Redirecting to MVC ActionResult from FileResult

Question

This might be a simple one but here goes:

I\'m implementing an excel downloadable report in my MVC3 application. I\'ve used this method in the past and it\'s worked

Answer 1

Well, FileResult inherits from ActionResult :

If you result can be either a RedirectToRouteResult (inheriting from ActionResult) or a FileResult, then... your action must be of type ActionResult, which can manage both.

something like that :

    [HttpPost]
    public ActionResult ExcelReportDownload(ReportExcelDownloadRequest reportRequest)
    {
        ReportEngine re = new ReportEngine();

        Stream report = re.GetReport(reportRequest);
        if (report == null)
           return RedirectToAction();
        else
           return new FileStreamResult(report, "application/ms-excel")
           {
               FileDownloadName = "SalesReport.xls"
           };
    }