Can I implement file download using MVC4's ApiController? - asp.net-mvc-4

Question

Using regular Controller I could do it by returning FileResult. The same doesn't seem to work with ApiController. Can it be done? Is it even a right thing to do?

Answer 1

Try this.
[HttpGet]
public HttpResponseMessage Get()
{
var file = HttpContext.Current.Server.MapPath("~/Images/accent.png");
var stream = new FileStream(file, FileMode.Open);
var content = new HttpResponseMessage(HttpStatusCode.OK)
{
Content = new StreamContent(stream)
};
content.Content.Headers.ContentType = new MediaTypeHeaderValue("application/octet-stream");
return content;
}

Answer 2

I have this working thanks to this question.
using System.Net;
using System.Net.Http;
using System.Net.Http.Headers;
using System.Web.Http;
namespace Web.Controllers
{
//usage: /download/report
[RoutePrefix("download")]
public class DownloadController : ApiController
{
[HttpGet("report")]
public HttpResponseMessage Report()
{
using (var service = new Client())
{
var report = service.BuildReport();
return DownloadResponse(report, "Report.csv");
}
}
private static HttpResponseMessage DownloadResponse(string content, string fileName)
{
var downloadContent = new StringContent(content);
var mediaType = new MediaTypeHeaderValue("application/octet-stream");
var disposition= new ContentDispositionHeaderValue("attachment") { FileName = fileName };
downloadContent.Headers.ContentType = mediaType;
downloadContent.Headers.ContentDisposition = disposition;
var result = new HttpResponseMessage(HttpStatusCode.OK)
{
Content = downloadContent
};
return result;
}
}
}