Export to CSV using MVC, C# and jQuery
I am trying to export a list to a CSV file. I got it all working up to the point I want to write to file to the response stream. This doesn't do anything.
Here is my code:
Call the the method from the page.
$('#btn_export').click(function () {
$.post('NewsLetter/Export');
});
The code in the controller is as follows:
[HttpPost]
public void Export()
{
try
{
var filter = Session[FilterSessionKey] != null ? Session[FilterSessionKey] as SubscriberFilter : new SubscriberFilter();
var predicate = _subscriberService.BuildPredicate(filter);
var compiledPredicate = predicate.Compile();
var filterRecords = _subscriberService.GetSubscribersInGroup().Where(x => !x.IsDeleted).AsEnumerable().Where(compiledPredicate).GroupBy(s => s.Subscriber.EmailAddress).OrderBy(x => x.Key);
ExportAsCSV(filterRecords);
}
catch (Exception exception)
{
Logger.WriteLog(LogLevel.Error, exception);
}
}
private void ExportAsCSV(IEnumerable<IGrouping<String, SubscriberInGroup>> filterRecords)
{
var sw = new StringWriter();
//write the header
sw.WriteLine(String.Format("{0},{1},{2},{3}", CMSMessages.EmailAddress, CMSMessages.Gender, CMSMessages.FirstName, CMSMessages.LastName));
//write every subscriber to the file
var resourceManager = new ResourceManager(typeof(CMSMessages));
foreach (var record in filterRecords.Select(x => x.First().Subscriber))
{
sw.WriteLine(String.Format("{0},{1},{2},{3}", record.EmailAddress, record.Gender.HasValue ? resourceManager.GetString(record.Gender.ToString()) : "", record.FirstName, record.LastName));
}
Response.Clear();
Response.AddHeader("Content-Disposition", "attachment; filename=adressenbestand.csv");
Response.ContentType = "text/csv";
Response.Write(sw);
Response.End();
}
But after Response.Write(sw)
nothing is happening. Is it even possible to save a file this way?
Regards
Edit
The response headers I see when I click the button are:
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Cache-Control: private
Content-Type: text/csv; charset=utf-8
Server: Microsoft-IIS/7.5
X-AspNetMvc-Version: 2.0
Content-Disposition: attachment; filename=adressenbestand.csv
X-Powered-By: ASP.NET
Date: Wed, 12 Jan 2011 13:05:42 GMT
Content-Length: 113
Which seem OK to me..
Edit
I got rid of the jQuery part en replaced it by an hyperlink and this is working fine for me now:
<a class="export" href="NewsLetter/Export">exporteren</a>
yan.kun was on the right track but this is much much easier.
public FileContentResult DownloadCSV()
{
string csv = "Charlie, Chaplin, Chuckles";
return File(new System.Text.UTF8Encoding().GetBytes(csv), "text/csv", "Report123.csv");
}
With MVC you can simply return a file like this:
public ActionResult ExportData()
{
System.IO.FileInfo exportFile = //create your ExportFile
return File(exportFile.FullName, "text/csv", string.Format("Export-{0}.csv", DateTime.Now.ToString("yyyyMMdd-HHmmss")));
}