[c#] Download Excel file via AJAX MVC

I have a large(ish) form in MVC.

I need to be able to generate an excel file containing data from a subset of that form.

The tricky bit is that this shouldn't affect the rest of the form and so I want to do it via AJAX. I've come across a few questions on SO that seem to be related, but I can't quite work out what the answers mean.

This one seems the closest to what I'm after: asp-net-mvc-downloading-excel - but I'm not sure I understand the response, and it is a couple years old now. I also came across another article (can't find it anymore) about using an iframe to handle the file download, but I'm not sure how to get this working with MVC.

My excel file returns fine if I'm doing a full post back but I can't get it working with AJAX in mvc.

First Create the controller action that will create the Excel File

[HttpPost]
public JsonResult ExportExcel()
{
    DataTable dt = DataService.GetData();
    var fileName = "Excel_" + DateTime.Now.ToString("yyyyMMddHHmm") + ".xls";

    //save the file to server temp folder
    string fullPath = Path.Combine(Server.MapPath("~/temp"), fileName);

    using (var exportData = new MemoryStream())
    {
        //I don't show the detail how to create the Excel, this is not the point of this article,
        //I just use the NPOI for Excel handler
        Utility.WriteDataTableToExcel(dt, ".xls", exportData);

        FileStream file = new FileStream(fullPath, FileMode.Create, FileAccess.Write);
        exportData.WriteTo(file);
        file.Close();
    }

    var errorMessage = "you can return the errors in here!";

    //return the Excel file name
    return Json(new { fileName = fileName, errorMessage = "" });
}

then create the Download action

[HttpGet]
[DeleteFileAttribute] //Action Filter, it will auto delete the file after download, 
                      //I will explain it later
public ActionResult Download(string file)
{
    //get the temp folder and file path in server
    string fullPath = Path.Combine(Server.MapPath("~/temp"), file);

    //return the file for download, this is an Excel 
    //so I set the file content type to "application/vnd.ms-excel"
    return File(fullPath, "application/vnd.ms-excel", file);
}

if you want to delete the file after downloaded create this

public class DeleteFileAttribute : ActionFilterAttribute
{
    public override void OnResultExecuted(ResultExecutedContext filterContext)
    {
        filterContext.HttpContext.Response.Flush();

        //convert the current filter context to file and get the file path
        string filePath = (filterContext.Result as FilePathResult).FileName;

        //delete the file after download
        System.IO.File.Delete(filePath);
    }
}

and finally ajax call from you MVC Razor view

//I use blockUI for loading...
$.blockUI({ message: '<h3>Please wait a moment...</h3>' });    
$.ajax({
    type: "POST",
    url: '@Url.Action("ExportExcel","YourController")', //call your controller and action
    contentType: "application/json; charset=utf-8",
    dataType: "json",
}).done(function (data) {
    //console.log(data.result);
    $.unblockUI();

    //get the file name for download
    if (data.fileName != "") {
        //use window.location.href for redirect to download action for download the file
        window.location.href = "@Url.RouteUrl(new 
            { Controller = "YourController", Action = "Download"})/?file=" + data.fileName;
    }
});

I was recently able to accomplish this in MVC (although there was no need to use AJAX) without creating a physical file and thought I'd share my code:

Super simple JavaScript function (datatables.net button click triggers this):

function getWinnersExcel(drawingId) {
    window.location = "/drawing/drawingwinnersexcel?drawingid=" + drawingId;
}

C# Controller code:

    public FileResult DrawingWinnersExcel(int drawingId)
    {
        MemoryStream stream = new MemoryStream(); // cleaned up automatically by MVC
        List<DrawingWinner> winnerList = DrawingDataAccess.GetWinners(drawingId); // simple entity framework-based data retrieval
        ExportHelper.GetWinnersAsExcelMemoryStream(stream, winnerList, drawingId);

        string suggestedFilename = string.Format("Drawing_{0}_Winners.xlsx", drawingId);
        return File(stream, "application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet.main+xml", suggestedFilename);
    }

In the ExportHelper class I do use a 3rd party tool (GemBox.Spreadsheet) to generate the Excel file and it has a Save to Stream option. That being said, there are a number of ways to create Excel files that can easily be written to a memory stream.

public static class ExportHelper
{
    internal static void GetWinnersAsExcelMemoryStream(MemoryStream stream, List<DrawingWinner> winnerList, int drawingId)
    {

        ExcelFile ef = new ExcelFile();

        // lots of excel worksheet building/formatting code here ...

        ef.SaveXlsx(stream);
        stream.Position = 0; // reset for future read

     }
}

In IE, Chrome, and Firefox, the browser prompts to download the file and no actual navigation occurs.

This thread helped me create my own solution that I will share here. I was using a GET ajax request at first without issues but it got to a point where the request URL length was exceeded so I had to swith to a POST.

The javascript uses JQuery file download plugin and consists of 2 succeeding calls. One POST (To send params) and one GET to retreive the file.

 function download(result) {
        $.fileDownload(uri + "?guid=" + result,
        {
            successCallback: onSuccess.bind(this),
            failCallback: onFail.bind(this)
        });
    }

    var uri = BASE_EXPORT_METADATA_URL;
    var data = createExportationData.call(this);

    $.ajax({
        url: uri,
        type: 'POST',
        contentType: 'application/json',
        data: JSON.stringify(data),
        success: download.bind(this),
        fail: onFail.bind(this)
    });

Server side

    [HttpPost]
    public string MassExportDocuments(MassExportDocumentsInput input)
    {
        // Save query for file download use
        var guid = Guid.NewGuid();
        HttpContext.Current.Cache.Insert(guid.ToString(), input, null, DateTime.Now.AddMinutes(5), Cache.NoSlidingExpiration);
        return guid.ToString();
    }

   [HttpGet]
    public async Task<HttpResponseMessage> MassExportDocuments([FromUri] Guid guid)
    {
        //Get params from cache, generate and return
        var model = (MassExportDocumentsInput)HttpContext.Current.Cache[guid.ToString()];
          ..... // Document generation

        // to determine when file is downloaded
        HttpContext.Current
                   .Response
                   .SetCookie(new HttpCookie("fileDownload", "true") { Path = "/" });

        return FileResult(memoryStream, "documents.zip", "application/zip");
    }

$.ajax({
                type: "GET",
                url: "/Home/Downloadexcel/",
                contentType: "application/json; charset=utf-8",
                data: null,
                success: function (Rdata) {
                    debugger;
                    var bytes = new Uint8Array(Rdata.FileContents); 
                    var blob = new Blob([bytes], { type: "application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet" });
                    var link = document.createElement('a');
                    link.href = window.URL.createObjectURL(blob);
                    link.download = "myFileName.xlsx";
                    link.click();
                },
                error: function (err) {

                }

            });

On Submit form

public ActionResult ExportXls()
{   
 var filePath="";
  CommonHelper.WriteXls(filePath, "Text.xls");
}

 public static void WriteXls(string filePath, string targetFileName)
    {
        if (!String.IsNullOrEmpty(filePath))
        {
            HttpResponse response = HttpContext.Current.Response;
            response.Clear();
            response.Charset = "utf-8";
            response.ContentType = "text/xls";
            response.AddHeader("content-disposition", string.Format("attachment; filename={0}", targetFileName));
            response.BinaryWrite(File.ReadAllBytes(filePath));
            response.End();
        }
    }

CSL's answer was implemented in a project I'm working on but the problem I incurred was scaling out on Azure broke our file downloads. Instead, I was able to do this with one AJAX call:

SERVER

[HttpPost]
public FileResult DownloadInvoice(int id1, int id2)
{
    //necessary to get the filename in the success of the ajax callback
    HttpContext.Response.Headers.Add("Access-Control-Expose-Headers", "Content-Disposition");

    byte[] fileBytes = _service.GetInvoice(id1, id2);
    string fileName = "Invoice.xlsx";
    return File(fileBytes, System.Net.Mime.MediaTypeNames.Application.Octet, fileName);
}

CLIENT (modified version of Handle file download from ajax post)

$("#downloadInvoice").on("click", function() {
    $("#loaderInvoice").removeClass("d-none");

    var xhr = new XMLHttpRequest();
    var params = [];
    xhr.open('POST', "@Html.Raw(Url.Action("DownloadInvoice", "Controller", new { id1 = Model.Id1, id2 = Model.Id2 }))", true);
    xhr.responseType = 'arraybuffer';
    xhr.onload = function () {
        if (this.status === 200) {
            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 type = xhr.getResponseHeader('Content-Type');

            var blob = typeof File === 'function'
                ? new File([this.response], filename, { type: type })
                : new Blob([this.response], { type: type });
            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 = downloadUrl;
                    } else {
                        a.href = downloadUrl;
                        a.download = filename;
                        document.body.appendChild(a);
                        a.click();
                    }
                } else {
                    window.location = downloadUrl;

                }

                setTimeout(function() {
                        URL.revokeObjectURL(downloadUrl);
                    $("#loaderInvoice").addClass("d-none");
                }, 100); // cleanup
            }
        }
    };
    xhr.setRequestHeader('Content-type', 'application/x-www-form-urlencoded');
    xhr.send($.param(params));
});

using ClosedXML.Excel;

   public ActionResult Downloadexcel()
    {   
        var Emplist = JsonConvert.SerializeObject(dbcontext.Employees.ToList());
        DataTable dt11 = (DataTable)JsonConvert.DeserializeObject(Emplist, (typeof(DataTable)));
        dt11.TableName = "Emptbl";
        FileContentResult robj;
        using (XLWorkbook wb = new XLWorkbook())
        {
            wb.Worksheets.Add(dt11);
            using (MemoryStream stream = new MemoryStream())
            {
                wb.SaveAs(stream);
                var bytesdata = File(stream.ToArray(), "application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet", "myFileName.xlsx");
                robj = bytesdata;
            }
        }


        return Json(robj, JsonRequestBehavior.AllowGet);
    }

  $.ajax({
    global: false,
    url: SitePath + "/User/ExportTeamMembersInExcel",
    "data": { 'UserName': UserName, 'RoleId': RoleId, UserIds: AppraseeId },
    "type": "POST",
    "dataType": "JSON",
   "success": function (result) {
        debugger
        var bytes = new Uint8Array(result.FileContents);
        var blob = new Blob([bytes], { type: "application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet" });
        var link = document.createElement('a');
        link.href = window.URL.createObjectURL(blob);
        link.download = "myFileName.xlsx";
        link.click();
      },
    "error": function () {
        alert("error");
    }
})


[HttpPost]
    public JsonResult ExportTeamMembersInExcel(string UserName, long? RoleId, string[] UserIds)
    {
        MemoryStream stream = new MemoryStream();
        FileContentResult robj;
        DataTable data = objuserservice.ExportTeamToExcel(UserName, RoleId, UserIds);
        using (XLWorkbook wb = new XLWorkbook())
        {
            wb.Worksheets.Add(data, "TeamMembers");
            using (stream)
            {
                wb.SaveAs(stream);
            }
        }
        robj = File(stream.ToArray(), System.Net.Mime.MediaTypeNames.Application.Octet, "TeamMembers.xlsx");
        return Json(robj, JsonRequestBehavior.AllowGet);
    }

I may sound quite naive, and may attract quite a criticism, but here's how I did it,
(It doesn't involve ajax for export, but it doesn't do a full postback either )

Thanks for this post and this answer.
Create a simple controller

public class HomeController : Controller
{               
   /* A demo action
    public ActionResult Index()
    {           
        return View(model);
    }
   */
    [HttpPost]
    public FileResult ExportData()
    {
        /* An example filter
        var filter = TempData["filterKeys"] as MyFilter;
        TempData.Keep();            */
        var someList = db.GetDataFromDb(/*filter*/) // filter as an example

    /*May be here's the trick, I'm setting my filter in TempData["filterKeys"] 
     in an action,(GetFilteredPartial() illustrated below) when 'searching' for the data,
     so do not really need ajax here..to pass my filters.. */

     //Some utility to convert list to Datatable
     var dt = Utility.ConvertToDataTable(someList); 

      //  I am using EPPlus nuget package 
      using (ExcelPackage pck = new ExcelPackage())
      {
          ExcelWorksheet ws = pck.Workbook.Worksheets.Add("Sheet1");
          ws.Cells["A1"].LoadFromDataTable(dt, true);

            using (var memoryStream = new MemoryStream())
            {                   
              pck.SaveAs(memoryStream);
              return File(memoryStream.ToArray(),
              "application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet",
              "ExportFileName.xlsx");                    
            }                
        }   
    }

    //This is just a supporting example to illustrate setting up filters ..        
   /* [HttpPost]
    public PartialViewResult GetFilteredPartial(MyFilter filter)
    {            
        TempData["filterKeys"] = filter;
        var filteredData = db.GetConcernedData(filter);
        var model = new MainViewModel();
        model.PartialViewModel = filteredData;

        return PartialView("_SomePartialView", model);
    } */     
} 

And here are the Views..

/*Commenting out the View code, in order to focus on the imp. code     
 @model Models.MainViewModel
 @{Layout...}     

      Some code for, say, a partial View  
      <div id="tblSampleBody">
        @Html.Partial("_SomePartialView", Model.PartialViewModel)
      </div>
  */                                                       
//The actual part.. Just **posting** this bit of data from the complete View...
//Here, you are not posting the full Form..or the complete View
   @using (Html.BeginForm("ExportData", "Home", FormMethod.Post))
    {
        <input type="submit" value="Export Data" />
    }
//...
//</div>

/*And you may require to pass search/filter values.. as said in the accepted answer..
That can be done while 'searching' the data.. and not while
 we need an export..for instance:-             

<script>             
  var filterData = {
      SkipCount: someValue,
      TakeCount: 20,
      UserName: $("#UserName").val(),
      DepartmentId: $("#DepartmentId").val(),     
   }

  function GetFilteredData() {
       $("#loader").show();
       filterData.SkipCount = 0;
       $.ajax({
          url: '@Url.Action("GetFilteredPartial","Home")',
          type: 'POST',
          dataType: "html",
          data: filterData,
          success: function (dataHTML) {
          if ((dataHTML === null) || (dataHTML == "")) {
              $("#tblSampleBody").html('<tr><td>No Data Returned</td></tr>');
                $("#loader").hide();
            } else {
                $("#tblSampleBody").html(dataHTML);                    
                $("#loader").hide();
            }
        }
     });
   }    
</script>*/

The whole point of the trick seems that, we are posting a form (a part of the Razor View ) upon which we are calling an Action method, which returns: a FileResult, and this FileResult returns the Excel File..
And for posting the filter values, as said, ( and if you require to), I am making a post request to another action, as has been attempted to describe..

I used the solution posted by CSL but I would recommend you dont store the file data in Session during the whole session. By using TempData the file data is automatically removed after the next request (which is the GET request for the file). You could also manage removal of the file data in Session in download action.

Session could consume much memory/space depending on SessionState storage and how many files are exported during the session and if you have many users.

I've updated the serer side code from CSL to use TempData instead.

public ActionResult PostReportPartial(ReportVM model){

   // Validate the Model is correct and contains valid data
   // Generate your report output based on the model parameters
   // This can be an Excel, PDF, Word file - whatever you need.

   // As an example lets assume we've generated an EPPlus ExcelPackage

   ExcelPackage workbook = new ExcelPackage();
   // Do something to populate your workbook

   // Generate a new unique identifier against which the file can be stored
   string handle = Guid.NewGuid().ToString()

   using(MemoryStream memoryStream = new MemoryStream()){
        workbook.SaveAs(memoryStream);
        memoryStream.Position = 0;
        TempData[handle] = memoryStream.ToArray();
   }      

   // Note we are returning a filename as well as the handle
   return new JsonResult() { 
         Data = new { FileGuid = handle, FileName = "TestReportOutput.xlsx" }
   };

}

[HttpGet]
public virtual ActionResult Download(string fileGuid, string fileName)
{   
   if(TempData[fileGuid] != null){
        byte[] data = TempData[fileGuid] as byte[];
        return File(data, "application/vnd.ms-excel", fileName);
   }   
   else{
        // Problem - Log the error, generate a blank file,
        //           redirect to another controller action - whatever fits with your application
        return new EmptyResult();
   }
}

I am using Asp.Net WebForm and just I wanna to download a file from server side. There is a lot article but I cannot find just basic answer. Now, I tried a basic way and got it.

That's my problem.

I have to create a lot of input button dynamically on runtime. And I want to add each button to download button with giving an unique fileNumber.

I create each button like this:

fragment += "<div><input type=\"button\" value=\"Create Excel\" onclick=\"CreateExcelFile(" + fileNumber + ");\" /></div>";

Each button call this ajax method.

$.ajax({_x000D_
    type: 'POST',_x000D_
    url: 'index.aspx/CreateExcelFile',_x000D_
    data: jsonData,_x000D_
    contentType: 'application/json; charset=utf-8',_x000D_
    dataType: 'json',_x000D_
    success: function (returnValue) {_x000D_
      window.location = '/Reports/Downloads/' + returnValue.d;_x000D_
    }_x000D_
});

Then I wrote a basic simple method.

[WebMethod]
public static string CreateExcelFile2(string fileNumber)
{
    string filePath = string.Format(@"Form_{0}.xlsx", fileNumber);
    return filePath;
}

I am generating this Form_1, Form_2, Form_3.... And I am going to delete this old files with another program. But if there is a way to just sending byte array to download file like using Response. I wanna to use it.

I hope this will be usefull for anyone.

My 2 cents - you don't need to store the excel as a physical file on the server - instead, store it in the (Session) Cache. Use a uniquely generated name for your Cache variable (that stores that excel file) - this will be the return of your (initial) ajax call. This way you don't have to deal with file access issues, managing (deleting) the files when not needed, etc. and, having the file in the Cache, is faster to retrieve it.

The accepted answer didn't quite work for me as I got a 502 Bad Gateway result from the ajax call even though everything seemed to be returning fine from the controller.

Perhaps I was hitting a limit with TempData - not sure, but I found that if I used IMemoryCache instead of TempData, it worked fine, so here is my adapted version of the code in the accepted answer:

public ActionResult PostReportPartial(ReportVM model){

   // Validate the Model is correct and contains valid data
   // Generate your report output based on the model parameters
   // This can be an Excel, PDF, Word file - whatever you need.

   // As an example lets assume we've generated an EPPlus ExcelPackage

   ExcelPackage workbook = new ExcelPackage();
   // Do something to populate your workbook

   // Generate a new unique identifier against which the file can be stored
   string handle = Guid.NewGuid().ToString();

   using(MemoryStream memoryStream = new MemoryStream()){
        workbook.SaveAs(memoryStream);
        memoryStream.Position = 0;
        //TempData[handle] = memoryStream.ToArray();

        //This is an equivalent to tempdata, but requires manual cleanup
        _cache.Set(handle, memoryStream.ToArray(), 
                    new MemoryCacheEntryOptions().SetSlidingExpiration(TimeSpan.FromMinutes(10))); 
                    //(I'd recommend you revise the expiration specifics to suit your application)

   }      

   // Note we are returning a filename as well as the handle
   return new JsonResult() { 
         Data = new { FileGuid = handle, FileName = "TestReportOutput.xlsx" }
   };

}

AJAX call remains as with the accepted answer (I made no changes):

$ajax({
    cache: false,
    url: '/Report/PostReportPartial',
    data: _form.serialize(), 
    success: function (data){
         var response = JSON.parse(data);
         window.location = '/Report/Download?fileGuid=' + response.FileGuid 
                           + '&filename=' + response.FileName;
    }
})

The controller action to handle the downloading of the file:

[HttpGet]
public virtual ActionResult Download(string fileGuid, string fileName)
{   
    if (_cache.Get<byte[]>(fileGuid) != null)
    {
        byte[] data = _cache.Get<byte[]>(fileGuid);
        _cache.Remove(fileGuid); //cleanup here as we don't need it in cache anymore
        return File(data, "application/vnd.ms-excel", fileName);
    }
    else
    {
        // Something has gone wrong...
        return View("Error"); // or whatever/wherever you want to return the user
    }
}

...

Now there is some extra code for setting up MemoryCache...

In order to use "_cache" I injected in the constructor for the controller like so:

using Microsoft.Extensions.Caching.Memory;
namespace MySolution.Project.Controllers
{
 public class MyController : Controller
 {
     private readonly IMemoryCache _cache;

     public LogController(IMemoryCache cache)
     {
        _cache = cache;
     }

     //rest of controller code here
  }
 }

And make sure you have the following in ConfigureServices in Startup.cs:

services.AddDistributedMemoryCache();