jquery ajax file download

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Hi,

From Jquery ajax i am making a C# function call which is returing a file download option.

If i am using $.ajax, it is not working, if i am giving window.location = url then that download box is coming.

I am trying to download one excel file.

I have given this content type:application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet.
I am making that C# response object property OutputStream write to memorystream object.

Please let me know if i missed anything.

Posted 14-Mar-12 0:23am

Member 7217874

Updated 14-Mar-12 21:00pm

v3

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Comments

ZurdoDev 14-Mar-12 7:55am

So, what is the question? It works when you set window.location but you want to use .ajax? Show your .ajax code.

Dhaval__Patel 14-Mar-12 9:36am

paste some code so we can understand how ur calling c# from ajax .. it will help

Member 7217874 15-Mar-12 4:24am

$.ajax({
url: controllerUrl,
type: 'Get',
// datatype: "text",
contentType: "application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet",
// contentType: "text/plain; charset=UTF-8",
beforeSend: function (xhr) {
xhr.overrideMimeType('text/plain; charset=UTF-8')
$(that.el).parent().block({ message: "Processing..." });
// window.location = controllerUrl;
},
success: function (data) {

},
complete: function (data) {
$(that.el).dialog('close');
},
error: function (jqXHR,textStatus) {
alert("hi");
}
});

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John Culviner · Answer 1 · 2012-03-28T17:41:00

If I understand your question correctly you can't actually perform a file download with Ajax directly. You can request a file using Ajax but your Ajax response will contain the actual bits for the file. Due to JavaScript security limitations you won't be able to save those bits onto the user's computer with a file download dialog. For more information on why this is take a look at my blog post here

I created the Query File Download plugin (Demo) which fixes the problem and provides some other nice features. It basically gives you a "full Ajax-like" experience for file downloads (complete with callbacks even) that isn't normally possible for file downloads. It also has some other handy features:

- User never leaves the same page they initiated a file download from whether it is successful or there is an error
- successCallback and failCallback functions allow for you to be explicit about what the UI behavior is in either situation
- In conjunction with jQuery UI a developer can easily show a modal telling the user that a file download is occurring, disband the modal after the download starts or even inform the user in a friendly manner that an error has occurred. See the Demo for more example.