How to download files in Xamarin.Forms?

Question

Good day everyone! I am stuck on a problem. We decided that for some reasons we need to make our own launcher for a game which will check its version and download .apk of the game to install. We dont have a xamarin developer in our team, so I was asked to try do it myself. Stuck on downloading for the 2nd day. I installed NuGet plugin DownloadManager, tried to use it and did not succeed. Some indian guy video's didn't help me either. I can make a game, but totally suck in mobile development. What should I do?

I tried:

Making IDownloader(url, folder) with EventHandler, that did not help
Using plugin with these code. Linked it to a button. This did not help me too. Your help will save my life

void DownloadFile() 
{
    var downloadManager = CrossDownloadManager.Current;
    var file = downloadManager.CreateDownloadFile("someURIGodSaveMe");
    downloadManager.Start(file);
}

Michal Diviš · Answer 1 · 2022-07-04T05:14:54.360

You don't need anything special to download files in Xamarin.Forms, the good old HttpClient does the job.

This code downloads a file from a URL to the apps internal storage. More about Environment.SpecialFolder.Personal in Xamarin.Forms here.

private async Task DownloadApkAsync()
{
    var downloadedFilePath = Path.Combine(Environment.GetFolderPath(Environment.SpecialFolder.Personal), "myApp_v1.2.3.apk");

    var success = await DownloadFileAsync("https://www.myapp.com/apks/v1.2.3.apk", downloadedFilePath);

    if (success)
    {
        Console.WriteLine($"File downloaded to: {downloadedFilePath}");
    }
    else
    {
        Console.WriteLine("Download failed");
    }
}

private async Task<bool> DownloadFileAsync(string fileUrl, string downloadedFilePath)
{
    try
    {
        using var client = new HttpClient();

        var downloadStream = await client.GetStreamAsync(fileUrl);

        using var fileStream = File.Create(downloadedFilePath);

        await downloadStream.CopyToAsync(fileStream);

        return true;
    }
    catch (Exception ex)
    {
        //TODO handle exception
        return false;
    }
}

I also found this very nice tutorial for downloading large files in Xamarin.Forms if you want to get fancy (haven't tried it though). It supports download progress bar and cancellation.

How to download files in Xamarin.Forms?

1 Answers1

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