HttpResponseMessage always empty if using MemoryStream instead of FileStream - stream

Question

I want to create a HttpResponse that streams a local file.
I want to use a MemoryStream, so that I can delete the file afterwards (well actually before returning the repsonse).
I always end up with an empty response although the stream seems to be valid.
Working with a FileStream in API Controller works, though.
public HttpResponseMessage GetExcelFile(Guid id)
{
// this model is needed to internally create an .xls file that represents this model
var exportModel = this.myService.GetExport(id);
// this approach does not work -> respone always empty although memory stream has content
// var stream = new MemoryStream();
// internally creates a .xls file (using lib) and returns its content as memory stream
// this.myService.ConvertToStream(exportModel, stream));
// this works fine
var stream = File.OpenRead(#"D:\test0815.xls");
var result = this.Request.CreateResponse(HttpStatusCode.OK);
result.Content = new StreamContent(stream);
result.Content.Headers.ContentType = new MediaTypeHeaderValue("application/octet-stream");
result.Content.Headers.ContentLength = stream.Length;
result.Content.Headers.ContentDisposition = new ContentDispositionHeaderValue("attachment")
{
FileName = $"{exportModel.Name}-Sheet.xls"
};
return result;
}
this is my method that actually converts to memorystream:
private MemoryStream SaveToStream(MemoryStream stream)
{
using (FileStream source = File.Open(
#"D:\test0815.xls",
FileMode.Open))
{
Console.WriteLine("Source length: {0}", source.Length.ToString());
// Copy source to destination.
source.CopyTo(stream);
}
return stream;
}
I also tried writing to memory stream but this did not work either.
It seems that result.Content = new StreamContent(stream); is just not working with an memory stream.
Any ideas?

Answer 1

finally I found a working solution:
var memoryStream = new MemoryStream((int)fileStream.Length);
fileStream.CopyTo(memoryStream);
fileStream.Close();
memoryStream.Seek(0, SeekOrigin.Begin);
HttpContent content = new StreamContent(memoryStream);
var result = this.Request.CreateResponse(HttpStatusCode.OK);
result.Content =content;
result.Content.Headers.ContentType = new MediaTypeHeaderValue("application/octet-stream");