I'm trying to write to a text file in memory and then download that file without saving the file to the hard disk. I'm using the StringWriter to write the contents:
StringWriter oStringWriter = new StringWriter();
oStringWriter.Write("This is the content");
How do I then download this file?
EDIT:
It was combination of answers which gave me my solution. Here it is:
StringWriter oStringWriter = new StringWriter();
oStringWriter.WriteLine("Line 1");
Response.ContentType = "text/plain";
Response.AddHeader("content-disposition", "attachment;filename=" + string.Format("members-{0}.csv",string.Format("{0:ddMMyyyy}",DateTime.Today)));
Response.Clear();
using (StreamWriter writer = new StreamWriter(Response.OutputStream, Encoding.UTF8))
{
writer.Write(oStringWriter.ToString());
}
Response.End();
This solved for me:
MemoryStream ms = new MemoryStream();
TextWriter tw = new StreamWriter(ms);
tw.WriteLine("Line 1");
tw.WriteLine("Line 2");
tw.WriteLine("Line 3");
tw.Flush();
byte[] bytes = ms.ToArray();
ms.Close();
Response.Clear();
Response.ContentType = "application/force-download";
Response.AddHeader("content-disposition", "attachment; filename=file.txt");
Response.BinaryWrite(bytes);
Response.End();
Instead of storing the data in memory and then sending it to the response stream, you can write it directly to the response stream:
using (StreamWriter writer = new StreamWriter(Response.OutputStream, Encoding.UTF8)) {
writer.Write("This is the content");
}
The example uses the UTF-8 encoding, you should change that if you are using some other encoding.
Basically you create an HttpHandler by implementing the IHttpHandler interface. In the ProcessRequest method you basically just write your text to context.Response. You also need to add a Content-Disposition http header:
context.Response.AddHeader("Content-Disposition", "attachment; filename=YourFileName.txt");
Also remember to set the ContentType:
context.Response.ContentType = "text/plain";
Just a small addition to the other answers. At the very end of a download I execute:
context.Response.Flush();
context.ApplicationInstance.CompleteRequest();
I learned that otherwise, the download sometimes does not complete successfully.
This Google Groups posting also notes that Response.End throws a ThreadAbortException which you could avoid by using the CompleteRequest method.
I had many issues with this. Finnaly found a solution that seems to work everytime.
In most cases the user is going to click a button for the download. At this point it is best to redirect the page back to the same spot. add a parameter in the url that you can grab and read.
example( www.somewhere.com/mypage.aspx?print=stuff)
<asp:Button ID="btn" runat="server" Text="print something" OnClick="btn_Click" />
protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e) {
if (Request["print"] == "stuff") { Print("my test content"); }
}
/* or pass byte[] content*/
private void Print(string content ){
Response.ContentType = "text/plain";
Response.AddHeader("content-disposition", "attachment;filename=myFile.txt");
// Response.BinaryWrite(content);
Response.Write(content);
Response.Flush();
Response.End();
}
protected void btn_Click(object sender, EventArgs e) {
// postbacks give you troubles if using async.
// Will give an error when Response.End() is called.
Response.Redirect(Request.Url + "?print=queue");
}
Extension of #Vinicious answer.
I had data that could contain commas. The common solution is to escape that piece of data by enclosing it in quotes, while making sure to also escape quotes that could also be a part of the data.
One rub I came against and a warning when writing CSV, excel will not like you if you put spaces trailing your commas. discovered solution to my problem from superuser answer
protected void btnDownload_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
MemoryStream ms = new MemoryStream();
TextWriter tw = new StreamWriter(ms, System.Text.Encoding.UTF8);
var structures = KAWSLib.BusinessLayer.Structure.GetStructuresInService();
// *** comma delimited
tw.Write("Latitude, Longitude, CountySerial, StructureType, Orientation, District, RoutePre, RouteNo, LocationDesc");
foreach (var s in structures)
{
tw.Write(Environment.NewLine + string.Format("{0:#.000000},{1:#.000000},{2},{3},{4},{5},{6},{7},{8}", s.LATITUDE, s.LONGITUDE, s.CO_SER, EscapeIfNeeded(s.SuperTypeLookup.SHORTDESC), EscapeIfNeeded(s.OrientationLookup.SHORTDESC), s.DISTRICT, s.ROUTE_PREFIX, s.RouteValue, EscapeIfNeeded(s.LOC_DESC)));
}
tw.Flush();
byte[] bytes = ms.ToArray();
ms.Close();
Response.Clear();
Response.ContentType = "application/force-download";
Response.AddHeader("content-disposition", "attachment; filename=" + string.Format("kaws-structures-{0:yyyy.MM.dd}.csv", DateTime.Today));
Response.BinaryWrite(bytes);
Response.End();
}
string EscapeIfNeeded(string s)
{
if (s.Contains(","))
{
return "\"" + s.Replace("\"", "\"\"") + "\"";
}
else
{
return s;
}
}
Below will cause a problem for excel. In excel the first quote will become part of the data and consequently than separate at the embedded comma. Spaces bad.
tw.Write(Environment.NewLine + string.Format("{0:#.000000}, {1:#.000000}, {2}, {3}, {4}, {5}, {6}, {7}, {8}", s.LATITUDE, s.LONGITUDE, s.CO_SER, EscapeIfNeeded(s.SuperTypeLookup.SHORTDESC), EscapeIfNeeded(s.OrientationLookup.SHORTDESC), s.DISTRICT, s.ROUTE_PREFIX, s.RouteValue, EscapeIfNeeded(s.LOC_DESC)));
This is very simple, and the answer can be seen in this Microsoft KB Article: How to write binary files to the browser using ASP.NET and C#
Related
Afternoon, all!
Having a bit of a problem getting my StringWriter to produce a CSV with data in it. I made some changes and added several of the entries from the database per the client. I got the file to create once before I made these changes. There is information in the database to grab. This is probably just my lack of understanding of the StringWriter and how it works.
public void ExportToCsv()
{
DateTime newDate = DateTime.Now.AddMonths(-6);
StringWriter sw = new StringWriter();
sw.WriteLine("Name,SS#,Application Date,Company,Job Code,Job Applied For,2nd Choice,3rd Choice,EEO Job Group,Gender,EEO Applicant,Veteran Status,Interview Date Personnel,Interview Date Manager,Reference Date,Physical Date,Disposition,Comments,Job Fair Location");
Response.ClearContent();
Response.AddHeader("content-disposition", "attachment;filename=ExportedAAInfo.csv");
Response.ContentType = "text/csv";
var q = _db.applicants.Where(n => n.date_applied > newDate && n != null);
foreach (var item in q)
{
string jobGroup = "Test Job";
sw.WriteLine(string.Format("{0},{1},{2},{3},{4},{5},{6},{7},{8},{9},{10},{11},{12},{13},{14},{15},{16},{17},{18}",
item.last_name + "," + item.first_name,
item.idnumber,
String.Format("{0:MM/dd/yyyy}", item.date_applied),
item.referral,
"",
item.job_applied,
"Any",
"Any",
jobGroup,
item.gender,
item.race,
item.veteran_status,
item.interview_date,
item.interview_manager,
item.reference_date,
item.physical_date,
item.disposition,
item.comments,
item.job_fair_location
));
}
Response.Write(sw.ToString());
Response.Flush();
Response.Close();
}
I am properly getting the file download, just nothing in it. Not even the manual WriteLine with the column headers in it. Any points you can see to point me in the right direction would be greatly appreciated!
EDIT:
I have simply narrowed everything down to just trying to print a string into the Response. I am using this little method.
public void ExportToCsv()
{
string sw = "Hello, World!";
Response.Clear();
Response.ContentType = "text/plain";
Response.AddHeader("content-disposition", "attachment;filename=ExportedAAInfo.txt");
Response.Write(sw.ToString());
Response.End();
}
Ignore the name of the method, its just testing at this point. I am still getting the file download, just nothing printed in the file.
I am wondering if there is a certain way in which you must call the method for the response to pick it up?
At the moment i am just using
#Html.Action("ExportToCsv")
as the href on my button to download. Are there any server settings or anything that I need to look into to keep this from happening? Kinda at a loss as I cant get this simplified method to work either.
Better to use optimized class for export like one
https://github.com/jitbit/CsvExport
Yeah i probably should have used something like that #Mukesh Chudasama.
This is what I ended up with after messing around and reading some docs. Works great.
public void ExportToCsv()
{
DateTime newDate = DateTime.Now.AddMonths(-6);
MemoryStream ms = new MemoryStream();
TextWriter tw = new StreamWriter(ms);
tw.WriteLine("Name,SS#,Application Date,Company,Job Code,Job Applied For,2nd Choice,3rd Choice,EEO Job Group,Gender,EEO Applicant,Veteran Status,Interview Date Personnel,Interview Date Manager,Reference Date,Physical Date,Disposition,Comments,Job Fair Location");
var q = _db.applicants.Where(n => n.date_applied > newDate && n != null).ToList();
foreach (var item in q)
{
string itemString = string.Format("{0},{1},{2},{3},{4},{5},{6},{7},{8},{9},{10},{11},{12},{13},{14},{15},{16},{17},{18}",
item.last_name + "_" + item.first_name,
item.idnumber,
String.Format("{0:MM/dd/yyyy}", item.date_applied),
item.referral,
"",
item.job_applied,
"Any",
"Any",
"job Group Test",
item.gender,
item.race,
item.veteran_status,
item.interview_date,
item.interview_manager,
item.reference_date,
item.physical_date,
item.disposition,
item.comments,
item.job_fair_location
);
tw.WriteLine(itemString);
}
tw.Flush();
byte[] bytes = ms.ToArray();
ms.Close();
Response.Clear();
Response.ContentType = "text/csv";
Response.AddHeader("content-disposition", "attachment;filename=AAInfo.csv");
Response.BinaryWrite(bytes);
Response.End();
}
I have copied code previously used throughout the system i am working on. However this code opens the content in a word document. I am looking it to be opened in a PDF.
I have already tried changing the string declaration 'filename' to end in (.pdf) as opposed to (.doc) but when attempting to open it it says "could not open the document because it is either not a spported file type or because the file has been damaged....".
What changes need to be made to this code in order to open it as an adope pdf. I wouldnt imagine it would be alot.
string content = sw.GetStringBuilder().ToString();
string fileName = "IRPBestPracticeArticle.doc";
Response.AppendHeader("Content-Type", "application/msword; charset=utf-8");
Response.AppendHeader("Content-disposition", "attachment; filename=" + fileName);
Response.Charset = "utf-8";
Response.Write(content);
I cannot say for certain, but I am going to assume you're trying to save your data as a pdf and have it open in whatever application the system uses to read pdf files?
//Note the change from application/msword to application/pdf
Response.AppendHeader("Content-Type", "application/pdf; charset=utf-8");
Make sure to change the mime type as well as the doc ending (See here for full list of mime types):
That being said, I cant guarantee it will open properly in your PDF reader
Just try this set of code.
Response.ClearContent();
Response.ClearHeaders();
Response.AddHeader("Content-Disposition", "inline;filename=" + fileName);
Response.ContentType = "application/pdf";
Response.WriteFile("FullFilePath");
Response.Flush();
Response.Clear();
Response.End();
The mime type need to be set correctly before opening the file.
Andy try this one. You must have ItextSharp.dll to use this code. Download it from here. Then add its reference in your page.
try this code to create pdf from string and download it
Document document = new Document(PageSize.A4);
using (MemoryStream ms = new MemoryStream())
{
PdfWriter.GetInstance(document, ms);
document.Open();
System.Xml.XmlTextReader _xmlr;
if (String.IsNullOrEmpty(errorMsg))
_xmlr = new System.Xml.XmlTextReader(new StringReader(GetTransferedData(content)));
else
_xmlr = new System.Xml.XmlTextReader(new StringReader(#"<html><body>Error Message:" + errorMsg + "</body></html>"));
iTextSharp.text.html.HtmlParser.Parse(document, _xmlr);
document.Close();
ms.Flush();
byte[] data = ms.ToArray();
Response.Clear();
Response.ClearHeaders();
Response.ClearContent();
Response.Buffer = true;
Response.ContentType = "application/pdf";
Response.BinaryWrite(data);
Response.End();
ms.Close();
}
First, convert the .doc files to PDF files. Here is a sample of how to achieve this: Convert Doc file to PDF in VB.Net
After you have the PDF files, stream them to the browser using the "application/pdf" content type.
Is it possible to save an exported word document file using Response.Write(). Now it's showing Save/Open dialog box, once it Converted successfully. But i need to save this file to a folder. Please help me for resolve this issue.
My conversion to Doc code is appended below.
private void ExportDataSetToWordDoc()
{
try
{
Response.ClearContent();
Response.Buffer = true;
Response.AddHeader("content-disposition", string.Format("attachment; filename={0}", DateTime.Today.ToShortDateString().Replace("/", "").Replace("-", "") + "_" + DateTime.Now.ToShortDateString() + ".doc"));
Response.ContentType = "application/ms-word";
StringWriter sw = new StringWriter();
HtmlTextWriter htw = new HtmlTextWriter(sw);
tblMain.RenderControl(htw);
Response.Write(sw.ToString());
Response.End();
}
catch (ThreadAbortException ex)
{
Common.LogError(ex);
}
}
It's up to the Browser to offer the user an "open or save" option. That's what your content-disposition "attach" is encouraging the browser to do. Your other option is content-disposition "inline", where the browser will usually just call up the application (Word in this case) to open the file. See MSDN.
Sadly, the browser will not always offer the filename you specified as the default filename in the "Save As" dialog. Often it will offer the name of your web page as the default instead. Firefox at least documents this as a bug, IE seems to think it is a "feature".
I have modified my code as shown below. Now its saving the specified folder
Response.ClearContent();
Response.Buffer = true;
Response.AddHeader("content-disposition", string.Format("attachment; filename={0}", DateTime.Today.ToShortDateString().Replace("/", "").Replace("-", "") + "_" + DateTime.Now.ToShortDateString() + ".doc"));
Response.ContentType = "application/ms-word";
StringWriter sw = new StringWriter();
HtmlTextWriter htw = new HtmlTextWriter(sw);
tblMain.RenderControl(htw);
string strPath = Request.PhysicalApplicationPath + "Test.doc";
StreamWriter sWriter = new StreamWriter(strPath);
sWriter.Write(sw.ToString());
sWriter.Close();
Thanks.
You can use a stream writer (System.IO.StreamWriter) using a path.
When the stream writer will be closed, the file will be saved on at the specified path.
But, it will save on the server disk. If you want to save on the client side, you don't have other choice than ask the user where to put the file. You can't save files on a client without its approval.
var x = new System.IO.StreamWriter(path);
x.Close();
I am trying to download some text output from the screen as a text file. Following is the code. It's working on some pages and not working at all on other pages. Can anyone please suggest what's wrong here?
protected void Button18_Click(object sender, EventArgs e){
Response.Clear();
Response.Buffer = true;
Response.ContentType = "text/plain";
Response.AppendHeader("content-disposition", "attachment;filename=output.txt");
StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
string output = "Output";
sb.Append(output);
sb.Append("\r\n");
Response.Write(sb.ToString());
}
As already mentioned by Joshua, you need to write the text to the output stream (Response). Also, don’t forget to invoke Response.End() after that.
protected void Button18_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
string output = "Output";
sb.Append(output);
sb.Append("\r\n");
string text = sb.ToString();
Response.Clear();
Response.ClearHeaders();
Response.AppendHeader("Content-Length", text.Length.ToString());
Response.ContentType = "text/plain";
Response.AppendHeader("Content-Disposition", "attachment;filename=\"output.txt\"");
Response.Write(text);
Response.End();
}
Edit 1: added more details
Edit 2: I was reading other SO posts where users were recommending to put quotes around the filename:
Response.AppendHeader("content-disposition", "attachment;filename=\"output.txt\"");
Source:
https://stackoverflow.com/a/12001019/558486
If that's your actual code, you never write the text to the response stream, so the browser never receives any data.
At the very least, you should need
Response.Write(sb.ToString());
to write your text data to the response. Also, as an added bonus, if you know the length beforehand you should provide it using the Content-Length header so the browser can show the download progress.
You're also setting Response.Buffer = true; as part of your method but never explicitly flush the response to send it to the browser. Try adding a Response.Flush() after your write statement.
I am trying to use the amazing DocX library on codeplex to create a word document.
when the user clicks a button, the document is created and I want to be able to send it to the user immediately via response.. I am doing something similar to this now:
Edited code based on suggestions
using (DocX Report = DocX.Create(string.Format("Report-{0}.doc", DateTime.Now.Ticks)))
{
Paragraph p = Report.InsertParagraph();
p.Append("Title").FontSize(30).Bold()
.Append("Sub title").FontSize(28)
.AppendLine()
.Append(DateTime.Now.Date)
;
MemoryStream ms = new MemoryStream();
Report.SaveAs(ms);
Response.Clear();
Response.AddHeader("content-disposition", "attachment; filename=\"" + fileName + ".docx\"");
Response.ContentType = "application/msword";
Response.Write(ms);
Response.End();
}
I have tried a few variations of this.. but I am not able to achieve what I want.. Looking at this answer I can possibly save the document on the server and open with io stream.. but I want to avoid that extra step (and then I need to delete the file too)
I don't see the point of creating a file for few milli seconds.. there has to be a way to save the contents and send them to response stream.. right?
How'd I go about it?
thanks..
EDIT: my current code either throws up cannot open file (Access denied) error If I am using file stream, OR downloads an empty document file without any content (sometimes, type of response is written to document)
This code gets me an MS word document with System.IO.MemoryStream as it's content..
Okay, here is the final working solution:
For some reason, DocX library doesn't want to save to Response.OutputStream directly, so I had to save it to memory stream and write the memory stream to response, like Neil & Daniel suggested. Here's what worked for me:
MemoryStream ms = new MemoryStream()
Report.SaveAs(ms);
Response.Clear();
Response.AddHeader("content-disposition", "attachment; filename=\"" + fileName + ".doc\");
Response.ContentType = "application/msword";
ms.WriteTo(Response.OutputStream);
Response.End();
This might be a bit late, but I found a way to get this working with FileStreamResult:
public FileStreamResult DownloadDocument()
{
using (DocX document = DocX.Create(#"Test.docx"))
{
// Insert a new Paragraphs.
Paragraph p = document.InsertParagraph();
p.Append("I am ").Append("bold").Bold()
.Append(" and I am ")
.Append("italic").Italic().Append(".")
.AppendLine("I am ")
.Append("Arial Black")
.Font(new FontFamily("Arial Black"))
.Append(" and I am not.")
.AppendLine("I am ")
.Append("BLUE").Color(Color.Blue)
.Append(" and I am")
.Append("Red").Color(Color.Red).Append(".");
var ms = new MemoryStream();
document.SaveAs(ms);
ms.Position = 0;
var file = new FileStreamResult(ms, "application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document")
{
FileDownloadName = string.Format("test_{0}.docx", DateTime.Now.ToString("ddMMyyyyHHmmss"))
};
return file;
}
}
The important bit is setting the Position of the memorystream back to 0, otherwise it appeared to be at the end, and the file was returning empty.
Try using a MemoryStream instead of a FileStream.
Your current code looks really wrong:
You are saving the report to the OutputStream of the current response and then clear that response (!)
When you do Report.SaveAs(response.OutputStream); - it already writes file contents to the output stream. You don't need to do Response.Write(response.OutputStream);
So you code should look like this:
...
Report.SaveAs(response.OutputStream);
Response.AddHeader("content-disposition", "attachment; filename=\"" + fileName + ".doc\"");
Response.ContentType = "application/msword";
I think you've got things a little back to front and confused.
First off, clear the output, then add the headers, then write out the content.
Response.Clear();
Response.AddHeader("content-disposition", "attachment; filename=\"" + fileName + ".doc\"");
Response.ContentType = "application/msword";
// This writes the document to the output stream.
Report.SaveAs(response.OutputStream);
Response.End();
Also , if your file is a docx format file, append .docx rather than .doc to your filename.