Question

I want to send a large amount of cached json data from an import process to an MVC controller which will in turn respond with a text file in CSV format.

The problem is if I use an AJAX call, there is no way for the browser to handle the response and download the file.

If I use a regular form post, then the browser would handle the returned file response. However, AFAIK to post a form I can’t send Json data and I don’t want to send the data on the query string.

Seems like I’m between a rock and a hard place. What are my best options for achieving this? I want to avoid writing data files to the server. Basically I just want to send lots of json data and return as a download request to the browser.

Answer 1

Just my two cents. If you don’t want to create a file, just cache data in session (or wherever you like).

So:

1. perform ajax post of json data
2. in the Controller Action store the data somewhere (e.g. Session) and create a key to access it later (a guid) and return it as a json object.
3. in the success ajax function, invoke another action passing the key obtained via normal location.href = url + key

It’s pretty the same of saving a file server side, except there’s no file.