Handle file download from ajax post

Question

I have a javascript app that sends ajax POST requests to a certain URL. Response might be a JSON string or it might be a file (as an attachment). I can easily detect Content

Answer 1

I needed a similar solution to @alain-cruz's one, but in nuxt/vue with multiple downloads. I know browsers block multiple file downloads, and I also have API which returns a set of csv formatted data.I was going to use JSZip at first but I needed IE support so here is my solution. If anyone can help me improve this that would be great, but it's working for me so far.

API returns:

data : {
  body: {
    fileOne: ""col1", "col2", "datarow1.1", "datarow1.2"...so on",
    fileTwo: ""col1", "col2"..."
  }
}

page.vue:

<template>
  <b-link @click.prevent="handleFileExport">Export<b-link>
</template>

export default = {
   data() {
     return {
       fileNames: ['fileOne', 'fileTwo'],
     }
   },
  computed: {
    ...mapState({
       fileOne: (state) => state.exportFile.fileOne,
       fileTwo: (state) => state.exportFile.fileTwo,
    }),
  },
  method: {
    handleExport() {
      //exportFileAction in store/exportFile needs to return promise
      this.$store.dispatch('exportFile/exportFileAction', paramsToSend)
        .then(async (response) => {
           const downloadPrep = this.fileNames.map(async (fileName) => {
           // using lodash to get computed data by the file name
           const currentData = await _.get(this, `${fileName}`);
           const currentFileName = fileName;
           return { currentData, currentFileName };
         });
         const response = await Promise.all(downloadPrep);
         return response;
       })
       .then(async (data) => {
         data.forEach(({ currentData, currentFileName }) => {
           this.forceFileDownload(currentData, currentFileName);
         });
       })
       .catch(console.error);
    },
    forceFileDownload(data, fileName) {
     const url = window.URL
         .createObjectURL(new Blob([data], { type: 'text/csv;charset=utf-8;' }));
     const link = document.createElement('a');
     link.href = url;
     link.setAttribute('download', `${fileName}.csv`);
     document.body.appendChild(link);
     link.click();
   },
}

Answer 2

I want to point out some difficulties that arise when using the technique in the accepted answer, i.e. using a form post:

1. You can't set headers on the request. If your authentication schema involves headers, a Json-Web-Token passed in the Authorization header, you'll have to find other way to send it, for example as a query parameter.

2. You can't really tell when the request has finished. Well, you can use a cookie that gets set on response, as done by jquery.fileDownload, but it's FAR from perfect. It won't work for concurrent requests and it will break if a response never arrives.

3. If the server responds with a error, the user will be redirected to the error page.

4. You can only use the content types supported by a form. Which means you can't use JSON.

I ended up using the method of saving the file on S3 and sending a pre-signed URL to get the file.

Answer 3

Don't give up so quickly, because this can be done (in modern browsers) using parts of the FileAPI:

var xhr = new XMLHttpRequest();
xhr.open('POST', url, true);
xhr.responseType = 'blob';
xhr.onload = function () {
    if (this.status === 200) {
        var blob = this.response;
        var filename = "";
        var disposition = xhr.getResponseHeader('Content-Disposition');
        if (disposition && disposition.indexOf('attachment') !== -1) {
            var filenameRegex = /filename[^;=\n]*=((['"]).*?\2|[^;\n]*)/;
            var matches = filenameRegex.exec(disposition);
            if (matches != null && matches[1]) filename = matches[1].replace(/['"]/g, '');
        }

        if (typeof window.navigator.msSaveBlob !== 'undefined') {
            // IE workaround for "HTML7007: One or more blob URLs were revoked by closing the blob for which they were created. These URLs will no longer resolve as the data backing the URL has been freed."
            window.navigator.msSaveBlob(blob, filename);
        } else {
            var URL = window.URL || window.webkitURL;
            var downloadUrl = URL.createObjectURL(blob);

            if (filename) {
                // use HTML5 a[download] attribute to specify filename
                var a = document.createElement("a");
                // safari doesn't support this yet
                if (typeof a.download === 'undefined') {
                    window.location.href = downloadUrl;
                } else {
                    a.href = downloadUrl;
                    a.download = filename;
                    document.body.appendChild(a);
                    a.click();
                }
            } else {
                window.location.href = downloadUrl;
            }

            setTimeout(function () { URL.revokeObjectURL(downloadUrl); }, 100); // cleanup
        }
    }
};
xhr.setRequestHeader('Content-type', 'application/x-www-form-urlencoded');
xhr.send($.param(params, true));

Or if using jQuery.ajax:

$.ajax({
    type: "POST",
    url: url,
    data: params,
    xhrFields: {
        responseType: 'blob' // to avoid binary data being mangled on charset conversion
    },
    success: function(blob, status, xhr) {
        // check for a filename
        var filename = "";
        var disposition = xhr.getResponseHeader('Content-Disposition');
        if (disposition && disposition.indexOf('attachment') !== -1) {
            var filenameRegex = /filename[^;=\n]*=((['"]).*?\2|[^;\n]*)/;
            var matches = filenameRegex.exec(disposition);
            if (matches != null && matches[1]) filename = matches[1].replace(/['"]/g, '');
        }

        if (typeof window.navigator.msSaveBlob !== 'undefined') {
            // IE workaround for "HTML7007: One or more blob URLs were revoked by closing the blob for which they were created. These URLs will no longer resolve as the data backing the URL has been freed."
            window.navigator.msSaveBlob(blob, filename);
        } else {
            var URL = window.URL || window.webkitURL;
            var downloadUrl = URL.createObjectURL(blob);

            if (filename) {
                // use HTML5 a[download] attribute to specify filename
                var a = document.createElement("a");
                // safari doesn't support this yet
                if (typeof a.download === 'undefined') {
                    window.location.href = downloadUrl;
                } else {
                    a.href = downloadUrl;
                    a.download = filename;
                    document.body.appendChild(a);
                    a.click();
                }
            } else {
                window.location.href = downloadUrl;
            }

            setTimeout(function () { URL.revokeObjectURL(downloadUrl); }, 100); // cleanup
        }
    }
});

Answer 4

I faced the same issue and successfully solved it. My use-case is this.

"Post JSON data to the server and receive an excel file. That excel file is created by the server and returned as a response to the client. Download that response as a file with custom name in browser"

$("#my-button").on("click", function(){

// Data to post
data = {
    ids: [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
};

// Use XMLHttpRequest instead of Jquery $ajax
xhttp = new XMLHttpRequest();
xhttp.onreadystatechange = function() {
    var a;
    if (xhttp.readyState === 4 && xhttp.status === 200) {
        // Trick for making downloadable link
        a = document.createElement('a');
        a.href = window.URL.createObjectURL(xhttp.response);
        // Give filename you wish to download
        a.download = "test-file.xls";
        a.style.display = 'none';
        document.body.appendChild(a);
        a.click();
    }
};
// Post data to URL which handles post request
xhttp.open("POST", excelDownloadUrl);
xhttp.setRequestHeader("Content-Type", "application/json");
// You should set responseType as blob for binary responses
xhttp.responseType = 'blob';
xhttp.send(JSON.stringify(data));
});

The above snippet is just doing following

• Posting an array as JSON to the server using XMLHttpRequest.
• After fetching content as a blob(binary), we are creating a downloadable URL and attaching it to invisible "a" link then clicking it.

Here we need to carefully set few things at the server side. I set few headers in Python Django HttpResponse. You need to set them accordingly if you use other programming languages.

# In python django code
response = HttpResponse(file_content, content_type="application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet")

Since I download xls(excel) here, I adjusted contentType to above one. You need to set it according to your file type. You can use this technique to download any kind of files.

Answer 5

I see you've already found out a solution, however I just wanted to add some information which may help someone trying to achieve the same thing with big POST requests.

I had the same issue a couple of weeks ago, indeed it isn't possible to achieve a "clean" download through AJAX, the Filament Group created a jQuery plugin which works exactly how you've already found out, it is called jQuery File Download however there is a downside to this technique.

If you're sending big requests through AJAX (say files +1MB) it will negatively impact responsiveness. In slow Internet connections you'll have to wait a lot until the request is sent and also wait for the file to download. It isn't like an instant "click" => "popup" => "download start". It's more like "click" => "wait until data is sent" => "wait for response" => "download start" which makes it appear the file double its size because you'll have to wait for the request to be sent through AJAX and get it back as a downloadable file.

If you're working with small file sizes <1MB you won't notice this. But as I discovered in my own app, for bigger file sizes it is almost unbearable.

My app allow users to export images dynamically generated, these images are sent through POST requests in base64 format to the server (it is the only possible way), then processed and sent back to users in form of .png, .jpg files, base64 strings for images +1MB are huge, this force users to wait more than necessary for the file to start downloading. In slow Internet connections it can be really annoying.

My solution for this was to temporary write the file to the server, once it is ready, dynamically generate a link to the file in form of a button which changes between "Please wait..." and "Download" states and at the same time, print the base64 image in a preview popup window so users can "right-click" and save it. This makes all the waiting time more bearable for users, and also speed things up.

Update Sep 30, 2014:

Months have passed since I posted this, finally I've found a better approach to speed things up when working with big base64 strings. I now store base64 strings into the database (using longtext or longblog fields), then I pass its record ID through the jQuery File Download, finally on the download script file I query the database using this ID to pull the base64 string and pass it through the download function.

Download Script Example:

<?php
// Record ID
$downloadID = (int)$_POST['id'];
// Query Data (this example uses CodeIgniter)
$data       = $CI->MyQueries->GetDownload( $downloadID );
// base64 tags are replaced by [removed], so we strip them out
$base64     = base64_decode( preg_replace('#\[removed\]#', '', $data[0]->image) );
// This example is for base64 images
$imgsize    = getimagesize( $base64 );
// Set content headers
header('Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="my-file.png"');
header('Content-type: '.$imgsize['mime']);
// Force download
echo $base64;
?>

I know this is way beyond what the OP asked, however I felt it would be good to update my answer with my findings. When I was searching for solutions to my problem, I read lots of "Download from AJAX POST data" threads which didn't give me the answer I was looking for, I hope this information helps someone looking to achieve something like this.

Answer 6

Below is my solution for downloading multiple files depending on some list which consists of some ids and looking up in database, files will be determined and ready for download - if those exist. I am calling C# MVC action for each file using Ajax.

And Yes, like others said, it is possible to do it in jQuery Ajax. I did it with Ajax success and I am always sending response 200.

So, this is the key:

  success: function (data, textStatus, xhr) {

And this is my code:

var i = 0;
var max = 0;
function DownloadMultipleFiles() {
            if ($(".dataTables_scrollBody>tr.selected").length > 0) {
                var list = [];
                showPreloader();
                $(".dataTables_scrollBody>tr.selected").each(function (e) {
                    var element = $(this);
                    var orderid = element.data("orderid");
                    var iscustom = element.data("iscustom");
                    var orderlineid = element.data("orderlineid");
                    var folderPath = "";
                    var fileName = "";

                    list.push({ orderId: orderid, isCustomOrderLine: iscustom, orderLineId: orderlineid, folderPath: folderPath, fileName: fileName });
                });
                i = 0;
                max = list.length;
                DownloadFile(list);
            }
        }

Then calling:

function DownloadFile(list) {
        $.ajax({
            url: '@Url.Action("OpenFile","OrderLines")',
            type: "post",
            data: list[i],
            xhrFields: {
                responseType: 'blob'
            },
            beforeSend: function (xhr) {
                xhr.setRequestHeader("RequestVerificationToken",
                    $('input:hidden[name="__RequestVerificationToken"]').val());

            },
            success: function (data, textStatus, xhr) {
                // check for a filename
                var filename = "";
                var disposition = xhr.getResponseHeader('Content-Disposition');
                if (disposition && disposition.indexOf('attachment') !== -1) {
                    var filenameRegex = /filename[^;=\n]*=((['"]).*?\2|[^;\n]*)/;
                    var matches = filenameRegex.exec(disposition);
                    if (matches != null && matches[1]) filename = matches[1].replace(/['"]/g, '');
                    var a = document.createElement('a');
                    var url = window.URL.createObjectURL(data);
                    a.href = url;
                    a.download = filename;
                    document.body.append(a);
                    a.click();
                    a.remove();
                    window.URL.revokeObjectURL(url);
                }
                else {
                    getErrorToastMessage("Production file for order line " + list[i].orderLineId + " does not exist");
                }
                i = i + 1;
                if (i < max) {
                    DownloadFile(list);
                }
            },
            error: function (XMLHttpRequest, textStatus, errorThrown) {

            },
            complete: function () {
                if(i===max)
                hidePreloader();
            }
        });
    }

C# MVC:

 [HttpPost]
 [ValidateAntiForgeryToken]
public IActionResult OpenFile(OrderLineSimpleModel model)
        {
            byte[] file = null;

            try
            {
                if (model != null)
                {
                    //code for getting file from api - part is missing here as not important for this example
                    file = apiHandler.Get<byte[]>(downloadApiUrl, token);

                    var contentDispositionHeader = new System.Net.Mime.ContentDisposition
                    {
                        Inline = true,
                        FileName = fileName
                    };
                    //    Response.Headers.Add("Content-Disposition", contentDispositionHeader.ToString() + "; attachment");
                    Response.Headers.Add("Content-Type", "application/pdf");
                    Response.Headers.Add("Content-Disposition", "attachment; filename=" + fileName);
                    Response.Headers.Add("Content-Transfer-Encoding", "binary");
                    Response.Headers.Add("Content-Length", file.Length.ToString());

                }
            }
            catch (Exception ex)
            {
                this.logger.LogError(ex, "Error getting pdf", null);
                return Ok();
            }

            return File(file, System.Net.Mime.MediaTypeNames.Application.Pdf);
        }

As long as you return response 200, success in Ajax can work with it, you can check if file actually exist or not as the line below in this case would be false and you can inform user about that:

 if (disposition && disposition.indexOf('attachment') !== -1) {