I am creating an asp.net MVC application. My restrictions are that I cannot programmatically save anything to the file structure of the client system from the website. Any file transfer must be a download.
I am loading a PDF to a stream, extracting information from the PDF, dynamically building an excel file, and then offering the file for download to the client. My code is below.
- Code: Select all
// Loads the incoming PDF document to stream
PdfDocument doc = new PdfDocument();
using (var stream = model.BudgetPdfFile.OpenReadStream())
{
doc.LoadFromStream(stream);
}
var pageCount = doc.Pages.Count;
var date = DateTime.Now.ToShortDateString().Replace("/", "-");
// Extracts data from the PDF and separates it by NewLine
SimpleTextExtractionStrategy strategy = new SimpleTextExtractionStrategy();
StringBuilder allText = new StringBuilder();
for (var i = 0; i < pageCount; i++)
{
allText.Append(doc.Pages[i].ExtractText(strategy));
}
var fullDocText = allText.ToString();
List<string> linesList = new List<string>(fullDocText.Split(new[] { Environment.NewLine }, StringSplitOptions.None).ToList());
// generates a comparison list for output data manipulation from static data
var finalList = linesList.BuildFinalList(budgetItems);
// creates a new Spire.PDF.Workbook for the final output excel file
var result = new Workbook();
// checks for whether the submitted budget is for a case in litigation or not and builds the correct excel workbook
if (model.isTrial)
{
result = ExportExcelBudget.TrialBudgetSheet(model, finalList);
}
else
{
result = ExportExcelBudget.PreTrialBudgetSheet(model, finalList);
}
Absolutely everything up to the last section below where I'm returning the file works perfectly. However, I cannot figure out how to load the workbook into a new stream and then return the file for download.
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// saves the final workbook to a stream and offers it for download to the client
Stream outStream = new MemoryStream();
var fileName = "Budget Report_" + model.ClaimNumber + "_" + date + ".xlsx";
var contentType = "application/vnd.ms-excel";
result.SaveToStream(outStream, Spire.Xls.FileFormat.Version2016);
return File(outStream, contentType, fileName);
I've searched and tried multiple different variations but when the application hits the return File line, it returns a null. I've stepped through execution and the results seem to be there, but it's not sending anything. Any help on what is wrong here would be greatly appreciated.
Here is the Github link for the full project if you would like to see the entire file . https://github.com/tjones14/BudgetPro
