file extensions lost between browsers in asp.net c# application

Question

I have a technical question for some of you.

Basically i have been testing my application primarily in firefox, I have a download feature in the application where the user can download a file from SQL server database. The problem is that when i download the file in Internet explorer every file will lose its extension apart from the Microsoft files e.g. word, access etc. There are no problems in firefox apart from bitmaps...

here is my code and thank you

    //Download attachment file
    protected void AttachmentDLBut_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
        //set the ID for the selected row
        var ID = Request.QueryString["Id"];
        using (SqlConnection conn = new SqlConnection("******"))
        {
            string sql = "SELECT FileType, Filename, Description FROM NetworkEquipment WHERE NetworkEquipmentID = '" + ID + "'";

            using (SqlCommand cmd = new SqlCommand(sql, conn))
            {
                //cmd.Parameters.AddWithValue("@ID", AttachmentDDL.SelectedItem.Value);
                conn.Open();

                SqlDataReader dr = cmd.ExecuteReader();

                try
                {
                    //if there is an attachment... download it
                    if (dr.Read())
                    {
                        Response.Clear();
                        Response.ContentType = dr["FileType"].ToString();
                        Response.AddHeader("Content-Disposition", "attachment;filename=\"" + dr["Filename"].ToString());
                        Response.BinaryWrite((byte[])dr["Description"]);
                        Response.End();

                        conn.Close();
                    }
                }
                catch (SqlException sqlex) { MessageBox.Show("Sorry, an unexpected error has occurred while downloading this file. Error: " + sqlex); }
                catch (Exception ex) { MessageBox.Show("Sorry, an unexpected error has occurred while downloading this file. Error: " + ex); }

                //else nothing happens
            }
        }
    }

This thread seems to have had the same issue as you http://stackoverflow.com/questions/5198530/file-download-fails-over-https-in-ie — Dev N00B, Jul 04 '13 at 08:59
You should try and set the `ContentType` sometimes the browser ignores the extension, and just takes the `ContentType`. — Nisd, Jul 04 '13 at 09:25
the \" after filename= should be removed, or closed after dr["Filename"].ToString() — jbl, Jul 04 '13 at 09:27

score 4 · Accepted Answer · answered Jul 04 '13 at 09:49

Use F12 developer tools or FireBug or similar to see what is actually sent by the server. In this case it will be something like:

Content-Disposition: attachment;filename="filename.ext

The server may also send this or something similar by default:

Content-Type: text/html

Firstly, you need to close the quotes after filename. A space after the semicolon is also recommended. You also need to clean up the filename to make sure it doesn't contain confusing or illegal characters. At the very least you need to strip double quotes or quote them.

Secondly you need to add a Content-Type header. The cheat is to set

Content-Type: application/octet-stream

which will result in the browser guessing based on the file extension.

Yes you were right in thinking it would save as html document, it does this for every file except the office files — Master Yoda, Jul 04 '13 at 13:42

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Sep 15 '15 at 04:29

Please check again filename. If file download have 1 character is spacebar (" ") Example: "template import.xls". Firefox will be error that without extension in download. You can function replace(" ", "") to fix this issue:

Response.AddHeader("Content-Disposition", "attachment;filename=\"" + replace(dr["Filename"].ToString(), " ", "");

file extensions lost between browsers in asp.net c# application

2 Answers2

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