How can you force the browser to download an xml file? - c#

This is my problem.
I load xml from my database and push it to the client using code.
But the problem is that the browser automatically opens that xml instead of offering it as a download.
Is there a way to force your browser to download that file and not showing it?
I'm working in a C#, Asp.net environment (with IIS7).
Thx

protected void DisplayDownloadDialog()
{
Response.Clear();
Response.AddHeader(
"content-disposition", string.Format("attachment; filename={0}", "filename.xml"));
Response.ContentType = "application/octet-stream";
Response.WriteFile("FilePath");
Response.End();
}
This will force to download the file and not display in the browser.
This will work for any file types
without requiring to specify any
special MIME type.

This is explained in this article: http://www.xefteri.com/articles/show.cfm?id=8
The key is in this line:
Response.AddHeader("Content-Disposition", "attachment; filename=" & file.Name)

Add a content-disposition: attachment header.

Related

What is the correct Excel Application type? [duplicate]

I use CarlosAG-Dll which creates a XML-Excel-file for me (inside a MemoryStream).
Response.ContentType = "application/vnd.ms-excel";
Response.AppendHeader("content-disposition", "myfile.xml");
memory.WriteTo(Response.OutputStream);
My Problem here is, that I get at client side a myfile.xls (IE) or a myfile.xml.xls (FF) and therefore get an annoying security warning from excel.
I tried it as well with application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet (xlsx) but then it won't even open.
So I need to either cut the .xml and send it as vnd.ms-excel (how?) or take another MIME-type (but which one?).
edit: I found a bug description here
I wonder if this is still open and why?
Use like this
Response.ContentType = "application/vnd.ms-excel";
Response.AppendHeader("content-disposition", "attachment; filename=myfile.xls");
For Excel 2007 and above the MIME type differs
Response.ContentType = "application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet";
Response.AppendHeader("content-disposition", "attachment; filename=myfile.xlsx");
See list of MIME types
Office 2007 File Format MIME Types
EDIT:
If the content is not a native Excel file format, but is instead a
text based format (such as CSV, TXT, XML), then the web site can add
the following HTTP header to their GET response to tell IE to use an
alternate name, and in the name you can set the extension to the right
content type:
Response.AddHeader "Content-Disposition", "Attachment;Filename=myfile.csv"
For more details see this link
If your document is an Excel Xml 2003 document, you should use the text/xml content type.
Response.ContentType = "text/xml";
Do not specifiy content-disposition.
This technichs works great with Handler, not with WebForm.
The security warning is NOT about the MIME type - it is a client-side security setting you can't disable from the server side !
Another point - change Response.AppendHeader("content-disposition", "myfile.xml"); to:
Response.AppendHeader("content-disposition", "attachment; filename=myfile.xlsx");
OR
Response.AppendHeader("content-disposition", "inline; filename=myfile.xlsx");
For reference see http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2183.txt
EDIT - as per comment:
IF the format is not XLSX (Excel 2007 and up) then use myfile.xls in the above code.

How to show Save As Dialog on ASP.net

I'm newbie on asp.net, i am developing Online Report Generator, i want to let the client to choose where he/she want to put his/her files so this is my code but didn't seems to work, it returning to my ajax error statement my ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["ExtractFolder"] is equal to "c:\temp\": just want to ask what's wrong with the code?
context.Response.ContentType = "application/vnd.ms-excel";
context.Response.AddHeader("content-disposition", "attachment;filename="+filename);
context.Response.WriteFile(ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["ExtractFolder"]+filename);
context.Response.Flush();
context.Response.End();
Try this
String FileName = "FileName.txt";
String FilePath = "C:/...."; //Replace this
System.Web.HttpResponse response = System.Web.HttpContext.Current.Response;
response.ClearContent();
response.Clear();
response.ContentType = "text/plain";
response.AddHeader("Content-Disposition", "attachment; filename=" + FileName + ";");
response.TransmitFile(FilePath);
response.Flush();
response.End();
For more content types check our http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MIME_type#List_of_common_media_types
Basically you can't do what you want to do the way you are trying to do it.
The ASP.net code that you have is dependant on being part of a full http Request/Response cycle. The part where it is setting headers is where it telling the browser to download stuff.
An AJAX request is looking for a specific return with its request, generally javascript passable data. You are not returning this but rather the contents of a file.
Here's an article the explains the concepts and problems a little more. It also provides you an alternate solution. Basically the solution revolves around using an iFrame to handle the file download request.
First, check that your source file you want to send to the user is in c:\temp\ and that you have set filename to the name of the file you are sending. Next you will want to make sure that your .net process has permission to c:\temp on your server. It probably doesn't.
Also, make sure you understand that response.writefile actually reads a file from the server and writes it out to the browser. You can't specify where the user saves the file to locally, this is handled by the browser not by your code.
Using Coders sample code make sure you change the following (see my comments)
String FileName = "FileName.xlsx"; //MAKE SURE THIS IS YOUR EXCEL FILENAME ON YOUR SERVER
String FilePath = "C:/...."; //SET THIS TO THE FOLDER THE FILE IS IN (put your file in your root folder of your website for now, you can move it later once you get the download code working)
System.Web.HttpResponse response = System.Web.HttpContext.Current.Response;
response.ClearContent();
response.Clear();
response.ContentType = "application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet"; //MAKE SURE YOU HAVE CHANGED THIS TOO
response.AddHeader("Content-Disposition", "attachment; filename=" + FileName + ";");
response.TransmitFile(FilePath);
response.Flush();
response.End();
I also suggest trying the above in a standalone page first then incorporate it into your AJAX page once you know its working.

Response.Redirect does not work

I have a page that exports large amount of data to excel 2007 macro enabled format. I have Response.Redirect at the end to redirect to another page after the excel file is created but the redirect does not work when I have really large amount of data i.e about 60,000+ rows.
Below is the snippet of the code that I am using to save the excel file:
Response.Clear();
Response.AppendHeader("content-disposition", "attachment; filename=RegionData.xlsm");
Response.ContentType = "application/octet-stream";
wbRegionData.Save(Response.OutputStream);//();
Response.End();
Response.Redirect("RegionData.aspx?PALID=" + AVListID, true);
Thank you for your help.
You cannot do a file download and a redirect in the same server response. If you need to perform a redirect after a successful file download you will need to somehow tell the client that a file download successfully occurred which can only be accomplished by writing a cookie as far as I know.
I have created the jQuery File Download plugin (Demo) (GitHub) (Blog Posts) that simplifies a lot of this stuff, using the plugin your code could be like this:
ASP.NET CODE:
Response.Clear();
Response.AppendHeader("content-disposition", "attachment; filename=RegionData.xlsm");
Response.ContentType = "application/octet-stream";
Response.SetCookie(new HttpCookie("fileDownload", "true"){Path = "/"});
wbRegionData.Save(Response.OutputStream);//();
Response.End();
JavaScript:
$.fileDownload("/urltofiledownload/", {
successCallback: function (url) {
window.location = "/redirecturl/";
}
});
Without more of your code I can't give you a complete solution (look at the Demo for examples) but I think using the plugin would be your easiest and best bet.
You can't because you are closing the response by calling Response.End(); You must have to add define these two actions separately (Download and redirection).
It will not work because the Respose.End() Method stop the normal execution of the page, I have refatored your code and delete de Response.End() Method, now it's work.
Response.Clear();
Response.AppendHeader("content-disposition", "attachment; filename=RegionData.xlsm");
Response.ContentType = "application/octet-stream";
wbRegionData.Save(Response.OutputStream);//();
Response.Redirect("RegionData.aspx?PALID=" + AVListID, true);

ZIP download contains html content

When I use the following code to download a ZIP file it appears to work. However, when I attempt to open the downloaded ZIP, I get an 'invalid compressed folder' message. When I open the ZIP in notepad I see it is filled with HTML.
string fp = Server.MapPath("directory\\file.zip");
FileInfo file = new FileInfo(fp);
if (file.Exists)
{
Response.ClearContent();
Response.AddHeader("content-disposition","attachment; filename=" + file.Name);
Response.AddHeader("content-length", file.Length.ToString());
Response.ContentType = "application/zip";
Response.TransmitFile(file.FullName);
Response.End();
}
An issue I can't seem to fix that is probably related is when I try to manually type in the address of the file (http://website.com/downloads/file.zip), I get a redirect (http://website.com/login.aspx) even when logged in as the admin. Any pointers in where to look would be greatly appreciated.
Instead of just using Response.ClearContent() also use Response.ClearHeaders() to remove all the current headers as well as the body of the response.
From MSDN, HttpResponse.ClearContent Method:
The ClearContent method does not clear header information.

MIME-Type for Excel XML (ASP.NET 3.5)

I use CarlosAG-Dll which creates a XML-Excel-file for me (inside a MemoryStream).
Response.ContentType = "application/vnd.ms-excel";
Response.AppendHeader("content-disposition", "myfile.xml");
memory.WriteTo(Response.OutputStream);
My Problem here is, that I get at client side a myfile.xls (IE) or a myfile.xml.xls (FF) and therefore get an annoying security warning from excel.
I tried it as well with application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet (xlsx) but then it won't even open.
So I need to either cut the .xml and send it as vnd.ms-excel (how?) or take another MIME-type (but which one?).
edit: I found a bug description here
I wonder if this is still open and why?
Use like this
Response.ContentType = "application/vnd.ms-excel";
Response.AppendHeader("content-disposition", "attachment; filename=myfile.xls");
For Excel 2007 and above the MIME type differs
Response.ContentType = "application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet";
Response.AppendHeader("content-disposition", "attachment; filename=myfile.xlsx");
See list of MIME types
Office 2007 File Format MIME Types
EDIT:
If the content is not a native Excel file format, but is instead a
text based format (such as CSV, TXT, XML), then the web site can add
the following HTTP header to their GET response to tell IE to use an
alternate name, and in the name you can set the extension to the right
content type:
Response.AddHeader "Content-Disposition", "Attachment;Filename=myfile.csv"
For more details see this link
If your document is an Excel Xml 2003 document, you should use the text/xml content type.
Response.ContentType = "text/xml";
Do not specifiy content-disposition.
This technichs works great with Handler, not with WebForm.
The security warning is NOT about the MIME type - it is a client-side security setting you can't disable from the server side !
Another point - change Response.AppendHeader("content-disposition", "myfile.xml"); to:
Response.AppendHeader("content-disposition", "attachment; filename=myfile.xlsx");
OR
Response.AppendHeader("content-disposition", "inline; filename=myfile.xlsx");
For reference see http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2183.txt
EDIT - as per comment:
IF the format is not XLSX (Excel 2007 and up) then use myfile.xls in the above code.

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