JavaScript/jQuery to download file via POST with J

Question

I have a jquery-based single-page webapp. It communicates with a RESTful web service via AJAX calls.

I'm trying to accomplish the following:

1. Submit a POST that contains JSON data to a REST url.
2. If the request specifies a JSON response, then JSON is returned.
3. If the request specifies a PDF/XLS/etc response, then a downloadable binary is returned.

I have 1 & 2 working now, and the client jquery app displays the returned data in the web page by creating DOM elements based on the JSON data. I also have #3 working from the web-service point of view, meaning it will create and return a binary file if given the correct JSON parameters. But I'm unsure the best way to deal with #3 in the client javascript code.

Is it possible to get a downloadable file back from an ajax call like this? How do I get the browser to download and save the file?

$.ajax({
    type: "POST",
    url: "/services/test",
    contentType: "application/json",
    data: JSON.stringify({category: 42, sort: 3, type: "pdf"}),
    dataType: "json",
    success: function(json, status){
        if (status != "success") {
            log("Error loading data");
            return;
        }
        log("Data loaded!");
    },
    error: function(result, status, err) {
        log("Error loading data");
        return;
    }
});

The server responds with the following headers:

Content-Disposition:attachment; filename=export-1282022272283.pdf
Content-Length:5120
Content-Type:application/pdf
Server:Jetty(6.1.11)

Another idea is to generate the PDF and store it on the server and return JSON that includes a URL to the file. Then, issue another call in the ajax success handler to do something like the following:

success: function(json,status) {
    window.location.href = json.url;
}

But doing that means I would need to make more than one call to the server, and my server would need to build downloadable files, store them somewhere, then periodically clean up that storage area.

There must be a simpler way to accomplish this. Ideas?

---

EDIT: After reviewing the docs for $.ajax, I see that the response dataType can only be one of xml, html, script, json, jsonp, text, so I'm guessing there is no way to directly download a file using an ajax request, unless I embed the binary file in using Data URI scheme as suggested in the @VinayC answer (which is not something I want to do).

So I guess my options are:

1. Not use ajax and instead submit a form post and embed my JSON data into the form values. Would probably need to mess with hidden iframes and such.

2. Not use ajax and instead convert my JSON data into a query string to build a standard GET request and set window.location.href to this URL. May need to use event.preventDefault() in my click handler to keep browser from changing from the application URL.

3. Use my other idea above, but enhanced with suggestions from the @naikus answer. Submit AJAX request with some parameter that lets web-service know this is being called via an ajax call. If the web service is called from an ajax call, simply return JSON with a URL to the generated resource. If the resource is called directly, then return the actual binary file.

The more I think about it, the more I like the last option. This way I can get information back about the request (time to generate, size of file, error messages, etc.) and I can act on that information before starting the download. The downside is extra file management on the server.

Any other ways to accomplish this? Any pros/cons to these methods I should be aware of?

Answer 1

Not entirely an answer to the original post, but a quick and dirty solution for posting a json-object to the server and dynamically generating a download.

Client side jQuery:

var download = function(resource, payload) {
     $("#downloadFormPoster").remove();
     $("<div id='downloadFormPoster' style='display: none;'><iframe name='downloadFormPosterIframe'></iframe></div>").appendTo('body');
     $("<form action='" + resource + "' target='downloadFormPosterIframe' method='post'>" +
      "<input type='hidden' name='jsonstring' value='" + JSON.stringify(payload) + "'/>" +
      "</form>")
      .appendTo("#downloadFormPoster")
      .submit();
}

..and then decoding the json-string at the serverside and setting headers for download (PHP example):

$request = json_decode($_POST['jsonstring']), true);
header('Content-Type: application/csv');
header('Content-Disposition: attachment; filename=export.csv');
header('Pragma: no-cache');

Answer 2

In short, there is no simpler way. You need to make another server request to show PDF file. Al though, there are few alternatives but they are not perfect and won't work on all browsers:

1. Look at data URI scheme. If binary data is small then you can perhaps use javascript to open window passing data in URI.
2. Windows/IE only solution would be to have .NET control or FileSystemObject to save the data on local file system and open it from there.

Answer 3

$scope.downloadSearchAsCSV = function(httpOptions) {
  var httpOptions = _.extend({
    method: 'POST',
    url:    '',
    data:   null
  }, httpOptions);
  $http(httpOptions).then(function(response) {
    if( response.status >= 400 ) {
      alert(response.status + " - Server Error \nUnable to download CSV from POST\n" + JSON.stringify(httpOptions.data));
    } else {
      $scope.downloadResponseAsCSVFile(response)
    }
  })
};
/**
 * @source: https://github.com/asafdav/ng-csv/blob/master/src/ng-csv/directives/ng-csv.js
 * @param response
 */
$scope.downloadResponseAsCSVFile = function(response) {
  var charset = "utf-8";
  var filename = "search_results.csv";
  var blob = new Blob([response.data], {
    type: "text/csv;charset="+ charset + ";"
  });

  if (window.navigator.msSaveOrOpenBlob) {
    navigator.msSaveBlob(blob, filename); // @untested
  } else {
    var downloadContainer = angular.element('<div data-tap-disabled="true"><a></a></div>');
    var downloadLink      = angular.element(downloadContainer.children()[0]);
    downloadLink.attr('href', window.URL.createObjectURL(blob));
    downloadLink.attr('download', "search_results.csv");
    downloadLink.attr('target', '_blank');

    $document.find('body').append(downloadContainer);

    $timeout(function() {
      downloadLink[0].click();
      downloadLink.remove();
    }, null);
  }

  //// Gets blocked by Chrome popup-blocker
  //var csv_window = window.open("","","");
  //csv_window.document.write('<meta name="content-type" content="text/csv">');
  //csv_window.document.write('<meta name="content-disposition" content="attachment;  filename=data.csv">  ');
  //csv_window.document.write(response.data);
};

Answer 4

With HTML5, you can just create an anchor and click on it. There is no need to add it to the document as a child.

const a = document.createElement('a');
a.download = '';
a.href = urlForPdfFile;
a.click();

All done.

If you want to have a special name for the download, just pass it in the download attribute:

const a = document.createElement('a');
a.download = 'my-special-name.pdf';
a.href = urlForPdfFile;
a.click();

Answer 5

It is been a while since this question was asked but I had the same challenge and want to share my solution. It uses elements from the other answers but I wasn't able to find it in its entirety. It doesn't use a form or an iframe but it does require a post/get request pair. Instead of saving the file between the requests, it saves the post data. It seems to be both simple and effective.

client

var apples = new Array(); 
// construct data - replace with your own
$.ajax({
   type: "POST",
   url: '/Home/Download',
   data: JSON.stringify(apples),
   contentType: "application/json",
   dataType: "text",

   success: function (data) {
      var url = '/Home/Download?id=' + data;
      window.location = url;
   });
});

server

[HttpPost]
// called first
public ActionResult Download(Apple[] apples)
{
   string json = new JavaScriptSerializer().Serialize(apples);
   string id = Guid.NewGuid().ToString();
   string path = Server.MapPath(string.Format("~/temp/{0}.json", id));
   System.IO.File.WriteAllText(path, json);

   return Content(id);
}

// called next
public ActionResult Download(string id)
{
   string path = Server.MapPath(string.Format("~/temp/{0}.json", id));
   string json = System.IO.File.ReadAllText(path);
   System.IO.File.Delete(path);
   Apple[] apples = new JavaScriptSerializer().Deserialize<Apple[]>(json);

   // work with apples to build your file in memory
   byte[] file = createPdf(apples); 

   Response.AddHeader("Content-Disposition", "attachment; filename=juicy.pdf");
   return File(file, "application/pdf");
}

Answer 6

I have been awake for two days now trying to figure out how to download a file using jquery with ajax call. All the support i got could not help my situation until i try this.

Client Side

function exportStaffCSV(t) {
   
    var postData = { checkOne: t };
    $.ajax({
        type: "POST",
        url: "/Admin/Staff/exportStaffAsCSV",
        data: postData,
        success: function (data) {
            SuccessMessage("file download will start in few second..");
            var url = '/Admin/Staff/DownloadCSV?data=' + data;
            window.location = url;
        },
       
        traditional: true,
        error: function (xhr, status, p3, p4) {
            var err = "Error " + " " + status + " " + p3 + " " + p4;
            if (xhr.responseText && xhr.responseText[0] == "{")
                err = JSON.parse(xhr.responseText).Message;
            ErrorMessage(err);
        }
    });

}

Server Side

 [HttpPost]
    public string exportStaffAsCSV(IEnumerable<string> checkOne)
    {
        StringWriter sw = new StringWriter();
        try
        {
            var data = _db.staffInfoes.Where(t => checkOne.Contains(t.staffID)).ToList();
            sw.WriteLine("\"First Name\",\"Last Name\",\"Other Name\",\"Phone Number\",\"Email Address\",\"Contact Address\",\"Date of Joining\"");
            foreach (var item in data)
            {
                sw.WriteLine(string.Format("\"{0}\",\"{1}\",\"{2}\",\"{3}\",\"{4}\",\"{5}\",\"{6}\"",
                    item.firstName,
                    item.lastName,
                    item.otherName,
                    item.phone,
                    item.email,
                    item.contact_Address,
                    item.doj
                    ));
            }
        }
        catch (Exception e)
        {

        }
        return sw.ToString();

    }

    //On ajax success request, it will be redirected to this method as a Get verb request with the returned date(string)
    public FileContentResult DownloadCSV(string data)
    {
        return File(new System.Text.UTF8Encoding().GetBytes(data), System.Net.Mime.MediaTypeNames.Application.Octet, filename);
        //this method will now return the file for download or open.
    }

Good luck.