Handling FileContentResult when file is not found

Question

I have a controller action that downloads a file from an azure blob based on the container reference name (i.e. full path name of the file in the blob). The code looks somet

Answer 1

The correct way to handle a not found in a web application is by returning a 404 HTTP status code to the client which in ASP.NET MVC terms translates into returning a HttpNotFoundResult from your controller action:

return new HttpNotFoundResult();

Ahh, oops, didn't notice you were still on ASP.NET MVC 2. You could implement it yourself because HttpNotFoundResult was introduced only in ASP.NET MVC 3:

public class HttpNotFoundResult : ActionResult
{
    public override void ExecuteResult(ControllerContext context)
    {
        if (context == null)
        {
            throw new ArgumentNullException("context");
        }
        context.HttpContext.Response.StatusCode = 404;
    }
}

Answer 2

In ASP.NET Core, use NotFound()

Your controller must inherit of Controller and the method must return ActionResult

Example:

public ActionResult GetFile(string path)
{
    if (!File.Exists(path))
    {
        return NotFound();
    }
    return new FileContentResult(File.ReadAllBytes(path), "application/octet-stream");
}