I want to download XML file in C# which I created using XmlWriter.Create() on user's system

Question

I have a method to create an XML File and save it to the desired file path. It works perfectly. But the problem I am facing is I have to allow the user to download this file but it gets downloaded to the server on the given file path, not on the user's system.

I have the following code for the same

        var dateString1 = DateTime.Now.ToString("yyyyMMddHHmmss");

        XmlWriterSettings settings = new XmlWriterSettings
        {
            Indent = true,
            IndentChars = (" "),
            ConformanceLevel = ConformanceLevel.Fragment,
            CloseOutput = true,
            OmitXmlDeclaration = true
        };

        using (XmlWriter writer = XmlWriter.Create(filePath + "bill" + dateString1 + ".xml", settings))
        {                
            writer.WriteStartElement("HEADER");
            .......Some more Code..............
            writer.WriteEndElement(); //HEADER
            writer.Flush();
        }
        return Json(1, JsonRequestBehavior.AllowGet);

I need the file generated to be downloaded on the user's system automatically when he requests it and there is no other file generated.

Thank you.

If the network folder is shared you should be able to change filePath to the Network folder. — jdweng, Dec 05 '19 at 13:27
try this https://stackoverflow.com/questions/9541351/returning-binary-file-from-controller-in-asp-net-web-api — eyal, Dec 05 '19 at 13:45

Нетерпеливый игуан · Accepted Answer · 2019-12-06T07:45:19.937

3

In your controller:

var fileContent = System.IO.File.ReadAllBytes(filePath + "bill" + dateString1 + ".xml");
return File(fileContent , System.Net.Mime.MediaTypeNames.Text.Xml, "bill" + dateString1 + ".xml");

UPDATE. Without creating a file:

byte[] fileContent;
using (var ms = new MemoryStream())
{
    using (XmlWriter writer = XmlWriter.Create(ms, settings))
    {
        writer.WriteStartElement("HEADER");
        //.......Some more Code..............
        writer.Flush();
    }
    fileContent = ms.GetBuffer();
}

return File(fileContent , System.Net.Mime.MediaTypeNames.Text.Xml, "bill" + dateString1 + ".xml");

edited Dec 06 '19 at 07:45

answered Dec 05 '19 at 14:10

Нетерпеливый игуан

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Thank you. It did the trick. But this was not exactly what I wanted, but works. Now I have a copy of every file generated on the server. Please show any other way of doing it so that files are not saved on the server first, only downloaded. – Anuj Kumar Chaudhary Dec 06 '19 at 05:23
@AnujKumarChaudhary, I supplemented my answer. – Нетерпеливый игуан Dec 06 '19 at 07:49
It works perfectly, thanks. But appends to many `<0x00>` at the end of the file. Any idea why? – Anuj Kumar Chaudhary Dec 10 '19 at 08:00

I want to download XML file in C# which I created using XmlWriter.Create() on user's system

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