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Its probably not the correct title for asking this question as when I searched it gave results of dynamic urls for downloads. Thats not what I want... (at least I think it isn't)

My issue is that I need to dynamically create a list of, say newsletters as an example, the list gets created using loops in C# code and Response.Write(). The source is from a database that just contains the location source of the newsletter, date and name. Basic output of the code is:

|News Letters
|Date:       |Name:        |View button: |Download link:  |
|7/01/2013   |June News    |   [View]    |   [Download]   |
|8/01/2013   |July News    |   [View]    |   [Download]   |

more or less... The table is generated in a loop, so it can be any length.

How would I go about implementing a download for each individual news letter? The HTML code is just using an ordinary table and the view button is an href link to the souce.

5tar-Kaster
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    what format is the newsletter in? And what exactly does the href link to? – Winks Jul 11 '13 at 12:38
  • its a pdf file, but it could be just about any file format. The problem still is the same. – 5tar-Kaster Jul 11 '13 at 12:43
  • This might help you get started: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/6358799/asp-net-programatically-bind-dataset-to-gridview – Asken Jul 11 '13 at 12:48
  • not quite... that binds columns to a grid... I want to add a download button with the link of its own attached (somehow) to the button... and that all gets generated by the C# loop – 5tar-Kaster Jul 11 '13 at 13:19
  • Why don't you use a `GridView` with a select property attached to the download link, and construct your download based on the selected index when the download is clicked? – EmmanuelRC Jul 11 '13 at 13:32
  • Of course you could not find anything for "dynamic", because it is a buzzword. What is a "dynamic url", one that changes when you click it? I'm glad you're satisfied with the answers but your actual problem is quite unclear. I think you're just looking for an ID column, where you assign each newsletter a unique ID so you can link to `/downloadNewsletter?id=123`. – CodeCaster Jul 11 '13 at 13:50
  • I don't particularly know what a dynamic url is either... but thats what I got. The solution to force a download is exactly what I want, the issue is that there are an unknown number of newsletters with unknown names. All of that data is stored in a database, the website doesn't know any of it. I use C# code in a loop to add in the newsletters (with unknown names and links) using the response.write() method. – 5tar-Kaster Jul 11 '13 at 14:15

2 Answers2

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I'm not 100% on how you're trying to return the information but this will take a SqlDataReader and add each row in the data reader response to a new row in a table and build up a HTML string.

StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
        sb.Append("<table><th>Date</th><th>Name</th><th>View</th><th>Download</th>");


        while (sqlDataReader.Read())
        {
            sb.Append(string.Format("<tr><td>{0}</td><td>{1}</td><td>{2}</td><td><a href='{3}' download>Download</a></td></tr>", sqlDataReader["Date"], sqlDataReader["Name"],
                          sqlDataReader["LocationSource"], sqlDataReader["LocationSource"]));
        }

        sb.Append("</table>");

        return sb.ToString();

I've made a slight adjustment, noticed I've put download inside the link tag. This is a HTML 5 feature that will force a download rather than opening in browser, more info here Force a browser to save file as after clicking link

Community
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rh072005
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  • unfortunatly this doesn't work as I need it too. While yes it will open up the pdf document but I need it to directly download the pdf without needing to open it first. – 5tar-Kaster Jul 11 '13 at 13:13
  • _"it will open up the pdf document but I need it to directly download the pdf without needing to open it first"_ - then you should return the proper HTTP headers for that. – CodeCaster Jul 11 '13 at 13:49
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If you're using HTML5 you can just add the word 'download' to the end of the href link.

<a href="link to newsletter.pdf" download>Download link</a>

this will force a download instead of opening the pdf like normal.

Good luck!

Julie20
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