Storing files into zip archive and download zip file http post action method and file return type in Sitecore MVC.

Prem Murmu on 1/5/2023 3:06:33 PM

Requirement: Download selected files or download all. So selected files or all files must be downloaded as a zipped file.

I am going to implement in Sitecore MVC.

Step1: I will write ajax post request that send some media data as array to Action method

$.ajax({

type: "POST",

url: "/Files/BulkDownload",

data: JSON.stringify(selectedMediaValues),

contentType: "application/json; charset=utf-8",

xhrFields: {

responseType: 'blob'

success: function (blob, status, xhr) {

console.log("Request processed successfully .." + status.responsetext);

var disposition = xhr.getResponseHeader('Content-Disposition');

if (disposition && disposition.indexOf('attachment') !== -1) {

var filenameRegex = /filename[^;=\n]*=((['"]).*?\2|[^;\n]*)/;

var matches = filenameRegex.exec(disposition);

if (matches != null && matches[1]) filename = matches[1].replace(/['"]/g, '');

}

if (typeof window.navigator.msSaveBlob !== 'undefined') {

// IE workaround for "HTML7007: One or more blob URLs

//were revoked by closing the blob for which they were created.

//These URLs will no longer resolve as the data backing the URL has been freed."

window.navigator.msSaveBlob(blob, filename);

} else {

var URL = window.URL || window.webkitURL;

var downloadUrl = URL.createObjectURL(blob);

if (filename) {

// use HTML5 a[download] attribute to specify filename

var a = document.createElement("a");

// safari doesn't support this yet

if (typeof a.download === 'undefined') {

window.location.href = downloadUrl;

} else {

a.href = downloadUrl;

a.download = filename;

document.body.appendChild(a);

a.click();

}

} else {

window.location.href = downloadUrl;

}

setTimeout(function () { URL.revokeObjectURL(downloadUrl); }, 100); // cleanup

}

error: function (e) {

alert('Something went wrong while processing your request. Please try again after sometime.');

console.log("ERROR : ", e.responsetext);

}

})

Let me explain you what i am doing in ajax call:

type: "POST" : It is post ajax post type call/action

url: "/Files/BulkDownload": It is url to target the controller and action method i am targeting to send data from ajax. I have registered the route thats why only controller and action method name here, but if you don't register the route you can write url like "api/sitecore/{controller name}/{action method name}"

data: JSON.stringify(selectedMediaValues): Converting data to json type

contentType: "application/json; charset=utf-8": It is data type we are sending a data to target action method.

xhrFields: { responseType: 'blob' }: It is data type we are expecting a data after response.

success: function (blob, status, xhr): It is part where we write something after response is ok or status is 200.

Script in this section is to force file download from client(browser).

What script is doing:

It is getting filename from the response header content disposition, based on it, It creating temporary link(anchor link) to download the response file.

It is script I got from Stackoverflow suggested by one of the Sitecore stackexchange's member. It is I will attach link as reference below.

What problem is solve by this script:

Returning file type response from action method in Sitecore mvc was not able to download the file or Zip file, this script helps to download the file.

Step 2. I will write http post actionresult type action method and return type zip file to download.

Code//

public ActionResult BulkDownload(string[] checkboxSelected)

{

string[] fileItemIDs = checkboxSelected.Distinct().ToArray();

using (System.IO.MemoryStream zipStream = new System.IO.MemoryStream())

{

using (ZipArchive zip = new ZipArchive(zipStream, System.IO.Compression.ZipArchiveMode.Update, true))

{

foreach (var fileid in fileItemIDs)

{

try

{

var lgItemID = Sitecore.Context.Database.Items.GetItem(fileid);

Sitecore.Data.Fields.FileField fileField = ((Sitecore.Data.Fields.FileField)lgItemID.Fields["File"]);

var mediaItem = fileField.MediaItem;

var media = MediaManager.GetMedia(mediaItem);

var stream = media.GetStream().Stream;

var extension = mediaItem.Fields["extension"].Value;

if (String.IsNullOrEmpty(extension)) continue;

ZipArchiveEntry zipItem = zip.CreateEntry(mediaItem.Name + "." + extension);

using (Stream entryStream = zipItem.Open())

{

stream.CopyTo(entryStream);

}

catch (Exception ex) { }

}

byte[] fileBytes = zipStream.ToArray();

System.Net.Mime.ContentDisposition contentDisposition = new System.Net.Mime.ContentDisposition

{

FileName = "Selectedfile.zip",

Inline = false

};

string ContentType = System.Net.Mime.MediaTypeNames.Application.Octet;

Response.Headers.Add("Content-Disposition", contentDisposition.ToString());

Response.Headers.Add("X-Content-Type-Options", "nosniff");

return File(fileBytes, ContentType);

}

I created post action result and File return type, which will allow to download zip file.

I am creating memory stream, initiating the ZipArchive Class.

Next putting media files&stream(after extracting the media item from sitecore file item) into zip createEnty. Zip acrchive has method to create/update new entry by method createEntry.

At last converting the Zipstream to bytes array and defining some response headers like content disposition, content type etc..

Few notable things:

Get item from ID in Sitecore:

var lgItemID = Sitecore.Context.Database.Items.GetItem(fileid);

Get Media file Field ID in Sitecore

Sitecore.Data.Fields.FileField fileField = ((Sitecore.Data.Fields.FileField)lgItemID.Fields["File"]);

Get Media Item from media field ID in Sitecore

var mediaItem = fileField.MediaItem;

Media and Media stream from Media item.

var media = MediaManager.GetMedia(mediaItem);

var stream = media.GetStream().Stream;

Get Media file extension in Sitecore