CODEWITHSUNDEEP
c#asp.net-mvc
Percy
Percy

Reputation: 3115

MVC Requesting File Download - how to handle no file available?

I'm relatively new to MVC but suppose I have a @Html.ActionLink(.... on my page that links to an Action that generates a file and returns it using:

return File(memoryStream, "application/vnd.ms-excel");

This all works well until there's some kind of issue - either something's gone wrong or there's no file to return.

Returning null makes the webpage go to a blank page. So my question is... How can I gracefully handle this scenario? - ideally displaying some error to the user that something went wrong or there's no file/data available or if this isn't possible, then just ensuring the page doesn't go to a blank page, and just remains as it is.

I suppose I could redirect to the index action but this will refresh the page - are there any alternatives.

Upvotes: 1

Views: 2234

Answers (1)

Greg Burghardt
Greg Burghardt

Reputation: 18783

I would do one of two things:

  1. Return a 404 Not Found response:

    return HttpNotFound();

  2. Render a "friendly" error page:

    try
{
    if (File.Exists(...))
    {
        // Download file
    }
    else
    {
        return View("FileNotFound");
    }
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
    return View("FileError", ex);
}

Upvotes: 1

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