ASP.NET MVC open a Excel file on click of button

Question

I display a table with data on the page and then when user clicks Export I put the data in the excel file. Now I want to open this file so that user can save it or just view it. This is the code I have. It prompts the user to save a file but that file is the whole page!! WHat is wrong here?

   string filename = filePath.Substring(12);
                        System.IO.File.Copy(filePath, "C:/Work/MCTestSuiteCertificate/TS.ToDoViewer/Content/" + filename, true);
                        Response.Clear();
                        Response.ContentType = @"application\xls";
                       // FileInfo file = new FileInfo(Server.MapPath("~/Content/" + filename));
                        Response.AddHeader("Filename", filename);
                        Response.ContentType = "application/xls";
                        Response.TransmitFile("C:/Work/MCTestSuiteCertificate/TS.ToDoViewer/Content/" + filename);
                        //Response.WriteFile(file.FullName);
                        Response.Flush();

Sergei Rogovtcev · Accepted Answer · 2012-08-16 08:13:49Z

2

Use File method (which returns FileResult). You should not work directly with Response in MVC application.

public ActionResult YourAction()
{
    ...
    string filename = filePath.Substring(12);
    return File(Path.Combine(@"C:\Work\MCTestSuiteCertificate\TS.ToDoViewer\Content", filename), "application/xls");
}

PS Also please note use of Path.Combine instead of string concatenation.

edited Aug 16, 2012 at 8:13

answered Aug 16, 2012 at 8:07

Sergei Rogovtcev

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2 Comments

ManInMoon Over a year ago

@Serg When I do this I get no error - BUT excel is not opened either. I call it with: ** <input type="submit" value="Report" onclick="location.href='@Url.Action("YourAction", "Employee" )'" />**

Sergei Rogovtcev Over a year ago

Check the HTTP calls between client and server to find out where the issue lies.

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