post',
            asysnc: false
        })
        .done(function () {

        });
}

but nothing is downloaded

Possible duplicate of [Download a file by jQuery.Ajax](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/4545311/download-a-file-by-jquery-ajax) — malarzm, Jul 06 '16 at 20:06

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Jul 06 '16 at 20:10

2

Does it have to be done using ajax? Maybe you could open another window with the file generation address and let the browser do the job:

function downloadFile(id) {

    window.open(sitePath + "Controller/DownloadFile?fileid=" + id, '_blank');

}

answered Jul 06 '16 at 20:10

demarchisd

734
3
16

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Jul 22 '16 at 02:40

You can't use ajax post to download a file. It cannot save files directly into user's machine. The ajax post would get the response in raw format but it won't be a file.

Just use

function downloadFile(id) {
     window.location = "/Controller/DownloadFile?fileid=" + id;
}

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Nov 02 '16 at 13:07

it is very simple

make link

 <a href="/Home/preview?id=Chrysanthemum.jpg"  > Download File</a>

and your controller

 public ActionResult preview(string id)  
        {

            string Filename = Path.GetFileName(@id);
            string location = id;
            try
        {
            if (System.IO.File.Exists(location))
            {

                FileStream F = new FileStream(@location, FileMode.Open, FileAccess.Read, FileShare.Read);
                return File(F, "application/octet-stream", Filename);
            }

        }
        catch (IOException ex)
        {


        }
        return View();
    }

score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Jul 06 '16 at 20:09

Here is a way I accomplish downloading, hope that helps.

$.ajax({
            url: sitePath + "Controller/DownloadFile?fileid=" + id,
            type: 'GET',
            success: function (filename) { //I return the filename in from the controller
                frame = document.createElement("iframe");
                frame.id = "iframe";
                frame.style.display = 'none';
                frame.src = '/FileDirectory?fileName=' + filename; //the path to the file
                document.body.appendChild(frame);
            },
            cache: false,
            contentType: false,
            processData: false
        });

Download a file with mvc

4 Answers4

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