ASP.NET MVC 3 File download: Not Working in IE8 - asp.net-mvc

I have the Download that simply serves a static zip file from the local file system that works in Chrome and Firefox, but not in IE8.
The website is running on localhost with SSL, but I am getting the following error message in IE.
Unable to download Download/ from localhost.
Unable to open this Internet site. The requested site is either
unavailable or cannot be found. Please try again later.
public ActionResult Download(long batchID)
{
var batchFilePath = string.Format(BatchOrderReportsFolder + "\\Batch-{0}\\Batch-{0}.zip", batchID);
if (!System.IO.File.Exists(batchFilePath)) {
return RedirectToAction("Index", "Error");
}
return File(batchFilePath, "application/zip", Path.GetFileName(batchFilePath));
}

Here's what ultimately worked for me. In my case, there was a global ActionFilter on OnActionExecuted that was setting cache-control to "no-cache".
protected override void OnActionExecuted(ActionExecutedContext filterContext)
{
base.OnActionExecuted(filterContext);
var browserInfo = Request.Browser.Browser;
if (filterContext.Result is FileResult) {
filterContext.HttpContext.Response.CacheControl = browserInfo == "IE" ? "private" : "no-cache";
}
}

The information in the following question should help you...
Struts application - unable to download file through https on IE

Related

Click once Application not launching in my Asp.Net/MVC application

I have developed a desktop application which I published using Click Once, my intention is to be able to call up the application in my web application. But this is giving me the following error.
Please, I need help.
This is my Controller Code
public FilePathResult GetFile(string fileName= "TestingApplication.application")
{
var dir = Server.MapPath("~/Common/TestingApp/");
var path = Path.Combine(dir, fileName);
return File(path, GetMimeType(Path.GetExtension(fileName)));
}
private string GetMimeType(string extension)
{
if (extension == ".application" || extension == ".manifest")
return "application/x-ms-application";
else if (extension == ".deploy")
return "application/octet-stream";
else
return "application/x-msdownload";
}
Cannot download the application. The application is missing required files. Contact application vendor for assistance.
Thanks
I later got it working after days of sleepless night. The first thing i did was to delete the content cache on C:\users\username\AppData\Local\Apps\2.0\. And I did rewrite the code to this.
` public ActionResult Download()
{
string path = #"~/Common/TestingApp/TestingApplication.application";
return new RedirectResult(path);
}`

MVC3 Redirect Loop

I have been searching for a solution to this issue for over 10 hours with no answer. In my application I am using the [requirehttps] attribute. When clicking an action method decorated with this attribute I get “cannot display the webpage" in IE. After digging into that issue I saw that I was receiving infinite 302 calls in Fiddler, which would eventually timeout and cause that error. So I decided to create a custom attribute and physically create the https call. I am using IIS Express and successfully created a certificate and binded the port. If I call this URL directly through the browser everything works fine. This is the code I have been using to redirect the request.
public class HttpsAttribute : System.Web.Mvc.RequireHttpsAttribute
{
public bool RequireSecure = false;
public override void OnAuthorization(System.Web.Mvc.AuthorizationContext filterContext){
var builder = new UriBuilder(HttpContext.Current.Request.Url);
if (RequireSecure){
// redirect to HTTP version of page
builder.Scheme = Uri.UriSchemeHttps;
builder.Port = 44300;
filterContext.Result = new RedirectResult(builder.Uri.ToString());
}
else{
// non secure requested
if (filterContext.HttpContext.Request.IsSecureConnection){
HandleNonHttpRequest(filterContext);
}
}
}
protected virtual void HandleNonHttpRequest(AuthorizationContext filterContext){
if (String.Equals(filterContext.HttpContext.Request.HttpMethod, "GET", StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase)){
// redirect to HTTP version of page
string url = "http://" + filterContext.HttpContext.Request.Url.Host + filterContext.HttpContext.Request.RawUrl;
filterContext.Result = new RedirectResult(url);
}
}
}
When I set a breakpoint to find out what the builder value is, it is correct. And it is from here I receive an infinite redirect loop. The strange thing is that the first request is never correct when I look at the URL within the browser. It is as if UriBuilder is not sending the correct URL. Any ideas? This is driving me nuts.
The redirect loop is occurring because the code is only checking if the HTTPS redirect is required, not if the current request is already HTTPS (i.e. the redirect has already happened).
if (RequireSecure && !filterContext.HttpContext.Request.IsSecureConnection){
// redirect to HTTP version of page
builder.Scheme = Uri.UriSchemeHttps;
builder.Port = 44300;
filterContext.Result = new RedirectResult(builder.Uri.ToString());
}
else{
// non secure requested
if (filterContext.HttpContext.Request.IsSecureConnection){
HandleNonHttpRequest(filterContext);
}
}
Although the RequireHttps should work correctly for this, unless you need to redirect to the port specified.
EDIT:
Refactored attribute
public class HttpsAttribute : System.Web.Mvc.RequireHttpsAttribute
{
public bool RequireSecure = false;
public override void OnAuthorization(System.Web.Mvc.AuthorizationContext filterContext)
{
var requestUri = HttpContext.Current.Request.Url;
var requestIsSecure = HttpContext.Current.Request.IsSecureConnection;
if (RequireSecure && !requestIsSecure)
filterContext.Result = Redirect(requestUri, Uri.UriSchemeHttps, 44300);
else if (!RequireSecure && requestIsSecure)
filterContext.Result = Redirect(requestUri, Uri.UriSchemeHttp, 80);
}
private RedirectResult Redirect(Uri uri, string scheme, int port)
{
return new RedirectResult(new UriBuilder(uri) { Scheme = scheme, Port = port }.Uri.ToString());
}
}

Serving an iCalendar file in ASPNET MVC with authentication

I'm trying to serve an iCalendar file (.ics) in my MVC application.
So far it's working fine. I have an iPhone subscribing to the URL for the calendar but now I need to serve a personalised calendar to each user.
When subscribing to the calendar on the iPhone I can enter a username and password, but I don't know how to access these in my MVC app.
Where can I find details of how the authentication works, and how to implement it?
It turns out that Basic Authentication is what is required. I half had it working but my IIS configuration got in the way. So, simply returning a 401 response when there is no Authorization header causes the client (e.g. iPhone) to require a username/password to subscribe to the calendar.
On the authorization of the request where there is an Authorization request header, the basic authentication can be processed, retrieving the username and password from the base 64 encoded string.
Here's some useful code for MVC:
public class BasicAuthorizeAttribute : AuthorizeAttribute
{
public override void OnAuthorization(AuthorizationContext filterContext)
{
if (filterContext == null)
{
throw new ArgumentNullException("filterContext");
}
var auth = filterContext.HttpContext.Request.Headers["Authorization"];
if (!String.IsNullOrEmpty(auth))
{
var encodedDataAsBytes = Convert.FromBase64String(auth.Replace("Basic ", ""));
var value = Encoding.ASCII.GetString(encodedDataAsBytes);
var username = value.Substring(0, value.IndexOf(':'));
var password = value.Substring(value.IndexOf(':') + 1);
if (MembershipService.ValidateUser(username, password))
{
filterContext.HttpContext.User = new GenericPrincipal(new GenericIdentity(username), null);
}
else
{
filterContext.Result = new HttpStatusCodeResult(401);
}
}
else
{
if (AuthorizeCore(filterContext.HttpContext))
{
var cachePolicy = filterContext.HttpContext.Response.Cache;
cachePolicy.SetProxyMaxAge(new TimeSpan(0));
cachePolicy.AddValidationCallback(CacheValidateHandler, null);
}
else
{
filterContext.HttpContext.Response.Clear();
filterContext.HttpContext.Response.StatusDescription = "Unauthorized";
filterContext.HttpContext.Response.AddHeader("WWW-Authenticate", "Basic realm=\"Secure Calendar\"");
filterContext.HttpContext.Response.Write("401, please authenticate");
filterContext.HttpContext.Response.StatusCode = 401;
filterContext.Result = new EmptyResult();
filterContext.HttpContext.Response.End();
}
}
}
private void CacheValidateHandler(HttpContext context, object data, ref HttpValidationStatus validationStatus)
{
validationStatus = OnCacheAuthorization(new HttpContextWrapper(context));
}
}
Then, my controller action looks like this:
[BasicAuthorize]
public ActionResult Calendar()
{
var userName = HttpContext.User.Identity.Name;
var appointments = GetAppointments(userName);
return new CalendarResult(appointments, "Appointments.ics");
}
I found this really helpful, but i hit a few problems during the development and i thought i would share some of them to help save other people some time.
I was looking to get data from my web application into the calendar for an android device and i was using discountasp as a hosting service.
The first problem i hit was that the validation did not work when uploaded to the server, stangely enough it was accepting my control panel login for discountasp but not my forms login.
The answer to this was to turn off Basic Authentication in IIS manager. This resolved the issue.
Secondly, the app i used to sync the calendar to the android device was called iCalSync2 - its a nice app and works well. But i found that it only worked properly when the file was delivered as a .ics (duh for some reason i put it as a .ical.. it must have been late) and i also had to choose the webcal option
Lastly i found i had to add webcal:// to the start of my url instead of http://
Also be careful as the code posted above ignores the roles input variable and always passes nothing so you might need to do some role based checks inside your calendar routine or modify the code above to process the roles variable.

ASP.Net MVC FilePathResult Failing in IE

I have a controller action that returns a pdf document. Depending on a site switch variable it will choose one of a number of source files, rename it and return it to the browser. This works perfectly on Chrome and Firefox but, on IE8, the download dialog appears and then the following error messagebox...
"Internet Explorer cannot download
FullTermsAndConditions from
www.mydomain.com.
Internet Explorer was not able to open
this Internet site. The requested site
is either unavailable or cannot be
found. Please try again later."
This is my code...
public ActionResult FullTermsAndConditions()
{
var targetFileName = LookupTargetFileName();
var fullPath = System.IO.Path.Combine(DownloadsPath, LookupSourceFileName());
var result = File(fullPath, "application/pdf");
result.FileDownloadName = targetFileName;
return result;
}
Can anyone see what I've done wrong?
Further information...
I added the following code to my controller to view the headers...
protected override void OnResultExecuted(ResultExecutedContext filterContext)
{
base.OnResultExecuted(filterContext);
WriteResponseHeadersToFile(#"C:\temp\ResponseHeaders.txt", filterContext.HttpContext.Response);
}
private static void WriteResponseHeadersToFile(string fileName, System.Web.HttpResponseBase response)
{
using (StreamWriter writer = new StreamWriter(fileName, true))
{
writer.Write("Reponse started # ");
writer.WriteLine(DateTime.Now.ToShortTimeString());
var allHeaders = response.Headers;
for (int i = 0; i < allHeaders.Count; i++)
writer.WriteLine("{0} = {1}", allHeaders.Keys[i], allHeaders[i]);
writer.Close();
}
}
This was the result...
Reponse started # 09:02
Server = Microsoft-IIS/7.0
X-AspNetMvc-Version = 1.0
Content-Disposition = attachment; filename="Full Terms and Conditions.pdf"
Success!
The problem is with client-side caching. One of my parent controller classes had the following code (in an attempt to stop a user going 'back' once logged out)...
protected override void OnResultExecuted(ResultExecutedContext filterContext)
{
base.OnResultExecuted(filterContext);
Response.Buffer = true;
Response.Cache.SetCacheability(HttpCacheability.NoCache);
Response.ExpiresAbsolute = DateTime.Now.AddDays(-1d);
Response.Expires = -1500;
Response.Cache.SetETag(DateTime.Now.Ticks.ToString());
}
If, in IE8, the file you're downloading cannot be opened in the browser it will attempt to save a temporary copy. This is in violation of the no-cache header. Removing this header solves the problem.

ASP.Net MVC - forms authentication using an external URL

Our organization has a central solution for forms authentication. I am trying to implement an ASP.Net MVC app that uses this external URL - and it worked till RC! was released...
Here's what's happening
In an ActionAttribute Extension
I check for s session var
if not found
check for a request data chuck
if found, set the session var
if not found - redirect to external URL
if found
continue.
The trouble is that till I updated to RC1, this worked. Since then, so many requests are being sent to the external URL that it detects a DoS attack and shuts me out!
I removed the redirection code and replaced it with the web.config changes for Forms Auth - and the same thing happened...
Why not use Microsoft Geneva instead of attempting to roll your own authentication provider?
CODE:
public class MyAuthenticate : ActionFilterAttribute
{
public override void OnActionExecuting(ActionExecutingContext filterContext)
{
if (filterContext.HttpContext.Session["user"] == null)
{
using (Authenticator dp = new Authenticator())
{
MyUser mu;
string data = string.Empty;
try
{
data = filterContext.HttpContext.Request["Data"];
}
catch { };
if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(data))
{
mu = dp.Redeem(data);
if (mu.authenticated)
{
filterContext.HttpContext.Session.Clear();
AuthenticatedUser user = new AuthenticatedUser(mu);
filterContext.HttpContext.Session.Add("user", user);
FormsAuthentication.SetAuthCookie(user.UserId, false);
}
else
{
filterContext.HttpContext.Response.Redirect("MY EXTERNAL URL GOES HERE!!");
}
}
else
{
filterContext.HttpContext.Response.Redirect("MY EXTERNAL URL GOES HERE!!");
}
}
}
base.OnActionExecuting(filterContext);
}
}
}
I resolved this issue by creating a static dictionary of requesting IPs, and dropping duplicate requests from the same IP. Not a very nice solution - so if anyone figures out a better solution - let me know.

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