Send PDF to Browser ( as attachment ) - pdf

Question

I am currently trying to resolve the following issue:
var fileName = "monthly_report.pdf"
var document = new Document();
//DO SOME STUFF WITH THE DOCUMENT
MemoryStream stream = new MemoryStream();
doc.Save(stream, SaveFormat.Pdf);
byte[] bytes = stream.GetBuffer();
Response.Clear();
Response.ContentType = "application/pdf";
Response.AddHeader("content-disposition", "attachment; filename="+fileName);
Response.BinaryWrite(bytes);
Response.End();
Based on this code I am trying to display an Aspose. Words document converted into an pdf in the browser / trying to create a download dialog in the browser for said document.
When I execute the action there is no error message. The contents of the pdf are then displayed within the response message of the chrome debugger. The response also holds the appropriate size ( 60kb for the pdf ). It simply does not start a download or displays the pdf in the browser and I wonder why that would be.
I also tried an alternative provided by Aspose:
var resp = System.Web.HttpContext.Current.Response;
resp.Clear();
// Create Memory Stream Object
MemoryStream stream = new MemoryStream();
doc.Save(stream, SaveFormat.Pdf);
doc.Save(resp, fileName, ContentDisposition.Attachment, SaveOptions.CreateSaveOptions(
SaveFormat.Pdf));
resp.End();
Which leads to the exact same result the pdf being displayed in the response not the browser itself.
The controller action executing this code is called by the ajax statement:
$("#btnReport").click(function () {
var datum = $("#hiddenDatum").val();
$.ajax({
type: "GET",
url: '#Url.Action("GenerateMonthlyReport", "Reporting")',
data: { datum: datum},
success: function (data) {
}
});
});
Any suggestions to what I am doing wrong would be highly appreciated.
Edit: My research indicates that the ajax call indeed does not work. How can i initiate the file download based on my controller logic?

Answer 1

You can't download a file directly using AJAX calls. You can do this though:
$.ajax({
type: "GET",
url: '#Url.Action("GenerateMonthlyReport", "Reporting")',
data: { datum: datum},
success: function (data) {
window.location.href = data.filePath; // i.e. '/downloads/file.pdf';
}
});
You cannot stream data back to the jQuery handler. Why not just make this a simple get request with a standard HTML anchor?
#Html.ActionLink("Generate Monthly Report", "GenerateMonthlyReport", "Reporting", new { datum = DateTime.Now.ToString("d", new CultureInfo("en-US")})