Export to excel using jquery ajax call

Question

I am working on MVC4 project.I have Devexpress report toolbar where i have a custom button for export to excel as there inbuilt functionaly have cell merging issue.

Anyways on click on that custom button .. i want to run export to excel code.. but its working working.. i mean its returning correct html but not asking for prompt to save file/download file,may be because of ajax call...

Here is code for ajax call

function ReportToolbar_ItemClick(s, e) {
        debugger;
        if (e.item.name == 'btnCustomeExport') {
            //  $.post('@Url.Action("ExportToExcel", "Report")');

            $.ajax({
                url: "@Url.Action("ExportToExcel", "Report")",
                type: "POST",
                success: function (data, textStatus, jqXHR) {
                    //data: data from server 
                    alert('success');
                },
                error: function (jqXHR, textStatus, errorThrown) {
                    alert('error');
                }
            });
        }
    }

and controller code :

public ActionResult ExportToExcel()
        {
            try
            {
                GridView GridView1 = new GridView();
                Response.ClearContent();
                Response.Buffer = true;
                Response.AddHeader("content-disposition", string.Format("attachment; filename={0}", "EmployeesData.xls"));
                Response.ContentType = "application/ms-excel";

                StringWriter stringWriter = new StringWriter();
                HtmlTextWriter htmlTextWriter = new HtmlTextWriter(stringWriter);

                GridView1.AllowPaging = false;
                GridView1.DataSource = ReportExecutor.GetShopReportExportData(DateTime.Now, DateTime.Now);
                GridView1.DataBind();

                //This will change the header background color
                GridView1.HeaderRow.Style.Add("background-color", "#FFFFFF");

                //This will apply style to gridview header cells
                for (int index = 0; index < GridView1.HeaderRow.Cells.Count; index++)
                {
                    GridView1.HeaderRow.Cells[index].Style.Add("background-color", "#d17250");
                }

                int index2 = 1;
                //This will apply style to alternate rows
                foreach (GridViewRow gridViewRow in GridView1.Rows)
                {
                    gridViewRow.BackColor = Color.White;
                    if (index2 <= GridView1.Rows.Count)
                    {
                        if (index2 % 2 != 0)
                        {
                            for (int index3 = 0; index3 < gridViewRow.Cells.Count; index3++)
                            {
                                gridViewRow.Cells[index3].Style.Add("background-color", "#eed0bb");
                            }
                        }
                    }
                    index2++;
                }

                GridView1.RenderControl(htmlTextWriter);

                Response.Write(stringWriter.ToString());
                Response.End();
                return Json(new { successCode = "1" });
            }
            catch (Exception e)
            {
                return Json(new { successCode = "0" });
            }
        }

If i debug the code .. i do get result in stringWriter but still not able see save/download option ??

Answer 1

Since it doesn't appear you are sending any data instead of ajax try:

window.location= "@Url.Action("ExportToExcel", "Report")";

Or just use the url in <a> tag href