Display PDF stream returned from controller using jquery in new window

Question

I have a controller action which reads a .pdf file from azure blobstorage and returns stream object to the $.ajax() method.

Controller returns<

Answer 1

I couldnt find a exact answer to this question. I found a bunch of different questions. I finally was able to piece together by using fetch. You need to accept type 'arraybuffer', then you turn into a blob with resopnse.blob(). Then you can open the blob in a new window.

          fetch('/post/url', {
                        method: 'POST',
                        headers: {
                            Accept: 'arraybuffer',
                            'Content-Type': 'application/json',
                        },
                        //you need to use json here
                        body: JSON.stringify({ items: [{ ItemId: 3, Quantity: 40 }], fileId: 2 });
                    })
                        .then(response => response.blob())
                        .then(data => {
                            var popup = window.open(URL.createObjectURL(data), "height=500,width=750);

                   });

Answer 2

Why don't you just use standard HTML? There's no need for Javascript here (as you created a standard <a> tag for initial trigger of action).

Something like:

<form action="/PDFfile" method="post" target="_blank">
    <input type="submit" value="Show me the file in a new tab/window!"/>
</form>

Notes:

• be sure to set an header Content-Type: application/pdf in your Azure script, so that the browser will know it's a PDF
• as @JamesBlond stated you may not see it if you don't have a browser's plugin to read PDF. But you'll have a nice download box, and the new tab will be closed automatically