.Net MVC Return file and then delete it

Question

I've produced a MVC app that when you access /App/export it zips up all the files in a particular folder and then returns the zip file. The code looks something like:

public ActionResult Export() {
    exporter = new Project.Exporter("/mypath/")
    return File(exporter.filePath, "application/zip", exporter.fileName);
}

What I would like to do is return the file to the user and then delete it. Is there any way to set a timeout to delete the file? or hold onto the file handle so the file isn't deleted till after the request is finished?

score 7 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 12:03

7

Sorry, I do not have the code right now...

But the idea here is: just avoid creating a temporary file! You may write the zipped data directly to the response, using a MemoryStream for that.

EDIT Something on that line (it's not using MemoryStream but the idea is the same, avoiding creating a temp file, here using the DotNetZip library):

DotNetZip now can save directly to ASP.NET Response.OutputStream.

edited May 23 '17 at 12:03

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answered Nov 08 '10 at 22:45

rsenna

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data i am returning is so huge that it is cannot be in memory so have to create a temp file – PUG Jun 18 '13 at 19:28
@jaminator: So do it. But in that case, I would create an external job for deleting old temporary files. – rsenna Jun 18 '13 at 20:52

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Nov 30 '20 at 21:03

I know this thread is too old , but here is a solution if someone still faces this.

create temp file normally.
Read file into bytes array in memory by System.IO.File.ReadAllBytes().
Delete file from desk.

Return the file bytes by File(byte[] ,"application/zip" ,"SomeNAme.zip") , this is from your controller. Code Sample here:

     //Load ZipFile
     var toDownload = System.IO.File.ReadAllBytes(zipFile);
     //Clean Files
     Directory.Delete(tmpFolder, true);
     System.IO.File.Delete(zipFile);

     //Return result for download
     return File(toDownload,"application/zip",$"Certificates_{rs}.zip");

score -1 · Answer 3 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:23

-1

You could create a Stream implementation similar to FileStream, but which deletes the file when it is disposed.

There's some good code in this SO post.

edited May 23 '17 at 12:23

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answered Sep 24 '15 at 09:00

Dunc

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.Net MVC Return file and then delete it

3 Answers3