Download file of any type in Asp.Net MVC using FileResult?

Question

I\'ve had it suggested to me that I should use FileResult to allow users to download files from my Asp.Net MVC application. But the only examples of this I can find always h

Answer 1

The MVC framework supports this natively. The System.Web.MVC.Controller.File controller provides methods to return a file by name/stream/array.

For example using a virtual path to the file you could do the following.

return File(virtualFilePath, System.Net.Mime.MediaTypeNames.Application.Octet,  Path.GetFileName(virtualFilePath));

Answer 2

GetFile should be closing the file (or opening it within a using). Then you can delete the file after conversion to bytes-- the download will be done on that byte buffer.

    byte[] GetFile(string s)
    {
        byte[] data;
        using (System.IO.FileStream fs = System.IO.File.OpenRead(s))
        {
            data = new byte[fs.Length];
            int br = fs.Read(data, 0, data.Length);
            if (br != fs.Length)
                throw new System.IO.IOException(s);
        }
        return data;
    }

So in your download method...

        byte[] fileBytes = GetFile(file);
        // delete the file after conversion to bytes
        System.IO.File.Delete(file);
        // have the file download dialog only display the base name of the file            return File(fileBytes, System.Net.Mime.MediaTypeNames.Application.Octet, Path.GetFileName(file));

Answer 3

Thanks to Ian Henry!

In case if you need to get file from MS SQL Server here is the solution.

public FileResult DownloadDocument(string id)
        {
            if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(id))
            {
                try
                {
                    var fileId = Guid.Parse(id);

                    var myFile = AppModel.MyFiles.SingleOrDefault(x => x.Id == fileId);

                    if (myFile != null)
                    {
                        byte[] fileBytes = myFile.FileData;
                        return File(fileBytes, System.Net.Mime.MediaTypeNames.Application.Octet, myFile.FileName);
                    }
                }
                catch
                {
                }
            }

            return null;
        }

Where AppModel is EntityFramework model and MyFiles presents table in your database. FileData is varbinary(MAX) in MyFiles table.