AngularJS GET receives empty reply in Chrome but not in Fiddler - angularjs

I'm implementing file download using AngularJS and WCF. My back-end is a .NET project hosted in IIS. The file is serialized as an array of bytes and then on the client side I utilize the File API to save the content.
To simplify the problem, back-end is like:
[WebInvoke(Method = "GET", UriTemplate = "FileService?path={path}")]
[OperationContract]
public byte[] DownloadFileBaseOnPath(string path)
{
using (var memoryStream = new MemoryStream())
{
var fileStream = File.OpenRead(path);
fileStream.CopyTo(memoryStream);
fileStream.Close();
WebOperationContext.Current.OutgoingResponse.Headers["Content-Disposition"] = "attachment; filename=\"Whatever\"";
WebOperationContext.Current.OutgoingResponse.ContentType = "application/octet-stream"; // treat all files as binary file
return memoryStream.ToArray();
}
}
And on client side, it just sends a GET request to get those bytes, converts in into a blob and save it.
function sendGetReq(url, config) {
return $http.get(url, config).then(function(response) {
return response.data;
});
}
Save the file then:
function SaveFile(url) {
var downloadRequest = sendGetReq(url);
downloadRequest.then(function(data){
var aLink = document.createElement('a');
var byteArray = new Uint8Array(data);
var blob = new Blob([byteArray], { type: 'application/octet-stream'});
var downloadUrl = URL.createObjectURL(blob);
aLink.setAttribute('href', downloadUrl);
aLink.setAttribute('download', fileNameDoesNotMatter);
if (document.createEvent) {
var event = document.createEvent('MouseEvents');
event.initEvent('click', false, false);
aLink.dispatchEvent(event);
}
else {
aLink.click();
}
setTimeout(function () {
URL.revokeObjectURL(downloadUrl);
}, 1000); // cleanup
});
}
This approach works fine with small files. I could successfully download files up to 64MB. But when I try to download a file larger than 64MB, the response.body is empty in Chrome. I also used Fiddler to capture the traffic. According to Fiddler, Back-end has successfully serialized the byte array and returned it. Please refer to the screenshot below.
In this example, I was trying to download a 70MB file:
And the response.data is empty:
Any idea why this is empty for file over 70MB? Though the response itself is more than 200MB, I do have enough memory for that.
Regarding to the WCF back-end, I know I should use Stream Mode when it comes to large files. But the typical use of my application is to download files less than 10MB. So I hope to figure this out first.
Thanks

Answer my own question.
Honestly I don't know what's going wrong. The issue still persists if I transfer it as a byte array. I eventually gave up this approach by returning a stream instead. Then on the client side, adding the following configuration
{responseType : blob}
and save it as a blob.

Related

s it possible to implement file upload function?

We are implementing file download function.
UI, service API server, and file server (external server) exist, and I cannot access the file server. (Code cannot be changed)
Currently, a file is downloaded by requesting UI -> FileServer.
I want to configure UI -> Service API -> File Server for multiple file downloads and exception handling.
As the service API operates in the middle, the final value of http that the client receives is different, but I don't know why.
Existing file servers returned an ArrayBuffer,
It was changed to a long string in String format while going through my service API server.
// my Server -> fileServer (GET Http Request)
// setting header...
// setting uri...
HttpEntity req = new HttpEntity<>(httpHeaders);
RestTemplate rt = new RestTemplate();
HttpEntity<byte[]> result = rt.exchange(
uri,
HttpMethod.GET,
req,
byte[].class
);
byte[] blob = result.getBody();
The reason why I received byte[] through result.getBody() is that I thought that the return value of the file server would be a file, and it would be a byte[] type in Java.
// react (client code)
// blobFromApi = The result my server responded
let blob = new Blob([blobFromApi], { type:'image/png' });
if (navigator.userAgent.match('CriOS')) {
let reader = new FileReader();
reader.onload = function (e) {
window.location.href = reader.result;
};
reader.readAsDataURL(blob);
} else {
FileSaver.saveAs(blob, file.file_name);
}
});
In conclusion, is it possible to implement a file download function in my current situation?

Downloading an Excel file causes it to corrupt

I have a simple service on Angular 2 and Typescript that requests Excel files to a server and then opens a download file dialogue for the user. However, as it is currently, the file becomes corrupt when downloaded.
When downloaded, it opens fine in OpenOffice and derivates, but throws a "File is Corrupt" error on Microsoft Excel, and asks if the user wants to recover as much as it can.
When Excel is prompted to recover the file, it does so successfully, and the recovered Excel has all rows and data that is expected for the Excel file. Comparing the recovered file against opening the file in OpenOffice and derivates evidence no outstanding differences.
The concrete Excel I am trying to download is generated with Apache POI in a microservice, then passed to the main backend and finally served to the frontend for the user to download. Both the backend and microservice are written in Java, through Spark Framework.
I made some tests on the backends, and concluded the problem is not the report generation nor the data transfer:
Asking the microservice to save the generated Excel in a file within the server and then opening such file (hereby file A) in Excel shows that file A is not corrupted.
Asking the main backend server to save the Excel file that it receives from the microservice in a file within itself and then opening such file in Excel (hereby file B) shows that file B is not corrupted.
Downloading both file A and file B through FileZilla from their respective servers yields completely uncorrupted files.
As such, I believe it is safe to assume the Excel becomes corrupted somewhere between the time the file is received on the frontend and the time the user downloads such file. Additionally, the Catalina logs do not evidence any error that might potentially be happening.
I have read several posts that deal with the issue, including a bug report (https://github.com/angular/angular/issues/14083) that included a workaround via XMLHTTPRequest. However, none of the workarounds detailed were successful in solving my issue.
Attached is the code I am using to both obtain the Excel file from the backend and serve it to the user. I am including both an XMLHTTPRequest and an Angular http call (within comments) since those are the two main ways I have been trying to make this work. Additionally, please do take into account the code has been altered to remove information I do not wish to make public.
download(body) {
let reply = Observable.create(observer => {
let xhr = new XMLHttpRequest();
xhr.open('POST', 'URL', true);
xhr.setRequestHeader('Content-type', 'application/json;charset=UTF-8');
xhr.setRequestHeader('Accept', 'application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet');
xhr.setRequestHeader('Authorization', 'REDACTED');
xhr.responseType = 'blob';
xhr.onreadystatechange = function () {
if(xhr.readyState === 4) {
if(xhr.status === 200) {
var contentType = 'application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet';
var blob = new Blob([xhr.response], { type: contentType });
observer.next(blob);
observer.complete();
}
else {
observer.error(xhr.response);
}
}
}
xhr.send(JSON.stringify(body));
});
return reply;
/*let headers = new Headers();
headers.set("Authorization", 'REDACTED');
headers.set("Accept", 'application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet');
let requestOptions :RequestOptions = new RequestOptions({headers: headers, responseType: ResponseContentType.Blob});
return this.http.post('URL', body, requestOptions);*/
}
Hereby is the code to prompt the user to download the Excel. It is currently made to work with the XMLHTTPRequest. Please do note that I have also attempted to download without resorting to FileSaver, with no luck.
downloadExcel(data) {
let body = {
/*REDACTED*/
}
this.service.download(body)
.subscribe(data => {
FileSaver.saveAs(data, "Excel.xlsx");
});
}
Hereby are the versions of the tools I am using:
NPM: 5.6.0
NodeJs: 8.11.3
Angular JS: ^6.1.0
Browsers used: Chrome, Firefox, Edge.
Any help on this issue would be appreciated. Any additional information you may need I will be happy to provide.
I think what you want is CSV format which open in Excel, update your sevice as follow:
You should tell Angular you are expecting a response of type blob (Binary Large Object) that is your Excel/Csv file.
Also make sure the URL/API on your server is set to accept content-type='text/csv'.
Here's an example with Angular 2.
#Injectable()
export class YourService {
constructor(private http: Http) {}
download() { //get file from the server
this.http.get("http://localhost/..", {
responseType: ResponseContentType.Blob,
headers: new Headers({'Content-Type', 'text/csv'})
}).subscribe(
response => {
var blob = new Blob([response.blob()], {type: 'text/csv'});
FileSaver.saveAs(blob, 'yourFileName.csv');
},
error => {
console.error('something went wrong');
}
);
}
}
Have you tried uploading/downloading your xls file as base64?
var encodedXLSToUpload = 'data:application/xls;base64,' + btoa(file);
Check this for more details: Creating a Blob from a base64 string in JavaScript

File upload using AngularJS -> .NET Web Api 2 -> SQL server

I'm looking for a solution where I can upload any file to SQL server from an AngularJS frontend to .Net Web Api 2 and straight to SQL Server Database. I've done some research and for angularjs i'm mainly looking at ng-file-upload. my problem is most of the solutions that i've looked at saves the file into a temp folder. I'm not sure if it's possible but I want it straight to an SQL server table.
I've seen some solutions where it converts the file into a byte array which can be saved to an SQL table but I'm not sure how to do this in a .NET web api 2 and from an angularjs front end. thank you in advance.
Don't save files to SQL server--that's not what it's for. See this answer: In MVC4, how do I upload a file (an image) to SQL Server that's part of my domain model? And this answer: Storing files in SQL Server
Uploading files in angular is easy. Do it like this:
Controller
$scope.uploadFile = function() {
//get the filename from the <input type='file'>
//angular doesn't allow attaching ngModel to file input
var fileInput = document.getElementById("myInputId");
//check if there's a file
if(fileInput.files.length === 0) return;
//you cannot send a file as JSON because json is in the string format
//for fileuploads, you must send as a FormData() object
//C# accepts HttpPostedFileBase as the file argument
var file = fileInput.files[0];
//put the file in a new formdata object
var payload = new FormData();
payload.append("file", file);
//upload file to C# controller
$http.post("path/to/C#/controller", payload, {
//you **need** to specify these options, without them upload does not work
transformRequest: angular.identity,
headers: { "Content-Type": undefined }
}).then(function(data) {
//success
}, function(error) {
//error
});
}
C#/ASP.NET
[WebMethod]
public string UploadFile(HttpPostedFileBase file) {
//access the file object here
var inputStream = file.InputStream;
var fileName = Path.GetFileName(file.FileName);
try
{
file.SaveAs("local/path" + fileName);
}
catch (IOException exc)
{
return "Error: " + exc.Message;
}
return "success";
}

Is it possible to save a file directly from a web worker?

I have an entirely browser-based (i.e. no backend) application which analyzes XML data in files which average about 250MB each. The actual parsing and analysis happens in a web worker, which is fed data in 64KB chunks by a FileReader instance, and this is all quite performant.
I have a request from the client to expand this application so that it can generate a .zip file containing the original input file and the results of the analysis, and allow the user to save that file to her local machine. Generating a .zip file in memory with those contents isn't a problem. The problem lies in transferring that much data from the web worker which generates it back to the main browser thread, so that it can be saved; attempting to do this invariably provokes a crash or out-of-memory exception. (I've tried transferring strings all at once and a chunk at a time, and I've tried using an ArrayBuffer as a transferable object to avoid copying. All fail in the same fashion.)
Unfortunately, I don't know any way to invoke a file save operation directly from a worker thread. I know several methods of doing so from the main browser thread, but all of them require either the ability to create DOM nodes (which worker threads of course can't do), or the use of interfaces (i.e. msSaveBlob, saveAs) which no browser seems to expose to a worker thread. I've spent a while looking for possibilities on the web, but found nothing usable; FileWriterSync looked good, but only Chrome supports it, and I need to target IE and Firefox as well.
Is there a method I've overlooked for saving files directly from a web worker? If so, what is it? Or am I just out of luck here?
tl;dr demo
You don't need to copy the entire file to the client side at all. You don't even need to transfer it, in fact. First a recap.
This is how to create Blob from some typed array:
// Some arbitrary binary data
const mydata = new Uint16Array([1,2,3,4,5]);
// mydata vs. mydata.buffer does not seem to make any difference
const blob = new Blob([mydata], {type: "octet/stream"});
You can create an object URL, which is a copy of the original Blob managed by the browser and accessible as URL. I have done this with huge files without seeing performance impact:
const url = URL.createObjectURL(blob);
This is how I typically download URLs:
const link = document.createElement("a");
link.download = "data.bin";
link.href = e.data.link;
link.appendChild(new Text("Download data"));
link.addEventListener("click", function() {
this.parentNode.removeChild(this);
// remember to free the object url, but wait until the download is handled
setTimeout(()=>{URL.revokeObjectURL(e.data.link);}, 500)
});
document.body.appendChild(link);
You can trigger the download automatically by invoking click event on that link. I prefer to let the user decide when to download.
So, all together:
worker.js
// Some arbitrary binary data
const mydata = new Uint16Array([1,2,3,4,5]);
self.onmessage = function(e) {
console.log("Message: ",e.data)
switch(e.data.name) {
case "make-download" :
const blob = new Blob([mydata.buffer], {type: "octet/stream"});
const url = URL.createObjectURL(blob);
self.postMessage({name:"download-link", link:url});
break;
default:
console.error("Unknown message:", e.data.name);
}
}
main.js
var worker = new Worker("worker.js");
worker.addEventListener("message", function(e) {
switch(e.data.name) {
case "download-link" : {
if(e.data.error) {
console.error("Download error: ", e.data.error);
}
else {
const link = document.createElement("a");
link.download = "data.bin";
link.href = e.data.link;
link.appendChild(new Text("Download data"));
link.addEventListener("click", function() {
this.parentNode.removeChild(this);
// remember to free the object url, but wait until the download is handled
setTimeout(()=>{URL.revokeObjectURL(e.data.link);}, 500)
});
document.body.appendChild(link);
}
break;
}
default:
console.error("Unknown message:", e.data.name);
}
});
function requestDownload() {
worker.postMessage({name:"make-download"});
}
When I click Download in my demo, I can see this in my HEX editor:
Looks just fine :)

Dart and Client Side File Handling (with authorization)

A server side application requires authorization on file download links. This means a normal <a ng-href="{{createLinkToFile()}}"> is no longer sufficient to get enough parameters passed to the server.
When trying to use a programmatic call to the file download, I get the response data back to Dart client application. Using a simple http GET:
var url = "http://example.com/file";
headers.putIfAbsent("Authorization", () => "bearer " + token;
_http.get(url: url, headers : headers);
The future returned by the GET will hold the data, but how do I instruct the browser to download it as a file, instead of just trying to keep it in memory?
Or is there a way to just do it in a normal link?
After downloading the data from the server like shown in Using Dart to Download a PNG File (Binary File) and displaying it not working you can create a download link like shown at http://blog.butlermatt.me/2014/03/dynamically-generating-download-files/
import 'dart:html';
void main() {
List body = [ 'Some test data ...\n'];
// Create a new blob from the data.
Blob blob = new Blob(body, 'text/plain', 'native');
// Create a data:url which points to that data.
String url = Url.createObjectUrlFromBlob(blob);
// Create a link to navigate to that data and download it.
AnchorElement link = new AnchorElement()
..href = url
..download = 'random_file.txt'
..text = 'Download Now!';
// Insert the link into the DOM.
var p = querySelector('#text');
p.append(link);
}
The code of Seth solves indeed part of the problem. To make it a bit more complete, I'm now using the following:
void doPdfFileRequest(String url) {
var request = new HttpRequest();
request.open('GET', url);
request.responseType = "blob";
request.withCredentials = false;
request.setRequestHeader("Accept", _httpAcceptHeader);
request.setRequestHeader("Authorization", "bearer " + token);
request.onReadyStateChange
.listen((r) => onData(request, "filename.pdf"));
request.send();
}
void onData(HttpRequest request, String filename) {
if (request.readyState == HttpRequest.DONE && request.status == 200) {
if (!isIE()) {
var contentType = request.getResponseHeader("content-type");
AnchorElement downloadLink = new AnchorElement(
href: Url.createObjectUrlFromBlob(request.response));
downloadLink.rel = contentType;
downloadLink.download = filename;
var event = new MouseEvent("click", view: window, cancelable: false);
downloadLink.dispatchEvent(event);
} else {
var href = Url.createObjectUrlFromBlob(request.response);
window.open(href, "_self");
}
}
}
A few things to notice. Instead of using the downloadLink.click(), a mouse event is constructed to ensure that it works on Firefox as well as on Safari and Chrome. Firefox seems not to handle the click() otherwise. Binding it to the DOM as is done in the code of Seth isn't necessary.
Internet Explorer doesn't understand the download attribute, so nothing will happen, therefore a window.open is used to at least have it work (though not ideal) on IE, it's redirecting to self to avoid being hit by the pop up blocker.
There are solutions that convert the result download result to Base64 first and put it in a data:mimetype href, using the blob this isn't necessary.
A nice way to set the filename on the file to download would be through the content disposition header, but this header is marked as unsafe, so cannot be used. The filename is now set in the code.
Another note, notice that a HttpRequest is used instead http.get(), The HttpRequest allows you to set the responseType, in this case blob, which can be transformed into a object url.

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