I am trying to export some data to excel and download the file via the browser. I have a method that creates an active workbook that returns a byte array in the following way:
byte[] doc = be.GetActiveWorkbook(excelApp);
The method GetActiveWorkBook looks like this:
public byte[] GetActiveWorkbook(Application app)
{
string path = Path.GetTempFileName();
try
{
app.ActiveWorkbook.SaveCopyAs(path);
return File.ReadAllBytes(path);
}
finally
{
if (File.Exists(path))
File.Delete(path);
}
}
Lastly, the file is returned like this:
var file = File(doc, "application/vnd.ms-excel");
file.FileDownloadName = filename + " " + id + ".xlsx";
return file;
The excel file is indeed downloaded to the browser, however it seems like there are processes in the background that are still active, even though I close the excel file in my desktop. Why is this?
The Excel Interop is a nightmare for disposing of properly. Probably worth checking your code outside of the method you've posted to see how you're cleaning up the Excel Application that's passed in:
How do I properly clean up Excel interop objects?
Related
I have a codes in my controller that let me creates an excel file. Now what I want is to save the excel file in my local server or server. How to do that?
I want the excel file saved in this location: http://localhost/reportrepository/filename.xlsx
Here are my codes algo:
try
{
var workbook = new Workbook();
// some other codes that creates the workbook....
// save workbook here to local server....
}
catch(Exception e)
{
Console.WriteLine(e.Message);
}
Your code can access the server's file system normally. The tricky part is to figure out how to access your web application's directory structure. Try something like this:
string workingDirectory = Request.Params["APPL_PHYSICAL_PATH"];
string workbookPath = workingDirectory + #"\ReportRepository\filename.xls";
workbook.SaveAs(workbookPath, ...);
I really hope you will be able to help me out on this one.
I am new to pdf.js so for the moment, I am playing around with the pre-built version to see if I can integrate this into my web app.
My problem:
I am using tcpdf to generate a pdf file which I would like to visualize using pdf.js without having to save it to a file on the server.
I have a php file (generate_document.php) that I use to generate the pdf. The file ends with the following:
$pdf->Output('test.pdf', 'I');
according to the tcpdf documentation, the second parameter can be used to generate the following formats:
I: send the file inline to the browser (default). The plug-in is used if available. The name given by name is used when one selects the "Save as" option on the link generating the PDF.
D: send to the browser and force a file download with the name given by name.
F: save to a local server file with the name given by name.
S: return the document as a string (name is ignored).
FI: equivalent to F + I option
FD: equivalent to F + D option
E: return the document as base64 mime multi-part email attachment (RFC 2045)
Then, I would like to view the pdf using pdf.js without creating a file on the server (= not using 'F' as a second parameter and passing the file name to pdf.js).
So, I thought I could simply create an iframe and call the pdf.js viewer pointing to the php file:
<iframe width="100%" height="100%" src="/pdf.js_folder/web/viewer.html?file=get_document.php"></iframe>
However, this is not working at all....do you have any idea what I am overlooking? Or is this option not available in pdf.js?
I have done some research and I have seen some posts here on converting a base64 stream to a typed array but I do not see how this would be a solution to this problem.
Many thanks for your help!!!
EDIT
#async, thanks for your anwer.
I got it figured out in the meantime, so I thought I'd share my solution with you guys.
1) In my get_document.php, I changed the output statement to convert it directly to base64 using
$pdf_output = base64_encode($pdf->Output('test_file.pdf', 'S'));
2) In viewer.js, I use an XHR to call the get_document.php and put the return in a variable (pdf_from_XHR)
3) Next, I convert what came in from the XHR request using the solution that was already mentioned in a few other posts (e.g. Pdf.js and viewer.js. Pass a stream or blob to the viewer)
pdf_converted = convertDataURIToBinary(pdf_from_XHR)
function convertDataURIToBinary(dataURI) {
var base64Index = dataURI.indexOf(BASE64_MARKER) + BASE64_MARKER.length;
var base64 = dataURI.substring(base64Index);
var raw = window.atob(base64);
var rawLength = raw.length;
var array = new Uint8Array(new ArrayBuffer(rawLength));
for (i = 0; i < rawLength; i++) {
array[i] = raw.charCodeAt(i);
}
return array;
}
et voilà ;-)
Now i can inject what is coming from that function into the getDocument statement:
PDFJS.getDocument(pdf_converted).then(function (pdf) {
pdfDocument = pdf;
var url = URL.createObjectURL(blob);
PDFView.load(pdfDocument, 1.5)
})
I have the following requirements. I need to upload an Excel file to a MVC based site. For this I am using Kendo Upload. In the controller action that handles the upload I need to make a slight modification to the Excel file and then send it back as a file stream. I am using Aspose for the Excel modifications. My question is can I achieve all of this within the one controller action without the Excel file ever hitting the disk of web server?
I managed to get this to work by using the synchronous upload mode. My controller action looks like this:
[POST("SaveExcelFile")]
public FileStreamResult Save(IEnumerable<HttpPostedFileBase> files)
{
// The Name of the Upload component is "files"
if (files != null)
{
foreach (var file in files)
{
// Some browsers send file names with full path.
// We are only interested in the file name.
var fileName = Path.GetFileName(file.FileName);
//var physicalPath = Path.Combine(Server.MapPath("~/App_Data"), fileName);
Workbook excel2 = new Workbook(file.InputStream);
excel2.Worksheets.Add("TEST");
Stream stream = new MemoryStream();
excel2.Save(stream, SaveFormat.Excel97To2003);
stream.Position = 0;
return File(stream, "application/vnd.ms-excel", "junk.xls");
// The files are not actually saved in this demo
// file.SaveAs(physicalPath);
}
}
// Return an empty string to signify success
return null;
}
This is only proof of concept code but you can get the idea of what I was trying to achieve. Upload a file, manipulate it and send the modified Worksheet back down to the client as a stream.
I don't think you can. I have used KendoUI's upload control, and it seems that you'll only get to manipulate the file after it's written on the server side.
What you can do is to first save the file, perform your modification, then overwrite it.
I have an MVC Razor application where I am returning a view.
I have overloaded my action to accept a null-able "export" bool which will change the action by adding headers but still returning the same view as a file (in a new window).
//if there is a value passed in, set the bool to true
if (export.HasValue)
{
ViewBag.Exporting = true;
var UniqueFileName = string.Format(#"{0}.xls", Guid.NewGuid());
Response.AddHeader("content-disposition", "attachment; filename="+UniqueFileName);
Response.ContentType = "application/ms-excel";
}
As the file was generated based on a view, its not an .xls file so when opening it, I get the message "the file format and extension of don't match". So after a Google, I have found THIS POST on SO where one of the answers uses VBA to open the file on the server (which includes the HTML mark-up) then saves it again (as .xls).
I am hoping to do the same, call the controller action which will call the view and create the .xls file on the server, then have the server open it, save it then return it as a download.
What I don't want to do is to create a new view to return a clean file as the current view is an extremely complex page with a lot of logic which would only need to be repeated (and maintained).
What I have done in the view is to wrap everything except the table in an if statement so that only the table is exported and not the rest of the page layout.
Is this possible?
You can implement the VBA in .net
private void ConvertToExcel(string srcPath, string outputPath, XlFileFormat format)
{
if (srcPath== null) { throw new ArgumentNullException("srcPath"); }
if (outputPath== null) { throw new ArgumentNullException("outputPath"); }
var excelApp = new Application();
try
{
var wb = excelApp.Workbooks.Open(srcPath);
try
{
wb.SaveAs(outputPath, format);
}
finally
{
Marshal.ReleaseComObject(wb);
}
}
finally
{
excelApp.Quit();
}
}
You must install Microsoft.Office.Interop and add reference to a COM oject named Microsoft Excel XX.0 Object Library
Sample usage:
//generate excel file from the HTML output of GenerateHtml action.
var generateHtmlUri = new Uri(this.Request.Url, Url.Action("GenerateHtml"));
ConvertToExcel(generateHtmlUri.AbsoluteUri, #"D:\output.xlsx", XlFileFormat.xlOpenXMLStrictWorkbook);
I however discourage this solution because:
You have to install MS Excel in your web server.
MS Excel may sometimes misbehave like prompting a dialog box.
You must find a way to delete the generated Excel file afterwards.
Ugly design.
I suggest to generate excel directly because there doesn't seem to be better ways to covert HTML to Excel except using Excel itself or DocRaptor.
I have kept a word document (.docx) in one of the project folders which I want to use as a template.
This template contains custom header and footer lines for user. I want to facilitate user to download his own data in word format. For this, I want to write a function which will accept user data and referring the template it will create a new word file replacing the place-holders in the template and then return the new file for download (without saving it to server). That means the template needs to be intact as template.
Following is what I am trying. I was able to replace the placeholder. However, I am not aware of how to give the created content as downloadable file to user. I do not want to save the new content again in the server as another word file.
public void GenerateWord(string userData)
{
string templateDoc = HttpContext.Current.Server.MapPath("~/App_Data/Template.docx");
// Open the new Package
Package pkg = Package.Open(templateDoc, FileMode.Open, FileAccess.ReadWrite);
// Specify the URI of the part to be read
Uri uri = new Uri("/word/document.xml", UriKind.Relative);
PackagePart part = pkg.GetPart(uri);
XmlDocument xmlMainXMLDoc = new XmlDocument();
xmlMainXMLDoc.Load(part.GetStream(FileMode.Open, FileAccess.Read));
xmlMainXMLDoc.InnerXml = ReplacePlaceHoldersInTemplate(userData, xmlMainXMLDoc.InnerXml);
// Open the stream to write document
StreamWriter partWrt = new StreamWriter(part.GetStream(FileMode.Open, FileAccess.Write));
xmlMainXMLDoc.Save(partWrt);
partWrt.Flush();
partWrt.Close();
pkg.Close();
}
private string ReplacePlaceHoldersInTemplate(string toReplace, string templateBody)
{
templateBody = templateBody.Replace("#myPlaceHolder#", toReplace);
return templateBody;
}
I believe that the below line is saving the contents in the template file itself, which I don't want.
xmlMainXMLDoc.Save(partWrt);
How should I modify this code which can return the new content as downloadable word file to user?
I found the solution Here!
This code allows me to read the template file and modify it as I want and then to send response as downloadable attachment.