Question

To send pdf files (or any other file type) to the browser, I’ve seen examples that use the FileResult class or a custom Action Result.

Is there an advantage of using one over the other? Thanks

Answer 1

EDIT Original reply removed.

I’m not sure if the exist file result allows to you modify the content disposition, I believe it forces the content disposition of “attachment”. If you want to use a different disposition, I’d implement a custom Action Filter:

/// <summary>
/// Defines an <see cref="ActionResult" /> that allows the output of an inline file.
/// </summary>
public class InlineFileResult : FileContentResult
{
    #region Constructors
    /// <summary>
    /// Writes the binary content as an inline file.
    /// </summary>
    /// <param name="data">The data to be written to the output stream.</param>
    /// <param name="contentType">The content type of the data.</param>
    /// <param name="fileName">The filename of the inline file.</param>
    public InlineFileResult(byte[] data, string contentType, string fileName)
        : base(data, contentType)
    {
        FileDownloadName = fileName;
    }
    #endregion

    #region Methods
    /// <summary>
    /// Executes the result, by writing the contents of the file to the output stream.
    /// </summary>
    /// <param name="context">The context of the controller.</param>
    public override void ExecuteResult(ControllerContext context)
    {
        if (context == null) {
            throw new ArgumentNullException("context");
        }

        HttpResponseBase response = context.HttpContext.Response;
        response.ContentType = this.ContentType;
        if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(this.FileDownloadName)) {
            ContentDisposition disposition = new ContentDisposition();
            disposition.FileName = FileDownloadName;
            disposition.Inline = true;
            context.HttpContext.Response.AddHeader("Content-Disposition", disposition.ToString());
        }

        WriteFile(response);
    }
    #endregion
}

That is one I’ve used previously, because I pass the actual byte[] data of the file.