CODEWITHSUNDEEP
asp.net
ProfK
ProfK

Reputation: 51064

Problem with CSV download to IE 6

I have a friend experiencing problems testing a web site of mine that provides a CSV export for a report. He says the CSV is output to the screen, and no file is created.

It works fine on my IIS7, Vista, and IE7 setup. I can't get more details at the moment, but I'd like to at least ask: is my code, below, for sending the CSV adequate to be browser/version independent?

    Response.Clear();
    Response.Buffer = true;
    Response.ContentType = "text/csv";
    string fileName = GetExportFileName();
    Response.AddHeader("Content-Disposition", "filename=" + fileName);
    dt.WriteCsv(Response.Output, false);
    Response.End();

I'm building fileName to include a date with /separators, which may be causing a problem, but it doesn't affect my machine, and the / gets automagically replaced with _.

Upvotes: 0

Views: 900

Answers (5)

frodosghost
frodosghost

Reputation: 520

Very late to the party very here, so this is more for anyone who came across this issue at a later time. This is in relation to quote "No HTTP header will force IE6 to offer a download."

In PHP I have the headers set as the following for IE to show a 'Save' button, and not just download the file - or display the file in the brower window.

Response.AddHeader("X-Download-Options", "noopen");
Response.AddHeader("X-Content-Type-Options", "nosniff");

The X headers are used to indicate that it is a non-standard header type. Works in IE6.

Upvotes: 1

Jonathan Wood
Jonathan Wood

Reputation: 67223

You didn't mention what browser your friend is using. In the end, it could be a bug or non-standard behavior.

The following technique seems to work fine for me: http://www.blackbeltcoder.com/Articles/asp/creating-downloadable-content-dynamically.

Upvotes: 0

massimogentilini
massimogentilini

Reputation: 4172

There is a known problem in IE6 that do not correctly support the content-disposition meta tag and there are some gotchas in how to compose the various meta tags.

This link from Scott Hanselman details everything about the issue.

Regards Massimo

Upvotes: 1

Vinko Vrsalovic
Vinko Vrsalovic

Reputation: 340321

The only sure fire way to get IE to prompt for a download is to have the CSV file compressed (ie file.csv.zip or file.zip).

See

No HTTP header will force IE6 to offer a download. This is especially true for text content, which is 'auto-detected' by IE.

You can try with Content-Disposition attachment; filename=file.csv but I'm not certain it'll always work. If it does, please confirm.

Upvotes: 0

DOK
DOK

Reputation: 32841

I have also used

Response.AddHeader("content-disposition", "attachment;filename=FileName.csv");

which adds the "attachment" text. You might try that to see if it makes any difference for your friend.

Upvotes: 1

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