How to download a file

  • Thread starter Thread starter Yuriy
  • Start date Start date
Y

Yuriy

I have a .NET server button on a form. When the user
clicks it, I'd like to (behind the scenes) create a pdf
file containing the data that they're currently viewing,
then somehow activate the "Do you want to download or
save this file?" dialog.

The pdf file I'm already creating. That's no big deal.
But now, how do I make this newly-created file available
for the user to download? Can I activate that dialog
somehow? I'd like to do this in one single click of
this .NET button (System.Web.UI.WebControls.Button).

Thanks.
 
Easiest way is to create the file inside of the published root directory
somewhere and then after you've created it do something like:

Response.Redirect("~/createdfiles/mydocument.pdf");

This should achieve what you're looking for....
 
Visual C# .NET Code Sample:
System.IO.Stream iStream = null;

// Buffer to read 10K bytes in chunk:
byte[] buffer = new Byte[10000];

// Length of the file:
int length;

// Total bytes to read:
long dataToRead;

// Identify the file to download including its path.
string filepath = "DownloadFileName";

// Identify the file name.
string filename = System.IO.Path.GetFileName(filepath);

try
{
// Open the file.
iStream = new System.IO.FileStream(filepath, System.IO.FileMode.Open,
System.IO.FileAccess.Read,System.IO.FileShare.Read);


// Total bytes to read:
dataToRead = iStream.Length;

Response.ContentType = "application/octet-stream";
Response.AddHeader("Content-Disposition", "attachment; filename=" +
filename);

// Read the bytes.
while (dataToRead > 0)
{
// Verify that the client is connected.
if (Response.IsClientConnected)
{
// Read the data in buffer.
length = iStream.Read(buffer, 0, 10000);

// Write the data to the current output stream.
Response.OutputStream.Write(buffer, 0, length);

// Flush the data to the HTML output.
Response.Flush();

buffer= new Byte[10000];
dataToRead = dataToRead - length;
}
else
{
//prevent infinite loop if user disconnects
dataToRead = -1;
}
}
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
// Trap the error, if any.
Response.Write("Error : " + ex.Message);
}
finally
{
if (iStream != null)
{
//Close the file.
iStream.Close();
}
}
Replace DownloadFileName with the name of a file .
 
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