ASP.NET web application create txt file on users computer

Question

I have a asp.net c# web application. On one of the pages i have a button and when pressed I want it to create a text file with certain text and save it to the users PC. I do not want to save it on the server or anything.

I Currently have this which writes 'test' to a file:

string fileLoc = "filePath";
            FileStream fs = null;
            fs = File.Create(fileLoc);

            StreamWriter sw = new StreamWriter(fileLoc);
            sw.WriteLine("test");

            fs.Close();
            sw.Close();

How do I get it to save to the users computer.

Thanks for the help!.

possible duplicate of [C# Asp.net write file to client](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1072814/c-sharp-asp-net-write-file-to-client) — Tim Schmelter, Nov 14 '13 at 15:33
related question: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1008810/write-a-file-on-the-fly-to-the-client-with-c-sharp?tab=oldest — overloading, Nov 14 '13 at 15:38
So there is no way of saving it to the PC without it popping up and asking them to save? I need to access some data on the page like a label text and use it in a vba macro which is local. — Safinn, Nov 15 '13 at 07:44

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Nov 14 '13 at 15:33

0

ASP.NET run on the server. If you would like to work with the client's computer you'll do it in Java Script. I recommend you to use any open source project written in javascript like this one https://github.com/eligrey/FileSaver.js.

answered Nov 14 '13 at 15:33

Videron

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score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Nov 14 '13 at 15:34

0

You have to return it trough an action method.

public ActionResult DownloadFile(){
 return File(filePath, "text/plain", "MyFileName");
}

You cannot explicitly save it to the users PC because you simply don't have access to that. Returning it as an ActionResult (more specifically: FileResult) will return it as a download.

answered Nov 14 '13 at 15:34

Jeroen Vannevel

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I don't think the OP is using ASP.NET MVC. – Karl Anderson Nov 14 '13 at 15:35
Possibly, yeah. I'll remove the answer and vote to close as duplicate if it turns out to be that way. – Jeroen Vannevel Nov 14 '13 at 15:36

score 0 · Answer 3 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:12

You can't save the file directly in the client. You must write it into a Response, and then send it back to the client as a Download. There's a lot of ways, one of those include write the file stream directly into the Response like:

Response.ContentType = "text/plain";
Response.OutputStream.Write(buffer, 0, buffer.Length);
Response.AddHeader("Content-Disposition", "attachment;filename=yourfile.txt");

Reference: C# Asp.net write file to client

ASP.NET web application create txt file on users computer

3 Answers3