Receiving a .xls file using Ajax jquery POST

Question

I\'m attempting to return an Excel file through a Ajax POST to the server, the server generates the .xls file, however it doesn\'t pass through to the front end, i

Answer 1

You cannot use AJAX to download files from the server. The browser will deny Javascript from accessing the user's filesystem.

You should look at providing a "download servlet" on your server side, which can set the appropriate headers to ensure the browser downloads the file or prompts the user to save a stream it is receiving from the Server.

As noted here, you could also certain plugins that can provide you an AJAX-like experience. Internally they might be using iFrames to simulate AJAX-like behavior.