Question

Background

I have a secured folder containing secret report files (in pdf format). Each file corresponds to a single user.

My site is developed using Asp.net MVC 3 Razor.

When a user navigate to http://mydomain.com/UserProfile/Report, it invokes the GET-handling action method Report and return a view with a submit button Download Report.

When the user click the button, it invokes the POST-handling action method. Verification will be done in this action method. When the verification is successfully passed, the action method returns the requested file.

Question

Could you give me an example how to implement the POST-handling action method?

Here is the skeleton:

[HttpPost]
public ActionResult Report(/*any parameter I don't know*/)
{
    if(!IsAuthenticated())
        return RedirectToActionLink("SomeActionMethod","SomeController");
    else
    {
       // what should I do here?
       // Asssume my secret folder is d:\mydomain.com\secret and the public folder is d:\mydomain.com\httpdoc
    }
}

Answer 1

You can use the File method to return a FileContentResult

[HttpPost]
public FileContentResult Report()
{
  if(!IsAuthenticated())
    return RedirectToActionLink("SomeActionMethod","SomeController");
  else
  {
    string path = @"d:\mydomain.com\secret\" + fileName;
    return File(path, "application/pdf"); ////
  }
}