Here is what I'm trying to accomplish.
I am creating an asp.net MVC application. My restrictions are that I cannot programmatically save anything to the file structure of the server, so I can't save it as a physical file on the host, and then grab it for client download.
I am loading a PDF to a stream, extracting information from the PDF, dynamically building an excel file, and then offering the file for download to the client. My code is below.
// Loads the incoming PDF document to stream
PdfDocument doc = new PdfDocument();
using (var stream = model.BudgetPdfFile.OpenReadStream())
{
doc.LoadFromStream(stream);
}
var pageCount = doc.Pages.Count;
var date = DateTime.Now.ToShortDateString().Replace("/", "-");
// Extracts data from the PDF and separates it by NewLine
SimpleTextExtractionStrategy strategy = new SimpleTextExtractionStrategy();
StringBuilder allText = new StringBuilder();
for (var i = 0; i < pageCount; i++)
{
allText.Append(doc.Pages[i].ExtractText(strategy));
}
var fullDocText = allText.ToString();
List<string> linesList = new List<string>(fullDocText.Split(new[] { Environment.NewLine }, StringSplitOptions.None).ToList());
// generates a comparison list for output data manipulation from static data
var finalList = linesList.BuildFinalList(budgetItems);
// creates a new Spire.PDF.Workbook for the final output excel file
var result = new Workbook();
// checks for whether the submitted budget is for a case in litigation or not and builds the correct excel workbook
if (model.isTrial)
{
result = ExportExcelBudget.TrialBudgetSheet(model, finalList);
}
else
{
result = ExportExcelBudget.PreTrialBudgetSheet(model, finalList);
}
Absolutely everything up to the last section below works perfectly. However, I cannot figure out how to load the workbook into a new stream and then return the file for download.
// saves the final workbook to a stream and offers it for download to the client
Stream outStream = new MemoryStream();
var fileName = "Budget Report_" + model.ClaimNumber + "_" + date + ".xlsx";
var contentType = "application/vnd.ms-excel";
result.SaveToStream(outStream, Spire.Xls.FileFormat.Version2016);
return File(outStream, contentType, fileName);
I've searched and tried multiple different variations but when the application hits the return File(), it returns a null.
I've stepped through execution and the results seem to be there, but it's not passing anything. Any help on what is wrong here would be greatly appreciated.
Stream outStream = new MemoryStream();
var fileName = "Budget Report_" + model.ClaimNumber + "_" + date + ".xlsx";
var contentType = "application/vnd.ms-excel";
result.SaveToStream(outStream, Spire.Xls.FileFormat.Version2016);
**outStream.Position = 0;**
return File(outStream, contentType, fileName);
Had to reset the stream position to 0. Working perfectly now.