Return PDF to browser using JSON and MVC?

Question

I have a link as follows.

@Html.ActionLink(\"Create Report\", \"Screenreport\", \"Reports\", null, new { @class = \"subNavA AddBorderTop\", id = \"screenRe         


        

Answer 1

I feel obligated to post my answer since I didn't hear from anyone. I ended up creating a form that includes a hidden input, then saved my json object in the hidden input and then submit the form. This time I will get input as an string not a json or xml.

var $hidInput = $("#dataToReport"); 
$hidInput.val(JSON.stringify(Screentable)); 
$('#frmScreenreport').submit(); 

Thanks all anyways.

Answer 2

You cannot use AJAX to download files, because javascript doesn't allow you to save the downloaded content. To workaround this you need to take 2 steps.

First: make the HTTP Post request, and in the controller action we would store the File content in a Memory stream.Second: on success make another call by setting the window.location to the Download Action method

In your Controller create this 2 actions:

public ActionResult GenerateFile()
    {
        MemoryStream fileStream = new MemoryStream { Position = 0 };
        //position = 0 is important

        var fName = string.Format("File-{0}.xlsx", DateTime.Now.ToString("s"));
        Session[fName] = fileStream;
        return Json(new { success = true, fName }, JsonRequestBehavior.AllowGet);
    }
    public ActionResult DownloadFile(string fName)
    {
        var ms = Session[fName] as MemoryStream;
        if (ms == null)
            return new EmptyResult();
        Session[fName] = null;
        return File(ms, "application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet", fName);
    }

In your javascript:

$('#Donwload-button').click(function () {
    data = JSON.stringify(YOURDATA);
    $.ajax({
        contentType: 'application/json; charset=utf-8',
        dataType: 'json',
        type: 'POST',
        url: "/YOURCONTROLLER/GenerateFile",
        data: data,
        success: function (d) {
            if (d.success) {
                window.location = "/YOURCONTROLLER/DownloadFile" + "?fName=" + d.fName;
            }
        },
        error: function () {
           alert("Error");
        }
    });

});