how to create a text file in asp.net MVC3 using c#

Question

I just wanna ask how to generate or create textfile, becuase i want to display my data in the database as text.

im using c# in asp.net MVC 3

thank you very m

Answer 1

You can return plain text from an action by assembling a string and returning Content(textString, "text/plain").

Answer 2

If you just want to return some data from the database in a text file that will be downloaded to user's local computer, create an Action in your Controller like in this sample:

using System.IO;
using System.Text;      

public class SomeController {

    // this action will create text file 'your_file_name.txt' with data from
    // string variable 'string_with_your_data', which will be downloaded by
    // your browser
    public FileStreamResult CreateFile() {
        //todo: add some data from your database into that string:
        var string_with_your_data = "";

        var byteArray = Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes(string_with_your_data);
        var stream = new MemoryStream(byteArray);

        return File(stream, "text/plain", "your_file_name.txt");   
    }

}

then you can create an ActionLink to that action on your View which will trigger file download:

@Html.ActionLink("Download Text File", "CreateFile", "SomeController ")

I hope that helps!