Develop Reference

How to get file from flask send with AJAX [duplicate]

I have a Struts2 action in the server side for file downloading.
<action name="download" class="com.xxx.DownAction">
<result name="success" type="stream">
<param name="contentType">text/plain</param>
<param name="inputName">imageStream</param>
<param name="contentDisposition">attachment;filename={fileName}</param>
<param name="bufferSize">1024</param>
</result>
</action>
However when I call the action using the jQuery:
$.post(
"/download.action",{
para1:value1,
para2:value2
....
},function(data){
console.info(data);
}
);
in Firebug I see the data is retrieved with the Binary stream. I wonder how to open the file downloading window with which the user can save the file locally?

2019 modern browsers update
This is the approach I'd now recommend with a few caveats:
A relatively modern browser is required
If the file is expected to be very large you should likely do something similar to the original approach (iframe and cookie) because some of the below operations could likely consume system memory at least as large as the file being downloaded and/or other interesting CPU side effects.
fetch('https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/todos/1')
.then(resp => resp.blob())
.then(blob => {
const url = window.URL.createObjectURL(blob);
const a = document.createElement('a');
a.style.display = 'none';
a.href = url;
// the filename you want
a.download = 'todo-1.json';
document.body.appendChild(a);
a.click();
window.URL.revokeObjectURL(url);
alert('your file has downloaded!'); // or you know, something with better UX...
})
.catch(() => alert('oh no!'));
2012 Original jQuery/iframe/Cookie based approach
Bluish is completely right about this, you can't do it through Ajax because JavaScript cannot save files directly to a user's computer (out of security concerns). Unfortunately pointing the main window's URL at your file download means you have little control over what the user experience is when a file download occurs.
I created jQuery File Download which allows for an "Ajax like" experience with file downloads complete with OnSuccess and OnFailure callbacks to provide for a better user experience. Take a look at my blog post on the common problem that the plugin solves and some ways to use it and also a demo of jQuery File Download in action. Here is the source
Here is a simple use case demo using the plugin source with promises. The demo page includes many other, 'better UX' examples as well.
$.fileDownload('some/file.pdf')
.done(function () { alert('File download a success!'); })
.fail(function () { alert('File download failed!'); });
Depending on what browsers you need to support you may be able to use https://github.com/eligrey/FileSaver.js/ which allows more explicit control than the IFRAME method jQuery File Download uses.

Noone posted this #Pekka's solution... so I'll post it. It can help someone.
You don't need to do this through Ajax. Just use
window.location="download.action?para1=value1...."

You can with HTML5
NB: The file data returned MUST be base64 encoded because you cannot JSON encode binary data
In my AJAX response I have a data structure that looks like this:
{
result: 'OK',
download: {
mimetype: string(mimetype in the form 'major/minor'),
filename: string(the name of the file to download),
data: base64(the binary data as base64 to download)
}
}
That means that I can do the following to save a file via AJAX
var a = document.createElement('a');
if (window.URL && window.Blob && ('download' in a) && window.atob) {
// Do it the HTML5 compliant way
var blob = base64ToBlob(result.download.data, result.download.mimetype);
var url = window.URL.createObjectURL(blob);
a.href = url;
a.download = result.download.filename;
a.click();
window.URL.revokeObjectURL(url);
}
The function base64ToBlob was taken from here and must be used in compliance with this function
function base64ToBlob(base64, mimetype, slicesize) {
if (!window.atob || !window.Uint8Array) {
// The current browser doesn't have the atob function. Cannot continue
return null;
}
mimetype = mimetype || '';
slicesize = slicesize || 512;
var bytechars = atob(base64);
var bytearrays = [];
for (var offset = 0; offset < bytechars.length; offset += slicesize) {
var slice = bytechars.slice(offset, offset + slicesize);
var bytenums = new Array(slice.length);
for (var i = 0; i < slice.length; i++) {
bytenums[i] = slice.charCodeAt(i);
}
var bytearray = new Uint8Array(bytenums);
bytearrays[bytearrays.length] = bytearray;
}
return new Blob(bytearrays, {type: mimetype});
};
This is good if your server is dumping filedata to be saved. However, I've not quite worked out how one would implement a HTML4 fallback

The simple way to make the browser downloads a file is to make the request like that:
function downloadFile(urlToSend) {
var req = new XMLHttpRequest();
req.open("GET", urlToSend, true);
req.responseType = "blob";
req.onload = function (event) {
var blob = req.response;
var fileName = req.getResponseHeader("fileName") //if you have the fileName header available
var link=document.createElement('a');
link.href=window.URL.createObjectURL(blob);
link.download=fileName;
link.click();
};
req.send();
}
This opens the browser download pop up.

1. Framework agnostic: Servlet downloading file as attachment
<!-- with JS -->
<a href="javascript:window.location='downloadServlet?param1=value1'">
download
</a>
<!-- without JS -->
<a href="downloadServlet?param1=value1" >download</a>
2. Struts2 Framework: Action downloading file as attachment
<!-- with JS -->
<a href="javascript:window.location='downloadAction.action?param1=value1'">
download
</a>
<!-- without JS -->
<a href="downloadAction.action?param1=value1" >download</a>
It would be better to use <s:a> tag pointing with OGNL to an URL created with <s:url> tag:
<!-- without JS, with Struts tags: THE RIGHT WAY -->
<s:url action="downloadAction.action" var="url">
<s:param name="param1">value1</s:param>
</s:ulr>
<s:a href="%{url}" >download</s:a>
In the above cases, you need to write the Content-Disposition header to the response, specifying that the file needs to be downloaded (attachment) and not opened by the browser (inline). You need to specify the Content Type too, and you may want to add the file name and length (to help the browser drawing a realistic progressbar).
For example, when downloading a ZIP:
response.setContentType("application/zip");
response.addHeader("Content-Disposition",
"attachment; filename=\"name of my file.zip\"");
response.setHeader("Content-Length", myFile.length()); // or myByte[].length...
With Struts2 (unless you are using the Action as a Servlet, an hack for direct streaming, for example), you don't need to directly write anything to the response; simply using the Stream result type and configuring it in struts.xml will work: EXAMPLE
<result name="success" type="stream">
<param name="contentType">application/zip</param>
<param name="contentDisposition">attachment;filename="${fileName}"</param>
<param name="contentLength">${fileLength}</param>
</result>
3. Framework agnostic (/ Struts2 framework): Servlet(/Action) opening file inside the browser
If you want to open the file inside the browser, instead of downloading it, the Content-disposition must be set to inline, but the target can't be the current window location; you must target a new window created by javascript, an <iframe> in the page, or a new window created on-the-fly with the "discussed" target="_blank":
<!-- From a parent page into an IFrame without javascript -->
<a href="downloadServlet?param1=value1" target="iFrameName">
download
</a>
<!-- In a new window without javascript -->
<a href="downloadServlet?param1=value1" target="_blank">
download
</a>
<!-- In a new window with javascript -->
<a href="javascript:window.open('downloadServlet?param1=value1');" >
download
</a>

I have created little function as workaround solution (inspired by #JohnCulviner plugin):
// creates iframe and form in it with hidden field,
// then submit form with provided data
// url - form url
// data - data to form field
// input_name - form hidden input name
function ajax_download(url, data, input_name) {
var $iframe,
iframe_doc,
iframe_html;
if (($iframe = $('#download_iframe')).length === 0) {
$iframe = $("<iframe id='download_iframe'" +
" style='display: none' src='about:blank'></iframe>"
).appendTo("body");
}
iframe_doc = $iframe[0].contentWindow || $iframe[0].contentDocument;
if (iframe_doc.document) {
iframe_doc = iframe_doc.document;
}
iframe_html = "<html><head></head><body><form method='POST' action='" +
url +"'>" +
"<input type=hidden name='" + input_name + "' value='" +
JSON.stringify(data) +"'/></form>" +
"</body></html>";
iframe_doc.open();
iframe_doc.write(iframe_html);
$(iframe_doc).find('form').submit();
}
Demo with click event:
$('#someid').on('click', function() {
ajax_download('/download.action', {'para1': 1, 'para2': 2}, 'dataname');
});

I faced the same issue and successfully solved it. My use-case is this.
"Post JSON data to the server and receive an excel file.
That excel file is created by the server and returned as a response to the client. Download that response as a file with custom name in browser"
$("#my-button").on("click", function(){
// Data to post
data = {
ids: [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
};
// Use XMLHttpRequest instead of Jquery $ajax
xhttp = new XMLHttpRequest();
xhttp.onreadystatechange = function() {
var a;
if (xhttp.readyState === 4 && xhttp.status === 200) {
// Trick for making downloadable link
a = document.createElement('a');
a.href = window.URL.createObjectURL(xhttp.response);
// Give filename you wish to download
a.download = "test-file.xls";
a.style.display = 'none';
document.body.appendChild(a);
a.click();
}
};
// Post data to URL which handles post request
xhttp.open("POST", excelDownloadUrl);
xhttp.setRequestHeader("Content-Type", "application/json");
// You should set responseType as blob for binary responses
xhttp.responseType = 'blob';
xhttp.send(JSON.stringify(data));
});
The above snippet is just doing following
Posting an array as JSON to the server using XMLHttpRequest.
After fetching content as a blob(binary), we are creating a downloadable URL and attaching it to invisible "a" link then clicking it. I did a POST request here. Instead, you can go for a simple GET too. We cannot download the file through Ajax, must use XMLHttpRequest.
Here we need to carefully set few things on the server side. I set few headers in Python Django HttpResponse. You need to set them accordingly if you use other programming languages.
# In python django code
response = HttpResponse(file_content, content_type="application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet")
Since I download xls(excel) here, I adjusted contentType to above one. You need to set it according to your file type. You can use this technique to download any kind of files.

Ok, based on ndpu's code heres an improved (I think) version of ajax_download;-
function ajax_download(url, data) {
var $iframe,
iframe_doc,
iframe_html;
if (($iframe = $('#download_iframe')).length === 0) {
$iframe = $("<iframe id='download_iframe'" +
" style='display: none' src='about:blank'></iframe>"
).appendTo("body");
}
iframe_doc = $iframe[0].contentWindow || $iframe[0].contentDocument;
if (iframe_doc.document) {
iframe_doc = iframe_doc.document;
}
iframe_html = "<html><head></head><body><form method='POST' action='" +
url +"'>"
Object.keys(data).forEach(function(key){
iframe_html += "<input type='hidden' name='"+key+"' value='"+data[key]+"'>";
});
iframe_html +="</form></body></html>";
iframe_doc.open();
iframe_doc.write(iframe_html);
$(iframe_doc).find('form').submit();
}
Use this like this;-
$('#someid').on('click', function() {
ajax_download('/download.action', {'para1': 1, 'para2': 2});
});
The params are sent as proper post params as if coming from an input rather than as a json encoded string as per the previous example.
CAVEAT: Be wary about the potential for variable injection on those forms. There might be a safer way to encode those variables. Alternatively contemplate escaping them.

My approach is completly based on jQuery. The problem for me was that it has to be a POST-HTTP call. And I wanted it to be done by jQuery alone.
The solution:
$.ajax({
type: "POST",
url: "/some/webpage",
headers: {'X-CSRF-TOKEN': csrfToken},
data: additionalDataToSend,
dataType: "text",
success: function(result) {
let blob = new Blob([result], { type: "application/octetstream" });
let a = document.createElement('a');
a.href = window.URL.createObjectURL(blob);
a.download = "test.xml";;
document.body.appendChild(a);
a.click();
document.body.removeChild(a);
window.URL.revokeObjectURL(a.href);
...
},
error: errorDialog
});
Explanation:
What I and many others do is to create a link on the webpage, indicating that the target should be downloaded and putting the result of the http-request as the target. After that I append the link to the document than simply clicking the link and removing the link afterwards. You don't need an iframe anymore.
The magic lies in the lines
let blob = new Blob([result], { type: "application/octetstream" });
a.href = window.URL.createObjectURL(blob);
The interesting point is that this solution is only working with a "blob". As you can see in other answers, some are simply using a blob but not explaining why and how to create it.
As you can read e.g. in the Mozilla developer documentation you need a file, media ressource or blob for the function "createObjectURL()" to work. The problem is that your http-response might not be any of those.
Therefore the first thing you must do is to convert your response to a blob. This is what the first line does. Then you can use the "createObjectURL" with your newly created blob.
If you than click the link your browser will open a file-save dialog and you can save your data. Obviously it s possible that you cannot define a fixed filename for your file to download. Then you must make your response more complex like in the answer from Luke.
And don't forget to free up the memory especially when you are working with large files. For more examples and information you can look at the details of the JS blob object

Here is what I did, pure javascript and html. Did not test it but this should work in all browsers.
Javascript Function
var iframe = document.createElement('iframe');
iframe.id = "IFRAMEID";
iframe.style.display = 'none';
document.body.appendChild(iframe);
iframe.src = 'SERVERURL'+'?' + $.param($scope.filtro);
iframe.addEventListener("load", function () {
console.log("FILE LOAD DONE.. Download should start now");
});
Using just components that is supported in all browsers no additional
libraries.
Here is my server side JAVA Spring controller code.
#RequestMapping(value = "/rootto/my/xlsx", method = RequestMethod.GET)
public void downloadExcelFile(#RequestParam(value = "param1", required = false) String param1,
HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response)
throws ParseException {
Workbook wb = service.getWorkbook(param1);
if (wb != null) {
try {
String fileName = "myfile_" + sdf.format(new Date());
response.setContentType("application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet");
response.setHeader("Content-disposition", "attachment; filename=\"" + fileName + ".xlsx\"");
wb.write(response.getOutputStream());
response.getOutputStream().close();
} catch (IOException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
}

How to DOWNLOAD a file after receiving it by AJAX
It’s convenient when the file is created for a long time and you need to show PRELOADER
Example when submitting a web form:
<script>
$(function () {
$('form').submit(function () {
$('#loader').show();
$.ajax({
url: $(this).attr('action'),
data: $(this).serialize(),
dataType: 'binary',
xhrFields: {
'responseType': 'blob'
},
success: function(data, status, xhr) {
$('#loader').hide();
// if(data.type.indexOf('text/html') != -1){//If instead of a file you get an error page
// var reader = new FileReader();
// reader.readAsText(data);
// reader.onload = function() {alert(reader.result);};
// return;
// }
var link = document.createElement('a'),
filename = 'file.xlsx';
// if(xhr.getResponseHeader('Content-Disposition')){//filename
// filename = xhr.getResponseHeader('Content-Disposition');
// filename=filename.match(/filename="(.*?)"/)[1];
// filename=decodeURIComponent(escape(filename));
// }
link.href = URL.createObjectURL(data);
link.download = filename;
link.click();
}
});
return false;
});
});
</script>
Optional functional is commented out to simplify the example.
No need to create temporary files on the server.
On jQuery v2.2.4 OK. There will be an error on the old version:
Uncaught DOMException: Failed to read the 'responseText' property from 'XMLHttpRequest': The value is only accessible if the object's 'responseType' is '' or 'text' (was 'blob').

function downloadURI(uri, name)
{
var link = document.createElement("a");
link.download = name;
link.href = uri;
link.click();
}

I try to download a CSV file and then do something after download has finished. So I need to implement an appropriate callback function.
Using window.location="..." is not a good idea because I cannot operate the program after finishing download. Something like this, change header so it is not a good idea.
fetch is a good alternative however it cannot support IE 11. And window.URL.createObjectURL cannot support IE 11.You can refer this.
This is my code, it is similar to the code of Shahrukh Alam. But you should take care that window.URL.createObjectURL maybe create memory leaks. You can refer this. When response has arrived, data will be stored into memory of browser. So before you click a link, the file has been downloaded. It means that you can do anything after download.
$.ajax({
url: 'your download url',
type: 'GET',
}).done(function (data, textStatus, request) {
// csv => Blob
var blob = new Blob([data]);
// the file name from server.
var fileName = request.getResponseHeader('fileName');
if (window.navigator && window.navigator.msSaveOrOpenBlob) { // for IE
window.navigator.msSaveOrOpenBlob(blob, fileName);
} else { // for others
var url = window.URL.createObjectURL(blob);
const a = document.createElement('a');
a.style.display = 'none';
a.href = url;
a.download = fileName;
document.body.appendChild(a);
a.click();
window.URL.revokeObjectURL(url);
//Do something after download
...
}
}).then(after_download)
}

Adding some more things to above answer for downloading a file
Below is some java spring code which generates byte Array
#RequestMapping(value = "/downloadReport", method = { RequestMethod.POST })
public ResponseEntity<byte[]> downloadReport(
#RequestBody final SomeObejct obj, HttpServletResponse response) throws Exception {
OutputStream out = new ByteArrayOutputStream();
// write something to output stream
HttpHeaders respHeaders = new HttpHeaders();
respHeaders.setContentType(MediaType.APPLICATION_OCTET_STREAM);
respHeaders.add("X-File-Name", name);
ByteArrayOutputStream bos = (ByteArrayOutputStream) out;
return new ResponseEntity<byte[]>(bos.toByteArray(), respHeaders, HttpStatus.CREATED);
}
Now in javascript code using FileSaver.js ,can download a file with below code
var json=angular.toJson("somejsobject");
var url=apiEndPoint+'some url';
var xhr = new XMLHttpRequest();
//headers('X-File-Name')
xhr.onreadystatechange = function() {
if (this.readyState == 4 && this.status == 201) {
var res = this.response;
var fileName=this.getResponseHeader('X-File-Name');
var data = new Blob([res]);
saveAs(data, fileName); //this from FileSaver.js
}
}
xhr.open('POST', url);
xhr.setRequestHeader('Authorization','Bearer ' + token);
xhr.setRequestHeader('Content-Type', 'application/json');
xhr.responseType = 'arraybuffer';
xhr.send(json);
The above will download file

In Rails, I do it this way:
function download_file(file_id) {
let url = '/files/' + file_id + '/download_file';
$.ajax({
type: 'GET',
url: url,
processData: false,
success: function (data) {
window.location = url;
},
error: function (xhr) {
console.log(' Error: >>>> ' + JSON.stringify(xhr));
}
});
}
The trick is the window.location part. The controller's method looks like:
# GET /files/{:id}/download_file/
def download_file
send_file(#file.file,
:disposition => 'attachment',
:url_based_filename => false)
end

Use window.open https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Window/open
For example, you can put this line of code in a click handler:
window.open('/file.txt', '_blank');
It will open a new tab (because of the '_blank' window-name) and that tab will open the URL.
Your server-side code should also have something like this:
res.set('Content-Disposition', 'attachment; filename=file.txt');
And that way, the browser should prompt the user to save the file to disk, instead of just showing them the file. It will also automatically close the tab that it just opened.

The HTML Code :
<button type="button" id="GetFile">Get File!</button>
The jQuery Code :
$('#GetFile').on('click', function () {
$.ajax({
url: 'https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/s.cdpn.io/172905/test.pdf',
method: 'GET',
xhrFields: {
responseType: 'blob'
},
success: function (data) {
var a = document.createElement('a');
var url = window.URL.createObjectURL(data);
a.href = url;
a.download = 'myfile.pdf';
document.body.append(a);
a.click();
a.remove();
window.URL.revokeObjectURL(url);
}
});
});

Ok so here is the working code when Using MVC and you are getting your file from a controller
lets say you have your byte array declare and populate, the only thing you need to do is to use the File function (using System.Web.Mvc)
byte[] bytes = .... insert your bytes in the array
return File(bytes, System.Net.Mime.MediaTypeNames.Application.Octet, "nameoffile.exe");
and then, in the same controller, add thoses 2 functions
protected override void OnResultExecuting(ResultExecutingContext context)
{
CheckAndHandleFileResult(context);
base.OnResultExecuting(context);
}
private const string FILE_DOWNLOAD_COOKIE_NAME = "fileDownload";
/// <summary>
/// If the current response is a FileResult (an MVC base class for files) then write a
/// cookie to inform jquery.fileDownload that a successful file download has occured
/// </summary>
/// <param name="context"></param>
private void CheckAndHandleFileResult(ResultExecutingContext context)
{
if (context.Result is FileResult)
//jquery.fileDownload uses this cookie to determine that a file download has completed successfully
Response.SetCookie(new HttpCookie(FILE_DOWNLOAD_COOKIE_NAME, "true") { Path = "/" });
else
//ensure that the cookie is removed in case someone did a file download without using jquery.fileDownload
if (Request.Cookies[FILE_DOWNLOAD_COOKIE_NAME] != null)
Response.Cookies[FILE_DOWNLOAD_COOKIE_NAME].Expires = DateTime.Now.AddYears(-1);
}
and then you will be able to call your controller to download and get the "success" or "failure" callback
$.fileDownload(mvcUrl('name of the controller'), {
httpMethod: 'POST',
successCallback: function (url) {
//insert success code
},
failCallback: function (html, url) {
//insert fail code
}
});

I found a fix that while it's not actually using ajax it does allow you to use a javascript call to request the download and then get a callback when the download actually starts. I found this helpful if the link runs a server side script that takes a little bit to compose the file before sending it. so you can alert them that it's processing, and then when it does finally send the file remove that processing notification. which is why I wanted to try to load the file via ajax to begin with so that I could have an event happen when the file is requested and another when it actually starts downloading.
the js on the front page
function expdone()
{
document.getElementById('exportdiv').style.display='none';
}
function expgo()
{
document.getElementById('exportdiv').style.display='block';
document.getElementById('exportif').src='test2.php?arguments=data';
}
the iframe
<div id="exportdiv" style="display:none;">
<img src="loader.gif"><br><h1>Generating Report</h1>
<iframe id="exportif" src="" style="width: 1px;height: 1px; border:0px;"></iframe>
</div>
then the other file:
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<script>
function expdone()
{
window.parent.expdone();
}
</script>
</head>
<body>
<iframe id="exportif" src="<?php echo "http://10.192.37.211/npdtracker/exportthismonth.php?arguments=".$_GET["arguments"]; ?>"></iframe>
<script>document.getElementById('exportif').onload= expdone;</script>
</body></html>
I think there's a way to read get data using js so then no php would be needed. but I don't know it off hand and the server I'm using supports php so this works for me. thought I'd share it in case it helps anyone.

If the server is writing the file back in the response (including cookies if
you use them to determine whether the file download started), Simply create a form with the values and submit it:
function ajaxPostDownload(url, data) {
var $form;
if (($form = $('#download_form')).length === 0) {
$form = $("<form id='download_form'" + " style='display: none; width: 1px; height: 1px; position: absolute; top: -10000px' method='POST' action='" + url + "'></form>");
$form.appendTo("body");
}
//Clear the form fields
$form.html("");
//Create new form fields
Object.keys(data).forEach(function (key) {
$form.append("<input type='hidden' name='" + key + "' value='" + data[key] + "'>");
});
//Submit the form post
$form.submit();
}
Usage:
ajaxPostDownload('/fileController/ExportFile', {
DownloadToken: 'newDownloadToken',
Name: $txtName.val(),
Type: $txtType.val()
});
Controller Method:
[HttpPost]
public FileResult ExportFile(string DownloadToken, string Name, string Type)
{
//Set DownloadToken Cookie.
Response.SetCookie(new HttpCookie("downloadToken", DownloadToken)
{
Expires = DateTime.UtcNow.AddDays(1),
Secure = false
});
using (var output = new MemoryStream())
{
//get File
return File(output.ToArray(), "application/vnd.ms-excel", "NewFile.xls");
}
}

I have tried Ajax and HttpRequest ways to get my result download file but I've failed, finally I've solved my problem using these steps:
implemented a simple hidden form in my html code:
<form method="post" id="post_form" style="display:none" action="amin.php" >
<input type="hidden" name="action" value="export_xlsx" />
<input type="hidden" name="post_form_data" value="" />
</form>
input with 'action' name is for calling function in my php code,
input with 'post_form_data' name for sending long data of a table which were not possible to send with GET. this data was encoded to json, and put json in input:
var list = new Array();
$('#table_name tr').each(function() {
var row = new Array();
$(this).find('td').each(function() {
row.push($(this).text());
});
list.push(row);
});
list = JSON.stringify(list);
$("input[name=post_form_data]").val(list);
now, the form is ready with my desire values in inputs, just need to trigger the submit.
document.getElementById('post_form').submit();
and done!
while my result is a file (xlsx file for me) the page wouldn't be redirected and instantly the file starts to download in last page, so no need to useiframe or window.open etc.
if you are trying to do something like this, this should be an easy trick 😉.

If you want to use jQuery File Download , please note this for IE.
You need to reset the response or it will not download
//The IE will only work if you reset response
getServletResponse().reset();
//The jquery.fileDownload needs a cookie be set
getServletResponse().setHeader("Set-Cookie", "fileDownload=true; path=/");
//Do the reset of your action create InputStream and return
Your action can implement ServletResponseAware to access getServletResponse()

It is certain that you can not do it through Ajax call.
However, there is a workaround.
Steps :
If you are using form.submit() for downloading the file, what you can do is :
Create an ajax call from client to server and store the file stream inside the session.
Upon "success" being returned from server, call your form.submit() to just stream the file stream stored in the session.
This is helpful in case when you want to decide whether or not file needs to be downloaded after making form.submit(), eg: there can be a case where on form.submit(), an exception occurs on the server side and instead of crashing, you might need to show a custom message on the client side, in such case this implementation might help.

there is another solution to download a web page in ajax. But I am referring to a page that must first be processed and then downloaded.
First you need to separate the page processing from the results download.
1) Only the page calculations are made in the ajax call.
$.post("CalculusPage.php", { calculusFunction: true, ID: 29, data1: "a", data2: "b" },
function(data, status)
{
if (status == "success")
{
/* 2) In the answer the page that uses the previous calculations is downloaded. For example, this can be a page that prints the results of a table calculated in the ajax call. */
window.location.href = DownloadPage.php+"?ID="+29;
}
}
);
// For example: in the CalculusPage.php
if ( !empty($_POST["calculusFunction"]) )
{
$ID = $_POST["ID"];
$query = "INSERT INTO ExamplePage (data1, data2) VALUES ('".$_POST["data1"]."', '".$_POST["data2"]."') WHERE id = ".$ID;
...
}
// For example: in the DownloadPage.php
$ID = $_GET["ID"];
$sede = "SELECT * FROM ExamplePage WHERE id = ".$ID;
...
$filename="Export_Data.xls";
header("Content-Type: application/vnd.ms-excel");
header("Content-Disposition: inline; filename=$filename");
...
I hope this solution can be useful for many, as it was for me.

That's it works so fine in any browser (I'm using asp.net core)
function onDownload() {
const api = '#Url.Action("myaction", "mycontroller")';
var form = new FormData(document.getElementById('form1'));
fetch(api, { body: form, method: "POST"})
.then(resp => resp.blob())
.then(blob => {
const url = window.URL.createObjectURL(blob);
$('#linkdownload').attr('download', 'Attachement.zip');
$('#linkdownload').attr("href", url);
$('#linkdownload')
.fadeIn(3000,
function() { });
})
.catch(() => alert('An error occurred'));
}
<button type="button" onclick="onDownload()" class="btn btn-primary btn-sm">Click to Process Files</button>
<a role="button" href="#" style="display: none" class="btn btn-sm btn-secondary" id="linkdownload">Click to download Attachments</a>
<form asp-controller="mycontroller" asp-action="myaction" id="form1"></form>
function onDownload() {
const api = '#Url.Action("myaction", "mycontroller")';
//form1 is your id form, and to get data content of form
var form = new FormData(document.getElementById('form1'));
fetch(api, { body: form, method: "POST"})
.then(resp => resp.blob())
.then(blob => {
const url = window.URL.createObjectURL(blob);
$('#linkdownload').attr('download', 'Attachments.zip');
$('#linkdownload').attr("href", url);
$('#linkdownload')
.fadeIn(3000,
function() {
});
})
.catch(() => alert('An error occurred'));
}

I struggled with this issue for a long time. Finally an elegant external library suggested here helped me out.

Create and download TXT file in a Java servlet [duplicate]

I have a Struts2 action in the server side for file downloading.
<action name="download" class="com.xxx.DownAction">
<result name="success" type="stream">
<param name="contentType">text/plain</param>
<param name="inputName">imageStream</param>
<param name="contentDisposition">attachment;filename={fileName}</param>
<param name="bufferSize">1024</param>
</result>
</action>
However when I call the action using the jQuery:
$.post(
"/download.action",{
para1:value1,
para2:value2
....
},function(data){
console.info(data);
}
);
in Firebug I see the data is retrieved with the Binary stream. I wonder how to open the file downloading window with which the user can save the file locally?

2019 modern browsers update
This is the approach I'd now recommend with a few caveats:
A relatively modern browser is required
If the file is expected to be very large you should likely do something similar to the original approach (iframe and cookie) because some of the below operations could likely consume system memory at least as large as the file being downloaded and/or other interesting CPU side effects.
fetch('https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/todos/1')
.then(resp => resp.blob())
.then(blob => {
const url = window.URL.createObjectURL(blob);
const a = document.createElement('a');
a.style.display = 'none';
a.href = url;
// the filename you want
a.download = 'todo-1.json';
document.body.appendChild(a);
a.click();
window.URL.revokeObjectURL(url);
alert('your file has downloaded!'); // or you know, something with better UX...
})
.catch(() => alert('oh no!'));
2012 Original jQuery/iframe/Cookie based approach
Bluish is completely right about this, you can't do it through Ajax because JavaScript cannot save files directly to a user's computer (out of security concerns). Unfortunately pointing the main window's URL at your file download means you have little control over what the user experience is when a file download occurs.
I created jQuery File Download which allows for an "Ajax like" experience with file downloads complete with OnSuccess and OnFailure callbacks to provide for a better user experience. Take a look at my blog post on the common problem that the plugin solves and some ways to use it and also a demo of jQuery File Download in action. Here is the source
Here is a simple use case demo using the plugin source with promises. The demo page includes many other, 'better UX' examples as well.
$.fileDownload('some/file.pdf')
.done(function () { alert('File download a success!'); })
.fail(function () { alert('File download failed!'); });
Depending on what browsers you need to support you may be able to use https://github.com/eligrey/FileSaver.js/ which allows more explicit control than the IFRAME method jQuery File Download uses.

Noone posted this #Pekka's solution... so I'll post it. It can help someone.
You don't need to do this through Ajax. Just use
window.location="download.action?para1=value1...."

You can with HTML5
NB: The file data returned MUST be base64 encoded because you cannot JSON encode binary data
In my AJAX response I have a data structure that looks like this:
{
result: 'OK',
download: {
mimetype: string(mimetype in the form 'major/minor'),
filename: string(the name of the file to download),
data: base64(the binary data as base64 to download)
}
}
That means that I can do the following to save a file via AJAX
var a = document.createElement('a');
if (window.URL && window.Blob && ('download' in a) && window.atob) {
// Do it the HTML5 compliant way
var blob = base64ToBlob(result.download.data, result.download.mimetype);
var url = window.URL.createObjectURL(blob);
a.href = url;
a.download = result.download.filename;
a.click();
window.URL.revokeObjectURL(url);
}
The function base64ToBlob was taken from here and must be used in compliance with this function
function base64ToBlob(base64, mimetype, slicesize) {
if (!window.atob || !window.Uint8Array) {
// The current browser doesn't have the atob function. Cannot continue
return null;
}
mimetype = mimetype || '';
slicesize = slicesize || 512;
var bytechars = atob(base64);
var bytearrays = [];
for (var offset = 0; offset < bytechars.length; offset += slicesize) {
var slice = bytechars.slice(offset, offset + slicesize);
var bytenums = new Array(slice.length);
for (var i = 0; i < slice.length; i++) {
bytenums[i] = slice.charCodeAt(i);
}
var bytearray = new Uint8Array(bytenums);
bytearrays[bytearrays.length] = bytearray;
}
return new Blob(bytearrays, {type: mimetype});
};
This is good if your server is dumping filedata to be saved. However, I've not quite worked out how one would implement a HTML4 fallback

The simple way to make the browser downloads a file is to make the request like that:
function downloadFile(urlToSend) {
var req = new XMLHttpRequest();
req.open("GET", urlToSend, true);
req.responseType = "blob";
req.onload = function (event) {
var blob = req.response;
var fileName = req.getResponseHeader("fileName") //if you have the fileName header available
var link=document.createElement('a');
link.href=window.URL.createObjectURL(blob);
link.download=fileName;
link.click();
};
req.send();
}
This opens the browser download pop up.

1. Framework agnostic: Servlet downloading file as attachment
<!-- with JS -->
<a href="javascript:window.location='downloadServlet?param1=value1'">
download
</a>
<!-- without JS -->
<a href="downloadServlet?param1=value1" >download</a>
2. Struts2 Framework: Action downloading file as attachment
<!-- with JS -->
<a href="javascript:window.location='downloadAction.action?param1=value1'">
download
</a>
<!-- without JS -->
<a href="downloadAction.action?param1=value1" >download</a>
It would be better to use <s:a> tag pointing with OGNL to an URL created with <s:url> tag:
<!-- without JS, with Struts tags: THE RIGHT WAY -->
<s:url action="downloadAction.action" var="url">
<s:param name="param1">value1</s:param>
</s:ulr>
<s:a href="%{url}" >download</s:a>
In the above cases, you need to write the Content-Disposition header to the response, specifying that the file needs to be downloaded (attachment) and not opened by the browser (inline). You need to specify the Content Type too, and you may want to add the file name and length (to help the browser drawing a realistic progressbar).
For example, when downloading a ZIP:
response.setContentType("application/zip");
response.addHeader("Content-Disposition",
"attachment; filename=\"name of my file.zip\"");
response.setHeader("Content-Length", myFile.length()); // or myByte[].length...
With Struts2 (unless you are using the Action as a Servlet, an hack for direct streaming, for example), you don't need to directly write anything to the response; simply using the Stream result type and configuring it in struts.xml will work: EXAMPLE
<result name="success" type="stream">
<param name="contentType">application/zip</param>
<param name="contentDisposition">attachment;filename="${fileName}"</param>
<param name="contentLength">${fileLength}</param>
</result>
3. Framework agnostic (/ Struts2 framework): Servlet(/Action) opening file inside the browser
If you want to open the file inside the browser, instead of downloading it, the Content-disposition must be set to inline, but the target can't be the current window location; you must target a new window created by javascript, an <iframe> in the page, or a new window created on-the-fly with the "discussed" target="_blank":
<!-- From a parent page into an IFrame without javascript -->
<a href="downloadServlet?param1=value1" target="iFrameName">
download
</a>
<!-- In a new window without javascript -->
<a href="downloadServlet?param1=value1" target="_blank">
download
</a>
<!-- In a new window with javascript -->
<a href="javascript:window.open('downloadServlet?param1=value1');" >
download
</a>

I have created little function as workaround solution (inspired by #JohnCulviner plugin):
// creates iframe and form in it with hidden field,
// then submit form with provided data
// url - form url
// data - data to form field
// input_name - form hidden input name
function ajax_download(url, data, input_name) {
var $iframe,
iframe_doc,
iframe_html;
if (($iframe = $('#download_iframe')).length === 0) {
$iframe = $("<iframe id='download_iframe'" +
" style='display: none' src='about:blank'></iframe>"
).appendTo("body");
}
iframe_doc = $iframe[0].contentWindow || $iframe[0].contentDocument;
if (iframe_doc.document) {
iframe_doc = iframe_doc.document;
}
iframe_html = "<html><head></head><body><form method='POST' action='" +
url +"'>" +
"<input type=hidden name='" + input_name + "' value='" +
JSON.stringify(data) +"'/></form>" +
"</body></html>";
iframe_doc.open();
iframe_doc.write(iframe_html);
$(iframe_doc).find('form').submit();
}
Demo with click event:
$('#someid').on('click', function() {
ajax_download('/download.action', {'para1': 1, 'para2': 2}, 'dataname');
});

I faced the same issue and successfully solved it. My use-case is this.
"Post JSON data to the server and receive an excel file.
That excel file is created by the server and returned as a response to the client. Download that response as a file with custom name in browser"
$("#my-button").on("click", function(){
// Data to post
data = {
ids: [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
};
// Use XMLHttpRequest instead of Jquery $ajax
xhttp = new XMLHttpRequest();
xhttp.onreadystatechange = function() {
var a;
if (xhttp.readyState === 4 && xhttp.status === 200) {
// Trick for making downloadable link
a = document.createElement('a');
a.href = window.URL.createObjectURL(xhttp.response);
// Give filename you wish to download
a.download = "test-file.xls";
a.style.display = 'none';
document.body.appendChild(a);
a.click();
}
};
// Post data to URL which handles post request
xhttp.open("POST", excelDownloadUrl);
xhttp.setRequestHeader("Content-Type", "application/json");
// You should set responseType as blob for binary responses
xhttp.responseType = 'blob';
xhttp.send(JSON.stringify(data));
});
The above snippet is just doing following
Posting an array as JSON to the server using XMLHttpRequest.
After fetching content as a blob(binary), we are creating a downloadable URL and attaching it to invisible "a" link then clicking it. I did a POST request here. Instead, you can go for a simple GET too. We cannot download the file through Ajax, must use XMLHttpRequest.
Here we need to carefully set few things on the server side. I set few headers in Python Django HttpResponse. You need to set them accordingly if you use other programming languages.
# In python django code
response = HttpResponse(file_content, content_type="application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet")
Since I download xls(excel) here, I adjusted contentType to above one. You need to set it according to your file type. You can use this technique to download any kind of files.

Ok, based on ndpu's code heres an improved (I think) version of ajax_download;-
function ajax_download(url, data) {
var $iframe,
iframe_doc,
iframe_html;
if (($iframe = $('#download_iframe')).length === 0) {
$iframe = $("<iframe id='download_iframe'" +
" style='display: none' src='about:blank'></iframe>"
).appendTo("body");
}
iframe_doc = $iframe[0].contentWindow || $iframe[0].contentDocument;
if (iframe_doc.document) {
iframe_doc = iframe_doc.document;
}
iframe_html = "<html><head></head><body><form method='POST' action='" +
url +"'>"
Object.keys(data).forEach(function(key){
iframe_html += "<input type='hidden' name='"+key+"' value='"+data[key]+"'>";
});
iframe_html +="</form></body></html>";
iframe_doc.open();
iframe_doc.write(iframe_html);
$(iframe_doc).find('form').submit();
}
Use this like this;-
$('#someid').on('click', function() {
ajax_download('/download.action', {'para1': 1, 'para2': 2});
});
The params are sent as proper post params as if coming from an input rather than as a json encoded string as per the previous example.
CAVEAT: Be wary about the potential for variable injection on those forms. There might be a safer way to encode those variables. Alternatively contemplate escaping them.

My approach is completly based on jQuery. The problem for me was that it has to be a POST-HTTP call. And I wanted it to be done by jQuery alone.
The solution:
$.ajax({
type: "POST",
url: "/some/webpage",
headers: {'X-CSRF-TOKEN': csrfToken},
data: additionalDataToSend,
dataType: "text",
success: function(result) {
let blob = new Blob([result], { type: "application/octetstream" });
let a = document.createElement('a');
a.href = window.URL.createObjectURL(blob);
a.download = "test.xml";;
document.body.appendChild(a);
a.click();
document.body.removeChild(a);
window.URL.revokeObjectURL(a.href);
...
},
error: errorDialog
});
Explanation:
What I and many others do is to create a link on the webpage, indicating that the target should be downloaded and putting the result of the http-request as the target. After that I append the link to the document than simply clicking the link and removing the link afterwards. You don't need an iframe anymore.
The magic lies in the lines
let blob = new Blob([result], { type: "application/octetstream" });
a.href = window.URL.createObjectURL(blob);
The interesting point is that this solution is only working with a "blob". As you can see in other answers, some are simply using a blob but not explaining why and how to create it.
As you can read e.g. in the Mozilla developer documentation you need a file, media ressource or blob for the function "createObjectURL()" to work. The problem is that your http-response might not be any of those.
Therefore the first thing you must do is to convert your response to a blob. This is what the first line does. Then you can use the "createObjectURL" with your newly created blob.
If you than click the link your browser will open a file-save dialog and you can save your data. Obviously it s possible that you cannot define a fixed filename for your file to download. Then you must make your response more complex like in the answer from Luke.
And don't forget to free up the memory especially when you are working with large files. For more examples and information you can look at the details of the JS blob object

Here is what I did, pure javascript and html. Did not test it but this should work in all browsers.
Javascript Function
var iframe = document.createElement('iframe');
iframe.id = "IFRAMEID";
iframe.style.display = 'none';
document.body.appendChild(iframe);
iframe.src = 'SERVERURL'+'?' + $.param($scope.filtro);
iframe.addEventListener("load", function () {
console.log("FILE LOAD DONE.. Download should start now");
});
Using just components that is supported in all browsers no additional
libraries.
Here is my server side JAVA Spring controller code.
#RequestMapping(value = "/rootto/my/xlsx", method = RequestMethod.GET)
public void downloadExcelFile(#RequestParam(value = "param1", required = false) String param1,
HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response)
throws ParseException {
Workbook wb = service.getWorkbook(param1);
if (wb != null) {
try {
String fileName = "myfile_" + sdf.format(new Date());
response.setContentType("application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet");
response.setHeader("Content-disposition", "attachment; filename=\"" + fileName + ".xlsx\"");
wb.write(response.getOutputStream());
response.getOutputStream().close();
} catch (IOException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
}

How to DOWNLOAD a file after receiving it by AJAX
It’s convenient when the file is created for a long time and you need to show PRELOADER
Example when submitting a web form:
<script>
$(function () {
$('form').submit(function () {
$('#loader').show();
$.ajax({
url: $(this).attr('action'),
data: $(this).serialize(),
dataType: 'binary',
xhrFields: {
'responseType': 'blob'
},
success: function(data, status, xhr) {
$('#loader').hide();
// if(data.type.indexOf('text/html') != -1){//If instead of a file you get an error page
// var reader = new FileReader();
// reader.readAsText(data);
// reader.onload = function() {alert(reader.result);};
// return;
// }
var link = document.createElement('a'),
filename = 'file.xlsx';
// if(xhr.getResponseHeader('Content-Disposition')){//filename
// filename = xhr.getResponseHeader('Content-Disposition');
// filename=filename.match(/filename="(.*?)"/)[1];
// filename=decodeURIComponent(escape(filename));
// }
link.href = URL.createObjectURL(data);
link.download = filename;
link.click();
}
});
return false;
});
});
</script>
Optional functional is commented out to simplify the example.
No need to create temporary files on the server.
On jQuery v2.2.4 OK. There will be an error on the old version:
Uncaught DOMException: Failed to read the 'responseText' property from 'XMLHttpRequest': The value is only accessible if the object's 'responseType' is '' or 'text' (was 'blob').

function downloadURI(uri, name)
{
var link = document.createElement("a");
link.download = name;
link.href = uri;
link.click();
}

I try to download a CSV file and then do something after download has finished. So I need to implement an appropriate callback function.
Using window.location="..." is not a good idea because I cannot operate the program after finishing download. Something like this, change header so it is not a good idea.
fetch is a good alternative however it cannot support IE 11. And window.URL.createObjectURL cannot support IE 11.You can refer this.
This is my code, it is similar to the code of Shahrukh Alam. But you should take care that window.URL.createObjectURL maybe create memory leaks. You can refer this. When response has arrived, data will be stored into memory of browser. So before you click a link, the file has been downloaded. It means that you can do anything after download.
$.ajax({
url: 'your download url',
type: 'GET',
}).done(function (data, textStatus, request) {
// csv => Blob
var blob = new Blob([data]);
// the file name from server.
var fileName = request.getResponseHeader('fileName');
if (window.navigator && window.navigator.msSaveOrOpenBlob) { // for IE
window.navigator.msSaveOrOpenBlob(blob, fileName);
} else { // for others
var url = window.URL.createObjectURL(blob);
const a = document.createElement('a');
a.style.display = 'none';
a.href = url;
a.download = fileName;
document.body.appendChild(a);
a.click();
window.URL.revokeObjectURL(url);
//Do something after download
...
}
}).then(after_download)
}

Adding some more things to above answer for downloading a file
Below is some java spring code which generates byte Array
#RequestMapping(value = "/downloadReport", method = { RequestMethod.POST })
public ResponseEntity<byte[]> downloadReport(
#RequestBody final SomeObejct obj, HttpServletResponse response) throws Exception {
OutputStream out = new ByteArrayOutputStream();
// write something to output stream
HttpHeaders respHeaders = new HttpHeaders();
respHeaders.setContentType(MediaType.APPLICATION_OCTET_STREAM);
respHeaders.add("X-File-Name", name);
ByteArrayOutputStream bos = (ByteArrayOutputStream) out;
return new ResponseEntity<byte[]>(bos.toByteArray(), respHeaders, HttpStatus.CREATED);
}
Now in javascript code using FileSaver.js ,can download a file with below code
var json=angular.toJson("somejsobject");
var url=apiEndPoint+'some url';
var xhr = new XMLHttpRequest();
//headers('X-File-Name')
xhr.onreadystatechange = function() {
if (this.readyState == 4 && this.status == 201) {
var res = this.response;
var fileName=this.getResponseHeader('X-File-Name');
var data = new Blob([res]);
saveAs(data, fileName); //this from FileSaver.js
}
}
xhr.open('POST', url);
xhr.setRequestHeader('Authorization','Bearer ' + token);
xhr.setRequestHeader('Content-Type', 'application/json');
xhr.responseType = 'arraybuffer';
xhr.send(json);
The above will download file

In Rails, I do it this way:
function download_file(file_id) {
let url = '/files/' + file_id + '/download_file';
$.ajax({
type: 'GET',
url: url,
processData: false,
success: function (data) {
window.location = url;
},
error: function (xhr) {
console.log(' Error: >>>> ' + JSON.stringify(xhr));
}
});
}
The trick is the window.location part. The controller's method looks like:
# GET /files/{:id}/download_file/
def download_file
send_file(#file.file,
:disposition => 'attachment',
:url_based_filename => false)
end

Use window.open https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Window/open
For example, you can put this line of code in a click handler:
window.open('/file.txt', '_blank');
It will open a new tab (because of the '_blank' window-name) and that tab will open the URL.
Your server-side code should also have something like this:
res.set('Content-Disposition', 'attachment; filename=file.txt');
And that way, the browser should prompt the user to save the file to disk, instead of just showing them the file. It will also automatically close the tab that it just opened.

The HTML Code :
<button type="button" id="GetFile">Get File!</button>
The jQuery Code :
$('#GetFile').on('click', function () {
$.ajax({
url: 'https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/s.cdpn.io/172905/test.pdf',
method: 'GET',
xhrFields: {
responseType: 'blob'
},
success: function (data) {
var a = document.createElement('a');
var url = window.URL.createObjectURL(data);
a.href = url;
a.download = 'myfile.pdf';
document.body.append(a);
a.click();
a.remove();
window.URL.revokeObjectURL(url);
}
});
});

Ok so here is the working code when Using MVC and you are getting your file from a controller
lets say you have your byte array declare and populate, the only thing you need to do is to use the File function (using System.Web.Mvc)
byte[] bytes = .... insert your bytes in the array
return File(bytes, System.Net.Mime.MediaTypeNames.Application.Octet, "nameoffile.exe");
and then, in the same controller, add thoses 2 functions
protected override void OnResultExecuting(ResultExecutingContext context)
{
CheckAndHandleFileResult(context);
base.OnResultExecuting(context);
}
private const string FILE_DOWNLOAD_COOKIE_NAME = "fileDownload";
/// <summary>
/// If the current response is a FileResult (an MVC base class for files) then write a
/// cookie to inform jquery.fileDownload that a successful file download has occured
/// </summary>
/// <param name="context"></param>
private void CheckAndHandleFileResult(ResultExecutingContext context)
{
if (context.Result is FileResult)
//jquery.fileDownload uses this cookie to determine that a file download has completed successfully
Response.SetCookie(new HttpCookie(FILE_DOWNLOAD_COOKIE_NAME, "true") { Path = "/" });
else
//ensure that the cookie is removed in case someone did a file download without using jquery.fileDownload
if (Request.Cookies[FILE_DOWNLOAD_COOKIE_NAME] != null)
Response.Cookies[FILE_DOWNLOAD_COOKIE_NAME].Expires = DateTime.Now.AddYears(-1);
}
and then you will be able to call your controller to download and get the "success" or "failure" callback
$.fileDownload(mvcUrl('name of the controller'), {
httpMethod: 'POST',
successCallback: function (url) {
//insert success code
},
failCallback: function (html, url) {
//insert fail code
}
});

I found a fix that while it's not actually using ajax it does allow you to use a javascript call to request the download and then get a callback when the download actually starts. I found this helpful if the link runs a server side script that takes a little bit to compose the file before sending it. so you can alert them that it's processing, and then when it does finally send the file remove that processing notification. which is why I wanted to try to load the file via ajax to begin with so that I could have an event happen when the file is requested and another when it actually starts downloading.
the js on the front page
function expdone()
{
document.getElementById('exportdiv').style.display='none';
}
function expgo()
{
document.getElementById('exportdiv').style.display='block';
document.getElementById('exportif').src='test2.php?arguments=data';
}
the iframe
<div id="exportdiv" style="display:none;">
<img src="loader.gif"><br><h1>Generating Report</h1>
<iframe id="exportif" src="" style="width: 1px;height: 1px; border:0px;"></iframe>
</div>
then the other file:
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<script>
function expdone()
{
window.parent.expdone();
}
</script>
</head>
<body>
<iframe id="exportif" src="<?php echo "http://10.192.37.211/npdtracker/exportthismonth.php?arguments=".$_GET["arguments"]; ?>"></iframe>
<script>document.getElementById('exportif').onload= expdone;</script>
</body></html>
I think there's a way to read get data using js so then no php would be needed. but I don't know it off hand and the server I'm using supports php so this works for me. thought I'd share it in case it helps anyone.

If the server is writing the file back in the response (including cookies if
you use them to determine whether the file download started), Simply create a form with the values and submit it:
function ajaxPostDownload(url, data) {
var $form;
if (($form = $('#download_form')).length === 0) {
$form = $("<form id='download_form'" + " style='display: none; width: 1px; height: 1px; position: absolute; top: -10000px' method='POST' action='" + url + "'></form>");
$form.appendTo("body");
}
//Clear the form fields
$form.html("");
//Create new form fields
Object.keys(data).forEach(function (key) {
$form.append("<input type='hidden' name='" + key + "' value='" + data[key] + "'>");
});
//Submit the form post
$form.submit();
}
Usage:
ajaxPostDownload('/fileController/ExportFile', {
DownloadToken: 'newDownloadToken',
Name: $txtName.val(),
Type: $txtType.val()
});
Controller Method:
[HttpPost]
public FileResult ExportFile(string DownloadToken, string Name, string Type)
{
//Set DownloadToken Cookie.
Response.SetCookie(new HttpCookie("downloadToken", DownloadToken)
{
Expires = DateTime.UtcNow.AddDays(1),
Secure = false
});
using (var output = new MemoryStream())
{
//get File
return File(output.ToArray(), "application/vnd.ms-excel", "NewFile.xls");
}
}

I have tried Ajax and HttpRequest ways to get my result download file but I've failed, finally I've solved my problem using these steps:
implemented a simple hidden form in my html code:
<form method="post" id="post_form" style="display:none" action="amin.php" >
<input type="hidden" name="action" value="export_xlsx" />
<input type="hidden" name="post_form_data" value="" />
</form>
input with 'action' name is for calling function in my php code,
input with 'post_form_data' name for sending long data of a table which were not possible to send with GET. this data was encoded to json, and put json in input:
var list = new Array();
$('#table_name tr').each(function() {
var row = new Array();
$(this).find('td').each(function() {
row.push($(this).text());
});
list.push(row);
});
list = JSON.stringify(list);
$("input[name=post_form_data]").val(list);
now, the form is ready with my desire values in inputs, just need to trigger the submit.
document.getElementById('post_form').submit();
and done!
while my result is a file (xlsx file for me) the page wouldn't be redirected and instantly the file starts to download in last page, so no need to useiframe or window.open etc.
if you are trying to do something like this, this should be an easy trick 😉.

If you want to use jQuery File Download , please note this for IE.
You need to reset the response or it will not download
//The IE will only work if you reset response
getServletResponse().reset();
//The jquery.fileDownload needs a cookie be set
getServletResponse().setHeader("Set-Cookie", "fileDownload=true; path=/");
//Do the reset of your action create InputStream and return
Your action can implement ServletResponseAware to access getServletResponse()

It is certain that you can not do it through Ajax call.
However, there is a workaround.
Steps :
If you are using form.submit() for downloading the file, what you can do is :
Create an ajax call from client to server and store the file stream inside the session.
Upon "success" being returned from server, call your form.submit() to just stream the file stream stored in the session.
This is helpful in case when you want to decide whether or not file needs to be downloaded after making form.submit(), eg: there can be a case where on form.submit(), an exception occurs on the server side and instead of crashing, you might need to show a custom message on the client side, in such case this implementation might help.

there is another solution to download a web page in ajax. But I am referring to a page that must first be processed and then downloaded.
First you need to separate the page processing from the results download.
1) Only the page calculations are made in the ajax call.
$.post("CalculusPage.php", { calculusFunction: true, ID: 29, data1: "a", data2: "b" },
function(data, status)
{
if (status == "success")
{
/* 2) In the answer the page that uses the previous calculations is downloaded. For example, this can be a page that prints the results of a table calculated in the ajax call. */
window.location.href = DownloadPage.php+"?ID="+29;
}
}
);
// For example: in the CalculusPage.php
if ( !empty($_POST["calculusFunction"]) )
{
$ID = $_POST["ID"];
$query = "INSERT INTO ExamplePage (data1, data2) VALUES ('".$_POST["data1"]."', '".$_POST["data2"]."') WHERE id = ".$ID;
...
}
// For example: in the DownloadPage.php
$ID = $_GET["ID"];
$sede = "SELECT * FROM ExamplePage WHERE id = ".$ID;
...
$filename="Export_Data.xls";
header("Content-Type: application/vnd.ms-excel");
header("Content-Disposition: inline; filename=$filename");
...
I hope this solution can be useful for many, as it was for me.

That's it works so fine in any browser (I'm using asp.net core)
function onDownload() {
const api = '#Url.Action("myaction", "mycontroller")';
var form = new FormData(document.getElementById('form1'));
fetch(api, { body: form, method: "POST"})
.then(resp => resp.blob())
.then(blob => {
const url = window.URL.createObjectURL(blob);
$('#linkdownload').attr('download', 'Attachement.zip');
$('#linkdownload').attr("href", url);
$('#linkdownload')
.fadeIn(3000,
function() { });
})
.catch(() => alert('An error occurred'));
}
<button type="button" onclick="onDownload()" class="btn btn-primary btn-sm">Click to Process Files</button>
<a role="button" href="#" style="display: none" class="btn btn-sm btn-secondary" id="linkdownload">Click to download Attachments</a>
<form asp-controller="mycontroller" asp-action="myaction" id="form1"></form>
function onDownload() {
const api = '#Url.Action("myaction", "mycontroller")';
//form1 is your id form, and to get data content of form
var form = new FormData(document.getElementById('form1'));
fetch(api, { body: form, method: "POST"})
.then(resp => resp.blob())
.then(blob => {
const url = window.URL.createObjectURL(blob);
$('#linkdownload').attr('download', 'Attachments.zip');
$('#linkdownload').attr("href", url);
$('#linkdownload')
.fadeIn(3000,
function() {
});
})
.catch(() => alert('An error occurred'));
}

I struggled with this issue for a long time. Finally an elegant external library suggested here helped me out.

Not able to pass .csv data from HTML to PHP using JS Post [duplicate]

I would like to upload a file asynchronously with jQuery.
$(document).ready(function () {
$("#uploadbutton").click(function () {
var filename = $("#file").val();
$.ajax({
type: "POST",
url: "addFile.do",
enctype: 'multipart/form-data',
data: {
file: filename
},
success: function () {
alert("Data Uploaded: ");
}
});
});
});
<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/jquery/2.2.0/jquery.min.js"></script>
<span>File</span>
<input type="file" id="file" name="file" size="10"/>
<input id="uploadbutton" type="button" value="Upload"/>
Instead of the file being uploaded, I am only getting the filename. What can I do to fix this problem?

With HTML5 you can make file uploads with Ajax and jQuery. Not only that, you can do file validations (name, size, and MIME type) or handle the progress event with the HTML5 progress tag (or a div). Recently I had to make a file uploader, but I didn't want to use Flash nor Iframes or plugins and after some research I came up with the solution.
The HTML:
<form enctype="multipart/form-data">
<input name="file" type="file" />
<input type="button" value="Upload" />
</form>
<progress></progress>
First, you can do some validation if you want. For example, in the .on('change') event of the file:
$(':file').on('change', function () {
var file = this.files[0];
if (file.size > 1024) {
alert('max upload size is 1k');
}
// Also see .name, .type
});
Now the $.ajax() submit with the button's click:
$(':button').on('click', function () {
$.ajax({
// Your server script to process the upload
url: 'upload.php',
type: 'POST',
// Form data
data: new FormData($('form')[0]),
// Tell jQuery not to process data or worry about content-type
// You *must* include these options!
cache: false,
contentType: false,
processData: false,
// Custom XMLHttpRequest
xhr: function () {
var myXhr = $.ajaxSettings.xhr();
if (myXhr.upload) {
// For handling the progress of the upload
myXhr.upload.addEventListener('progress', function (e) {
if (e.lengthComputable) {
$('progress').attr({
value: e.loaded,
max: e.total,
});
}
}, false);
}
return myXhr;
}
});
});
As you can see, with HTML5 (and some research) file uploading not only becomes possible but super easy. Try it with Google Chrome as some of the HTML5 components of the examples aren't available in every browser.

2019 Update: It still depends on the browsers your demographic uses.
An important thing to understand with the "new" HTML5 file API is that it wasn't supported until IE 10. If the specific market you're aiming at has a higher-than-average propensity toward older versions of Windows, you might not have access to it.
As of 2017, about 5% of browsers are one of IE 6, 7, 8 or 9. If you head into a big corporation (e.g., this is a B2B tool or something you're delivering for training) that number can skyrocket. In 2016, I dealt with a company using IE8 on over 60% of their machines.
It's 2019 as of this edit, almost 11 years after my initial answer. IE9 and lower are globally around the 1% mark but there are still clusters of higher usage.
The important take-away from this —whatever the feature— is, check what browser your users use. If you don't, you'll learn a quick and painful lesson in why "works for me" isn't good enough in a deliverable to a client. caniuse is a useful tool but note where they get their demographics from. They may not align with yours. This is never truer than enterprise environments.
My answer from 2008 follows.
However, there are viable non-JS methods of file uploads. You can create an iframe on the page (that you hide with CSS) and then target your form to post to that iframe. The main page doesn't need to move.
It's a "real" post so it's not wholly interactive. If you need status you need something server-side to process that. This varies massively depending on your server. ASP.NET has nicer mechanisms. PHP plain fails, but you can use Perl or Apache modifications to get around it.
If you need multiple file uploads, it's best to do each file one at a time (to overcome maximum file upload limits). Post the first form to the iframe, monitor its progress using the above and when it has finished, post the second form to the iframe, and so on.
Or use a Java/Flash solution. They're a lot more flexible in what they can do with their posts...

I recommend using the Fine Uploader plugin for this purpose. Your JavaScript code would be:
$(document).ready(function() {
$("#uploadbutton").jsupload({
action: "addFile.do",
onComplete: function(response){
alert( "server response: " + response);
}
});
});

Note: This answer is outdated, it is now possible to upload files using XHR.
You cannot upload files using XMLHttpRequest (Ajax). You can simulate the effect using an iframe or Flash. The excellent jQuery Form Plugin that posts your files through an iframe to get the effect.

Wrapping up for future readers.
Asynchronous File Upload
With HTML5
You can upload files with jQuery using the $.ajax() method if FormData and the File API are supported (both HTML5 features).
You can also send files without FormData but either way the File API must be present to process files in such a way that they can be sent with XMLHttpRequest (Ajax).
$.ajax({
url: 'file/destination.html',
type: 'POST',
data: new FormData($('#formWithFiles')[0]), // The form with the file inputs.
processData: false,
contentType: false // Using FormData, no need to process data.
}).done(function(){
console.log("Success: Files sent!");
}).fail(function(){
console.log("An error occurred, the files couldn't be sent!");
});
For a quick, pure JavaScript (no jQuery) example see "Sending files using a FormData object".
Fallback
When HTML5 isn't supported (no File API) the only other pure JavaScript solution (no Flash or any other browser plugin) is the hidden iframe technique, which allows to emulate an asynchronous request without using the XMLHttpRequest object.
It consists of setting an iframe as the target of the form with the file inputs. When the user submits a request is made and the files are uploaded but the response is displayed inside the iframe instead of re-rendering the main page. Hiding the iframe makes the whole process transparent to the user and emulates an asynchronous request.
If done properly it should work virtually on any browser, but it has some caveats as how to obtain the response from the iframe.
In this case you may prefer to use a wrapper plugin like Bifröst which uses the iframe technique but also provides a jQuery Ajax transport allowing to send files with just the $.ajax() method like this:
$.ajax({
url: 'file/destination.html',
type: 'POST',
// Set the transport to use (iframe means to use Bifröst)
// and the expected data type (json in this case).
dataType: 'iframe json',
fileInputs: $('input[type="file"]'), // The file inputs containing the files to send.
data: { msg: 'Some extra data you might need.'}
}).done(function(){
console.log("Success: Files sent!");
}).fail(function(){
console.log("An error occurred, the files couldn't be sent!");
});
Plugins
Bifröst is just a small wrapper that adds fallback support to jQuery's ajax method, but many of the aforementioned plugins like jQuery Form Plugin or jQuery File Upload include the whole stack from HTML5 to different fallbacks and some useful features to ease out the process. Depending on your needs and requirements you might want to consider a bare implementation or either of this plugins.

This AJAX file upload jQuery plugin uploads the file somehwere, and passes the
response to a callback, nothing else.
It does not depend on specific HTML, just give it a <input type="file">
It does not require your server to respond in any particular way
It does not matter how many files you use, or where they are on the page
-- Use as little as --
$('#one-specific-file').ajaxfileupload({
'action': '/upload.php'
});
-- or as much as --
$('input[type="file"]').ajaxfileupload({
'action': '/upload.php',
'params': {
'extra': 'info'
},
'onComplete': function(response) {
console.log('custom handler for file:');
alert(JSON.stringify(response));
},
'onStart': function() {
if(weWantedTo) return false; // cancels upload
},
'onCancel': function() {
console.log('no file selected');
}
});

I have been using the below script to upload images which happens to work fine.
HTML
<input id="file" type="file" name="file"/>
<div id="response"></div>
JavaScript
jQuery('document').ready(function(){
var input = document.getElementById("file");
var formdata = false;
if (window.FormData) {
formdata = new FormData();
}
input.addEventListener("change", function (evt) {
var i = 0, len = this.files.length, img, reader, file;
for ( ; i < len; i++ ) {
file = this.files[i];
if (!!file.type.match(/image.*/)) {
if ( window.FileReader ) {
reader = new FileReader();
reader.onloadend = function (e) {
//showUploadedItem(e.target.result, file.fileName);
};
reader.readAsDataURL(file);
}
if (formdata) {
formdata.append("image", file);
formdata.append("extra",'extra-data');
}
if (formdata) {
jQuery('div#response').html('<br /><img src="ajax-loader.gif"/>');
jQuery.ajax({
url: "upload.php",
type: "POST",
data: formdata,
processData: false,
contentType: false,
success: function (res) {
jQuery('div#response').html("Successfully uploaded");
}
});
}
}
else
{
alert('Not a vaild image!');
}
}
}, false);
});
Explanation
I use response div to show the uploading animation and response after upload is done.
Best part is you can send extra data such as ids & etc with the file when you use this script. I have mention it extra-data as in the script.
At the PHP level this will work as normal file upload. extra-data can be retrieved as $_POST data.
Here you are not using a plugin and stuff. You can change the code as you want. You are not blindly coding here. This is the core functionality of any jQuery file upload. Actually Javascript.

You can do it in vanilla JavaScript pretty easily. Here's a snippet from my current project:
var xhr = new XMLHttpRequest();
xhr.upload.onprogress = function(e) {
var percent = (e.position/ e.totalSize);
// Render a pretty progress bar
};
xhr.onreadystatechange = function(e) {
if(this.readyState === 4) {
// Handle file upload complete
}
};
xhr.open('POST', '/upload', true);
xhr.setRequestHeader('X-FileName',file.name); // Pass the filename along
xhr.send(file);

You can upload simply with jQuery .ajax().
HTML:
<form id="upload-form">
<div>
<label for="file">File:</label>
<input type="file" id="file" name="file" />
<progress class="progress" value="0" max="100"></progress>
</div>
<hr />
<input type="submit" value="Submit" />
</form>
CSS
.progress { display: none; }
Javascript:
$(document).ready(function(ev) {
$("#upload-form").on('submit', (function(ev) {
ev.preventDefault();
$.ajax({
xhr: function() {
var progress = $('.progress'),
xhr = $.ajaxSettings.xhr();
progress.show();
xhr.upload.onprogress = function(ev) {
if (ev.lengthComputable) {
var percentComplete = parseInt((ev.loaded / ev.total) * 100);
progress.val(percentComplete);
if (percentComplete === 100) {
progress.hide().val(0);
}
}
};
return xhr;
},
url: 'upload.php',
type: 'POST',
data: new FormData(this),
contentType: false,
cache: false,
processData: false,
success: function(data, status, xhr) {
// ...
},
error: function(xhr, status, error) {
// ...
}
});
}));
});

The simplest and most robust way I have done this in the past, is to simply target a hidden iFrame tag with your form - then it will submit within the iframe without reloading the page.
That is if you don't want to use a plugin, JavaScript or any other forms of "magic" other than HTML. Of course you can combine this with JavaScript or what have you...
<form target="iframe" action="" method="post" enctype="multipart/form-data">
<input name="file" type="file" />
<input type="button" value="Upload" />
</form>
<iframe name="iframe" id="iframe" style="display:none" ></iframe>
You can also read the contents of the iframe onLoad for server errors or success responses and then output that to user.
Chrome, iFrames, and onLoad
-note- you only need to keep reading if you are interested in how to setup a UI blocker when doing uploading/downloading
Currently Chrome doesn't trigger the onLoad event for the iframe when it's used to transfer files. Firefox, IE, and Edge all fire the onload event for file transfers.
The only solution that I found works for Chrome was to use a cookie.
To do that basically when the upload/download is started:
[Client Side] Start an interval to look for the existence of a cookie
[Server Side] Do whatever you need to with the file data
[Server Side] Set cookie for client side interval
[Client Side] Interval sees the cookie and uses it like the onLoad event. For example you can start a UI blocker and then onLoad ( or when cookie is made ) you remove the UI blocker.
Using a cookie for this is ugly but it works.
I made a jQuery plugin to handle this issue for Chrome when downloading, you can find here
https://github.com/ArtisticPhoenix/jQuery-Plugins/blob/master/iDownloader.js
The same basic principal applies to uploading, as well.
To use the downloader ( include the JS, obviously )
$('body').iDownloader({
"onComplete" : function(){
$('#uiBlocker').css('display', 'none'); //hide ui blocker on complete
}
});
$('somebuttion').click( function(){
$('#uiBlocker').css('display', 'block'); //block the UI
$('body').iDownloader('download', 'htttp://example.com/location/of/download');
});
And on the server side, just before transferring the file data, create the cookie
setcookie('iDownloader', true, time() + 30, "/");
The plugin will see the cookie, and then trigger the onComplete callback.

I've written this up in a Rails environment. It's only about five lines of JavaScript, if you use the lightweight jQuery-form plugin.
The challenge is in getting AJAX upload working as the standard remote_form_for doesn't understand multi-part form submission. It's not going to send the file data Rails seeks back with the AJAX request.
That's where the jQuery-form plugin comes into play.
Here’s the Rails code for it:
<% remote_form_for(:image_form,
:url => { :controller => "blogs", :action => :create_asset },
:html => { :method => :post,
:id => 'uploadForm', :multipart => true })
do |f| %>
Upload a file: <%= f.file_field :uploaded_data %>
<% end %>
Here’s the associated JavaScript:
$('#uploadForm input').change(function(){
$(this).parent().ajaxSubmit({
beforeSubmit: function(a,f,o) {
o.dataType = 'json';
},
complete: function(XMLHttpRequest, textStatus) {
// XMLHttpRequest.responseText will contain the URL of the uploaded image.
// Put it in an image element you create, or do with it what you will.
// For example, if you have an image elemtn with id "my_image", then
// $('#my_image').attr('src', XMLHttpRequest.responseText);
// Will set that image tag to display the uploaded image.
},
});
});
And here’s the Rails controller action, pretty vanilla:
#image = Image.new(params[:image_form])
#image.save
render :text => #image.public_filename
I’ve been using this for the past few weeks with Bloggity, and it’s worked like a champ.

Simple Ajax Uploader is another option:
https://github.com/LPology/Simple-Ajax-Uploader
Cross-browser -- works in IE7+, Firefox, Chrome, Safari, Opera
Supports multiple, concurrent uploads -- even in non-HTML5 browsers
No flash or external CSS -- just one 5Kb Javascript file
Optional, built-in support for fully cross-browser progress bars (using PHP's APC extension)
Flexible and highly customizable -- use any element as upload button, style your own progress indicators
No forms required, just provide an element that will serve as upload button
MIT license -- free to use in commercial project
Example usage:
var uploader = new ss.SimpleUpload({
button: $('#uploadBtn'), // upload button
url: '/uploadhandler', // URL of server-side upload handler
name: 'userfile', // parameter name of the uploaded file
onSubmit: function() {
this.setProgressBar( $('#progressBar') ); // designate elem as our progress bar
},
onComplete: function(file, response) {
// do whatever after upload is finished
}
});

A solution I found was to have the <form> target a hidden iFrame. The iFrame can then run JS to display to the user that it's complete (on page load).

Here's just another solution of how to upload file (without any plugin)
Using simple Javascripts and AJAX (with progress-bar)
HTML part
<form id="upload_form" enctype="multipart/form-data" method="post">
<input type="file" name="file1" id="file1"><br>
<input type="button" value="Upload File" onclick="uploadFile()">
<progress id="progressBar" value="0" max="100" style="width:300px;"></progress>
<h3 id="status"></h3>
<p id="loaded_n_total"></p>
</form>
JS part
function _(el){
return document.getElementById(el);
}
function uploadFile(){
var file = _("file1").files[0];
// alert(file.name+" | "+file.size+" | "+file.type);
var formdata = new FormData();
formdata.append("file1", file);
var ajax = new XMLHttpRequest();
ajax.upload.addEventListener("progress", progressHandler, false);
ajax.addEventListener("load", completeHandler, false);
ajax.addEventListener("error", errorHandler, false);
ajax.addEventListener("abort", abortHandler, false);
ajax.open("POST", "file_upload_parser.php");
ajax.send(formdata);
}
function progressHandler(event){
_("loaded_n_total").innerHTML = "Uploaded "+event.loaded+" bytes of "+event.total;
var percent = (event.loaded / event.total) * 100;
_("progressBar").value = Math.round(percent);
_("status").innerHTML = Math.round(percent)+"% uploaded... please wait";
}
function completeHandler(event){
_("status").innerHTML = event.target.responseText;
_("progressBar").value = 0;
}
function errorHandler(event){
_("status").innerHTML = "Upload Failed";
}
function abortHandler(event){
_("status").innerHTML = "Upload Aborted";
}
PHP part
<?php
$fileName = $_FILES["file1"]["name"]; // The file name
$fileTmpLoc = $_FILES["file1"]["tmp_name"]; // File in the PHP tmp folder
$fileType = $_FILES["file1"]["type"]; // The type of file it is
$fileSize = $_FILES["file1"]["size"]; // File size in bytes
$fileErrorMsg = $_FILES["file1"]["error"]; // 0 for false... and 1 for true
if (!$fileTmpLoc) { // if file not chosen
echo "ERROR: Please browse for a file before clicking the upload button.";
exit();
}
if(move_uploaded_file($fileTmpLoc, "test_uploads/$fileName")){ // assuming the directory name 'test_uploads'
echo "$fileName upload is complete";
} else {
echo "move_uploaded_file function failed";
}
?>
Here's the EXAMPLE application

jQuery Uploadify is another good plugin which I have used before to upload files. The JavaScript code is as simple as the following: code. However, the new version does not work in Internet Explorer.
$('#file_upload').uploadify({
'swf': '/public/js/uploadify.swf',
'uploader': '/Upload.ashx?formGuid=' + $('#formGuid').val(),
'cancelImg': '/public/images/uploadify-cancel.png',
'multi': true,
'onQueueComplete': function (queueData) {
// ...
},
'onUploadStart': function (file) {
// ...
}
});
I have done a lot of searching and I have come to another solution for uploading files without any plugin and only with ajax. The solution is as below:
$(document).ready(function () {
$('#btn_Upload').live('click', AjaxFileUpload);
});
function AjaxFileUpload() {
var fileInput = document.getElementById("#Uploader");
var file = fileInput.files[0];
var fd = new FormData();
fd.append("files", file);
var xhr = new XMLHttpRequest();
xhr.open("POST", 'Uploader.ashx');
xhr.onreadystatechange = function () {
if (xhr.readyState == 4) {
alert('success');
}
else if (uploadResult == 'success')
alert('error');
};
xhr.send(fd);
}

var formData=new FormData();
formData.append("fieldname","value");
formData.append("image",$('[name="filename"]')[0].files[0]);
$.ajax({
url:"page.php",
data:formData,
type: 'POST',
dataType:"JSON",
cache: false,
contentType: false,
processData: false,
success:function(data){ }
});
You can use form data to post all your values including images.

A modern approach without Jquery is to use the FileList object you get back from <input type="file"> when user selects a file(s) and then use Fetch to post the FileList wrapped around a FormData object.
// The input DOM element // <input type="file">
const inputElement = document.querySelector('input[type=file]');
// Listen for a file submit from user
inputElement.addEventListener('change', () => {
const data = new FormData();
data.append('file', inputElement.files[0]);
data.append('imageName', 'flower');
// You can then post it to your server.
// Fetch can accept an object of type FormData on its body
fetch('/uploadImage', {
method: 'POST',
body: data
});
});

To upload file asynchronously with Jquery use below steps:
step 1 In your project open Nuget manager and add package (jquery fileupload(only you need to write it in search box it will come up and install it.))
URL: https://github.com/blueimp/jQuery-File-Upload
step 2 Add below scripts in the HTML files, which are already added to the project by running above package:
jquery.ui.widget.js
jquery.iframe-transport.js
jquery.fileupload.js
step 3 Write file upload control as per below code:
<input id="upload" name="upload" type="file" />
step 4 write a js method as uploadFile as below:
function uploadFile(element) {
$(element).fileupload({
dataType: 'json',
url: '../DocumentUpload/upload',
autoUpload: true,
add: function (e, data) {
// write code for implementing, while selecting a file.
// data represents the file data.
//below code triggers the action in mvc controller
data.formData =
{
files: data.files[0]
};
data.submit();
},
done: function (e, data) {
// after file uploaded
},
progress: function (e, data) {
// progress
},
fail: function (e, data) {
//fail operation
},
stop: function () {
code for cancel operation
}
});
};
step 5 In ready function call element file upload to initiate the process as per below:
$(document).ready(function()
{
uploadFile($('#upload'));
});
step 6 Write MVC controller and Action as per below:
public class DocumentUploadController : Controller
{
[System.Web.Mvc.HttpPost]
public JsonResult upload(ICollection<HttpPostedFileBase> files)
{
bool result = false;
if (files != null || files.Count > 0)
{
try
{
foreach (HttpPostedFileBase file in files)
{
if (file.ContentLength == 0)
throw new Exception("Zero length file!");
else
//code for saving a file
}
}
catch (Exception)
{
result = false;
}
}
return new JsonResult()
{
Data=result
};
}
}

This is my solution.
<form enctype="multipart/form-data">
<div class="form-group">
<label class="control-label col-md-2" for="apta_Description">Description</label>
<div class="col-md-10">
<input class="form-control text-box single-line" id="apta_Description" name="apta_Description" type="text" value="">
</div>
</div>
<input name="file" type="file" />
<input type="button" value="Upload" />
</form>
and the js
<script>
$(':button').click(function () {
var formData = new FormData($('form')[0]);
$.ajax({
url: '#Url.Action("Save", "Home")',
type: 'POST',
success: completeHandler,
data: formData,
cache: false,
contentType: false,
processData: false
});
});
function completeHandler() {
alert(":)");
}
</script>
Controller
[HttpPost]
public ActionResult Save(string apta_Description, HttpPostedFileBase file)
{
[...]
}

You can see a solved solution with a working demo here that allows you to preview and submit form files to the server. For your case, you need to use Ajax to facilitate the file upload to the server:
<from action="" id="formContent" method="post" enctype="multipart/form-data">
<span>File</span>
<input type="file" id="file" name="file" size="10"/>
<input id="uploadbutton" type="button" value="Upload"/>
</form>
The data being submitted is a formdata. On your jQuery, use a form submit function instead of a button click to submit the form file as shown below.
$(document).ready(function () {
$("#formContent").submit(function(e){
e.preventDefault();
var formdata = new FormData(this);
$.ajax({
url: "ajax_upload_image.php",
type: "POST",
data: formdata,
mimeTypes:"multipart/form-data",
contentType: false,
cache: false,
processData: false,
success: function(){
alert("successfully submitted");
});
});
});
View more details

You can use
$(function() {
$("#file_upload_1").uploadify({
height : 30,
swf : '/uploadify/uploadify.swf',
uploader : '/uploadify/uploadify.php',
width : 120
});
});
Demo

Sample: If you use jQuery, you can do easy to an upload file. This is a small and strong jQuery plugin, http://jquery.malsup.com/form/.
Example
var $bar = $('.ProgressBar');
$('.Form').ajaxForm({
dataType: 'json',
beforeSend: function(xhr) {
var percentVal = '0%';
$bar.width(percentVal);
},
uploadProgress: function(event, position, total, percentComplete) {
var percentVal = percentComplete + '%';
$bar.width(percentVal)
},
success: function(response) {
// Response
}
});
I hope it would be helpful

Convert file to base64 using |HTML5's readAsDataURL() or some base64 encoder.
Fiddle here
var reader = new FileReader();
reader.onload = function(readerEvt) {
var binaryString = readerEvt.target.result;
document.getElementById("base64textarea").value = btoa(binaryString);
};
reader.readAsBinaryString(file);
Then to retrieve:
window.open("data:application/octet-stream;base64," + base64);

You can pass additional parameters along with file name on making asynchronous upload using XMLHttpRequest (without flash and iframe dependency). Append the additional parameter value with FormData and send the upload request.
var formData = new FormData();
formData.append('parameter1', 'value1');
formData.append('parameter2', 'value2');
formData.append('file', $('input[type=file]')[0].files[0]);
$.ajax({
url: 'post back url',
data: formData,
// other attributes of AJAX
});
Also, Syncfusion JavaScript UI file upload provides solution for this scenario simply using event argument. you can find documentation here and further details about this control here enter link description here

Look for Handling the upload process for a file, asynchronously in here:
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Using_files_from_web_applications
Sample from the link
<?php
if (isset($_FILES['myFile'])) {
// Example:
move_uploaded_file($_FILES['myFile']['tmp_name'], "uploads/" . $_FILES['myFile']['name']);
exit;
}
?><!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title>dnd binary upload</title>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8">
<script type="text/javascript">
function sendFile(file) {
var uri = "/index.php";
var xhr = new XMLHttpRequest();
var fd = new FormData();
xhr.open("POST", uri, true);
xhr.onreadystatechange = function() {
if (xhr.readyState == 4 && xhr.status == 200) {
// Handle response.
alert(xhr.responseText); // handle response.
}
};
fd.append('myFile', file);
// Initiate a multipart/form-data upload
xhr.send(fd);
}
window.onload = function() {
var dropzone = document.getElementById("dropzone");
dropzone.ondragover = dropzone.ondragenter = function(event) {
event.stopPropagation();
event.preventDefault();
}
dropzone.ondrop = function(event) {
event.stopPropagation();
event.preventDefault();
var filesArray = event.dataTransfer.files;
for (var i=0; i<filesArray.length; i++) {
sendFile(filesArray[i]);
}
}
}
</script>
</head>
<body>
<div>
<div id="dropzone" style="margin:30px; width:500px; height:300px; border:1px dotted grey;">Drag & drop your file here...</div>
</div>
</body>
</html>

You can use newer Fetch API by JavaScript. Like this:
function uploadButtonCLicked(){
var input = document.querySelector('input[type="file"]')
fetch('/url', {
method: 'POST',
body: input.files[0]
}).then(res => res.json()) // you can do something with response
.catch(error => console.error('Error:', error))
.then(response => console.log('Success:', response));
}
Advantage: Fetch API is natively supported by all modern browsers, so you don't have to import anything. Also, note that fetch() returns a Promise which is then handled by using .then(..code to handle response..) asynchronously.

Using HTML5 and JavaScript, uploading async is quite easy, I create the uploading logic along with your html, this is not fully working as it needs the api, but demonstrate how it works, if you have the endpoint called /upload from root of your website, this code should work for you:
const asyncFileUpload = () => {
const fileInput = document.getElementById("file");
const file = fileInput.files[0];
const uri = "/upload";
const xhr = new XMLHttpRequest();
xhr.upload.onprogress = e => {
const percentage = e.loaded / e.total;
console.log(percentage);
};
xhr.onreadystatechange = e => {
if (xhr.readyState === 4 && xhr.status === 200) {
console.log("file uploaded");
}
};
xhr.open("POST", uri, true);
xhr.setRequestHeader("X-FileName", file.name);
xhr.send(file);
}
<form>
<span>File</span>
<input type="file" id="file" name="file" size="10" />
<input onclick="asyncFileUpload()" id="upload" type="button" value="Upload" />
</form>
Also some further information about XMLHttpReques:
The XMLHttpRequest Object
All modern browsers support the XMLHttpRequest object.
The XMLHttpRequest object can be used to exchange data with a web
server behind the scenes. This means that it is possible to update
parts of a web page, without reloading the whole page.
Create an XMLHttpRequest Object
All modern browsers (Chrome, Firefox,
IE7+, Edge, Safari, Opera) have a built-in XMLHttpRequest object.
Syntax for creating an XMLHttpRequest object:
variable = new XMLHttpRequest();
Access Across Domains
For security reasons, modern browsers do not
allow access across domains.
This means that both the web page and the XML file it tries to load,
must be located on the same server.
The examples on W3Schools all open XML files located on the W3Schools
domain.
If you want to use the example above on one of your own web pages, the
XML files you load must be located on your own server.
For more details, you can continue reading here...

For PHP, look for https://developer.hyvor.com/php/image-upload-ajax-php-mysql
HTML
<html>
<head>
<title>Image Upload with AJAX, PHP and MYSQL</title>
</head>
<body>
<form onsubmit="submitForm(event);">
<input type="file" name="image" id="image-selecter" accept="image/*">
<input type="submit" name="submit" value="Upload Image">
</form>
<div id="uploading-text" style="display:none;">Uploading...</div>
<img id="preview">
</body>
</html>
JAVASCRIPT
var previewImage = document.getElementById("preview"),
uploadingText = document.getElementById("uploading-text");
function submitForm(event) {
// prevent default form submission
event.preventDefault();
uploadImage();
}
function uploadImage() {
var imageSelecter = document.getElementById("image-selecter"),
file = imageSelecter.files[0];
if (!file)
return alert("Please select a file");
// clear the previous image
previewImage.removeAttribute("src");
// show uploading text
uploadingText.style.display = "block";
// create form data and append the file
var formData = new FormData();
formData.append("image", file);
// do the ajax part
var ajax = new XMLHttpRequest();
ajax.onreadystatechange = function() {
if (this.readyState === 4 && this.status === 200) {
var json = JSON.parse(this.responseText);
if (!json || json.status !== true)
return uploadError(json.error);
showImage(json.url);
}
}
ajax.open("POST", "upload.php", true);
ajax.send(formData); // send the form data
}
PHP
<?php
$host = 'localhost';
$user = 'user';
$password = 'password';
$database = 'database';
$mysqli = new mysqli($host, $user, $password, $database);
try {
if (empty($_FILES['image'])) {
throw new Exception('Image file is missing');
}
$image = $_FILES['image'];
// check INI error
if ($image['error'] !== 0) {
if ($image['error'] === 1)
throw new Exception('Max upload size exceeded');
throw new Exception('Image uploading error: INI Error');
}
// check if the file exists
if (!file_exists($image['tmp_name']))
throw new Exception('Image file is missing in the server');
$maxFileSize = 2 * 10e6; // in bytes
if ($image['size'] > $maxFileSize)
throw new Exception('Max size limit exceeded');
// check if uploaded file is an image
$imageData = getimagesize($image['tmp_name']);
if (!$imageData)
throw new Exception('Invalid image');
$mimeType = $imageData['mime'];
// validate mime type
$allowedMimeTypes = ['image/jpeg', 'image/png', 'image/gif'];
if (!in_array($mimeType, $allowedMimeTypes))
throw new Exception('Only JPEG, PNG and GIFs are allowed');
// nice! it's a valid image
// get file extension (ex: jpg, png) not (.jpg)
$fileExtention = strtolower(pathinfo($image['name'] ,PATHINFO_EXTENSION));
// create random name for your image
$fileName = round(microtime(true)) . mt_rand() . '.' . $fileExtention; // anyfilename.jpg
// Create the path starting from DOCUMENT ROOT of your website
$path = '/examples/image-upload/images/' . $fileName;
// file path in the computer - where to save it
$destination = $_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT'] . $path;
if (!move_uploaded_file($image['tmp_name'], $destination))
throw new Exception('Error in moving the uploaded file');
// create the url
$protocol = stripos($_SERVER['SERVER_PROTOCOL'],'https') === true ? 'https://' : 'http://';
$domain = $protocol . $_SERVER['SERVER_NAME'];
$url = $domain . $path;
$stmt = $mysqli -> prepare('INSERT INTO image_uploads (url) VALUES (?)');
if (
$stmt &&
$stmt -> bind_param('s', $url) &&
$stmt -> execute()
) {
exit(
json_encode(
array(
'status' => true,
'url' => $url
)
)
);
} else
throw new Exception('Error in saving into the database');
} catch (Exception $e) {
exit(json_encode(
array (
'status' => false,
'error' => $e -> getMessage()
)
));
}

You can do the Asynchronous Multiple File uploads using JavaScript or jQuery and that to without using any plugin. You can also show the real time progress of file upload in the progress control. I have come across 2 nice links -
ASP.NET Web Forms based Mulitple File Upload Feature with Progress Bar
ASP.NET MVC based Multiple File Upload made in jQuery
The server side language is C# but you can do some modification for making it work with other language like PHP.
File Upload ASP.NET Core MVC:
In the View create file upload control in html:
<form method="post" asp-action="Add" enctype="multipart/form-data">
<input type="file" multiple name="mediaUpload" />
<button type="submit">Submit</button>
</form>
Now create action method in your controller:
[HttpPost]
public async Task<IActionResult> Add(IFormFile[] mediaUpload)
{
//looping through all the files
foreach (IFormFile file in mediaUpload)
{
//saving the files
string path = Path.Combine(hostingEnvironment.WebRootPath, "some-folder-path");
using (var stream = new FileStream(path, FileMode.Create))
{
await file.CopyToAsync(stream);
}
}
}
hostingEnvironment variable is of type IHostingEnvironment which can be injected to the controller using dependency injection, like:
private IHostingEnvironment hostingEnvironment;
public MediaController(IHostingEnvironment environment)
{
hostingEnvironment = environment;
}

Try
async function saveFile()
{
let formData = new FormData();
formData.append("file", file.files[0]);
await fetch('addFile.do', {method: "POST", body: formData});
alert("Data Uploaded: ");
}
<span>File</span>
<input type="file" id="file" name="file" size="10"/>
<input type="button" value="Upload" onclick="saveFile()"/>
The content-type='multipart/form-data' is set by browser automatically, the file name is added automatically too to filename FormData parameter (and can be easy read by server). Here is more developed example with err handling and json adding
async function saveFile(inp)
{
let user = { name:'john', age:34 };
let formData = new FormData();
let photo = inp.files[0];
formData.append("photo", photo);
formData.append("user", JSON.stringify(user));
try {
let r = await fetch('/upload/image', {method: "POST", body: formData});
console.log('HTTP response code:',r.status);
alert('success');
} catch(e) {
console.log('Huston we have problem...:', e);
}
}
<input type="file" onchange="saveFile(this)" >
<br><br>
Before selecting the file Open chrome console > network tab to see the request details.
<br><br>
<small>Because in this example we send request to https://stacksnippets.net/upload/image the response code will be 404 ofcourse...</small>

Make php run AFTER ajax call, not before [duplicate]

I have a Struts2 action in the server side for file downloading.
<action name="download" class="com.xxx.DownAction">
<result name="success" type="stream">
<param name="contentType">text/plain</param>
<param name="inputName">imageStream</param>
<param name="contentDisposition">attachment;filename={fileName}</param>
<param name="bufferSize">1024</param>
</result>
</action>
However when I call the action using the jQuery:
$.post(
"/download.action",{
para1:value1,
para2:value2
....
},function(data){
console.info(data);
}
);
in Firebug I see the data is retrieved with the Binary stream. I wonder how to open the file downloading window with which the user can save the file locally?

2019 modern browsers update
This is the approach I'd now recommend with a few caveats:
A relatively modern browser is required
If the file is expected to be very large you should likely do something similar to the original approach (iframe and cookie) because some of the below operations could likely consume system memory at least as large as the file being downloaded and/or other interesting CPU side effects.
fetch('https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/todos/1')
.then(resp => resp.blob())
.then(blob => {
const url = window.URL.createObjectURL(blob);
const a = document.createElement('a');
a.style.display = 'none';
a.href = url;
// the filename you want
a.download = 'todo-1.json';
document.body.appendChild(a);
a.click();
window.URL.revokeObjectURL(url);
alert('your file has downloaded!'); // or you know, something with better UX...
})
.catch(() => alert('oh no!'));
2012 Original jQuery/iframe/Cookie based approach
Bluish is completely right about this, you can't do it through Ajax because JavaScript cannot save files directly to a user's computer (out of security concerns). Unfortunately pointing the main window's URL at your file download means you have little control over what the user experience is when a file download occurs.
I created jQuery File Download which allows for an "Ajax like" experience with file downloads complete with OnSuccess and OnFailure callbacks to provide for a better user experience. Take a look at my blog post on the common problem that the plugin solves and some ways to use it and also a demo of jQuery File Download in action. Here is the source
Here is a simple use case demo using the plugin source with promises. The demo page includes many other, 'better UX' examples as well.
$.fileDownload('some/file.pdf')
.done(function () { alert('File download a success!'); })
.fail(function () { alert('File download failed!'); });
Depending on what browsers you need to support you may be able to use https://github.com/eligrey/FileSaver.js/ which allows more explicit control than the IFRAME method jQuery File Download uses.

Noone posted this #Pekka's solution... so I'll post it. It can help someone.
You don't need to do this through Ajax. Just use
window.location="download.action?para1=value1...."

You can with HTML5
NB: The file data returned MUST be base64 encoded because you cannot JSON encode binary data
In my AJAX response I have a data structure that looks like this:
{
result: 'OK',
download: {
mimetype: string(mimetype in the form 'major/minor'),
filename: string(the name of the file to download),
data: base64(the binary data as base64 to download)
}
}
That means that I can do the following to save a file via AJAX
var a = document.createElement('a');
if (window.URL && window.Blob && ('download' in a) && window.atob) {
// Do it the HTML5 compliant way
var blob = base64ToBlob(result.download.data, result.download.mimetype);
var url = window.URL.createObjectURL(blob);
a.href = url;
a.download = result.download.filename;
a.click();
window.URL.revokeObjectURL(url);
}
The function base64ToBlob was taken from here and must be used in compliance with this function
function base64ToBlob(base64, mimetype, slicesize) {
if (!window.atob || !window.Uint8Array) {
// The current browser doesn't have the atob function. Cannot continue
return null;
}
mimetype = mimetype || '';
slicesize = slicesize || 512;
var bytechars = atob(base64);
var bytearrays = [];
for (var offset = 0; offset < bytechars.length; offset += slicesize) {
var slice = bytechars.slice(offset, offset + slicesize);
var bytenums = new Array(slice.length);
for (var i = 0; i < slice.length; i++) {
bytenums[i] = slice.charCodeAt(i);
}
var bytearray = new Uint8Array(bytenums);
bytearrays[bytearrays.length] = bytearray;
}
return new Blob(bytearrays, {type: mimetype});
};
This is good if your server is dumping filedata to be saved. However, I've not quite worked out how one would implement a HTML4 fallback

The simple way to make the browser downloads a file is to make the request like that:
function downloadFile(urlToSend) {
var req = new XMLHttpRequest();
req.open("GET", urlToSend, true);
req.responseType = "blob";
req.onload = function (event) {
var blob = req.response;
var fileName = req.getResponseHeader("fileName") //if you have the fileName header available
var link=document.createElement('a');
link.href=window.URL.createObjectURL(blob);
link.download=fileName;
link.click();
};
req.send();
}
This opens the browser download pop up.

1. Framework agnostic: Servlet downloading file as attachment
<!-- with JS -->
<a href="javascript:window.location='downloadServlet?param1=value1'">
download
</a>
<!-- without JS -->
<a href="downloadServlet?param1=value1" >download</a>
2. Struts2 Framework: Action downloading file as attachment
<!-- with JS -->
<a href="javascript:window.location='downloadAction.action?param1=value1'">
download
</a>
<!-- without JS -->
<a href="downloadAction.action?param1=value1" >download</a>
It would be better to use <s:a> tag pointing with OGNL to an URL created with <s:url> tag:
<!-- without JS, with Struts tags: THE RIGHT WAY -->
<s:url action="downloadAction.action" var="url">
<s:param name="param1">value1</s:param>
</s:ulr>
<s:a href="%{url}" >download</s:a>
In the above cases, you need to write the Content-Disposition header to the response, specifying that the file needs to be downloaded (attachment) and not opened by the browser (inline). You need to specify the Content Type too, and you may want to add the file name and length (to help the browser drawing a realistic progressbar).
For example, when downloading a ZIP:
response.setContentType("application/zip");
response.addHeader("Content-Disposition",
"attachment; filename=\"name of my file.zip\"");
response.setHeader("Content-Length", myFile.length()); // or myByte[].length...
With Struts2 (unless you are using the Action as a Servlet, an hack for direct streaming, for example), you don't need to directly write anything to the response; simply using the Stream result type and configuring it in struts.xml will work: EXAMPLE
<result name="success" type="stream">
<param name="contentType">application/zip</param>
<param name="contentDisposition">attachment;filename="${fileName}"</param>
<param name="contentLength">${fileLength}</param>
</result>
3. Framework agnostic (/ Struts2 framework): Servlet(/Action) opening file inside the browser
If you want to open the file inside the browser, instead of downloading it, the Content-disposition must be set to inline, but the target can't be the current window location; you must target a new window created by javascript, an <iframe> in the page, or a new window created on-the-fly with the "discussed" target="_blank":
<!-- From a parent page into an IFrame without javascript -->
<a href="downloadServlet?param1=value1" target="iFrameName">
download
</a>
<!-- In a new window without javascript -->
<a href="downloadServlet?param1=value1" target="_blank">
download
</a>
<!-- In a new window with javascript -->
<a href="javascript:window.open('downloadServlet?param1=value1');" >
download
</a>

I have created little function as workaround solution (inspired by #JohnCulviner plugin):
// creates iframe and form in it with hidden field,
// then submit form with provided data
// url - form url
// data - data to form field
// input_name - form hidden input name
function ajax_download(url, data, input_name) {
var $iframe,
iframe_doc,
iframe_html;
if (($iframe = $('#download_iframe')).length === 0) {
$iframe = $("<iframe id='download_iframe'" +
" style='display: none' src='about:blank'></iframe>"
).appendTo("body");
}
iframe_doc = $iframe[0].contentWindow || $iframe[0].contentDocument;
if (iframe_doc.document) {
iframe_doc = iframe_doc.document;
}
iframe_html = "<html><head></head><body><form method='POST' action='" +
url +"'>" +
"<input type=hidden name='" + input_name + "' value='" +
JSON.stringify(data) +"'/></form>" +
"</body></html>";
iframe_doc.open();
iframe_doc.write(iframe_html);
$(iframe_doc).find('form').submit();
}
Demo with click event:
$('#someid').on('click', function() {
ajax_download('/download.action', {'para1': 1, 'para2': 2}, 'dataname');
});

I faced the same issue and successfully solved it. My use-case is this.
"Post JSON data to the server and receive an excel file.
That excel file is created by the server and returned as a response to the client. Download that response as a file with custom name in browser"
$("#my-button").on("click", function(){
// Data to post
data = {
ids: [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
};
// Use XMLHttpRequest instead of Jquery $ajax
xhttp = new XMLHttpRequest();
xhttp.onreadystatechange = function() {
var a;
if (xhttp.readyState === 4 && xhttp.status === 200) {
// Trick for making downloadable link
a = document.createElement('a');
a.href = window.URL.createObjectURL(xhttp.response);
// Give filename you wish to download
a.download = "test-file.xls";
a.style.display = 'none';
document.body.appendChild(a);
a.click();
}
};
// Post data to URL which handles post request
xhttp.open("POST", excelDownloadUrl);
xhttp.setRequestHeader("Content-Type", "application/json");
// You should set responseType as blob for binary responses
xhttp.responseType = 'blob';
xhttp.send(JSON.stringify(data));
});
The above snippet is just doing following
Posting an array as JSON to the server using XMLHttpRequest.
After fetching content as a blob(binary), we are creating a downloadable URL and attaching it to invisible "a" link then clicking it. I did a POST request here. Instead, you can go for a simple GET too. We cannot download the file through Ajax, must use XMLHttpRequest.
Here we need to carefully set few things on the server side. I set few headers in Python Django HttpResponse. You need to set them accordingly if you use other programming languages.
# In python django code
response = HttpResponse(file_content, content_type="application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet")
Since I download xls(excel) here, I adjusted contentType to above one. You need to set it according to your file type. You can use this technique to download any kind of files.

Ok, based on ndpu's code heres an improved (I think) version of ajax_download;-
function ajax_download(url, data) {
var $iframe,
iframe_doc,
iframe_html;
if (($iframe = $('#download_iframe')).length === 0) {
$iframe = $("<iframe id='download_iframe'" +
" style='display: none' src='about:blank'></iframe>"
).appendTo("body");
}
iframe_doc = $iframe[0].contentWindow || $iframe[0].contentDocument;
if (iframe_doc.document) {
iframe_doc = iframe_doc.document;
}
iframe_html = "<html><head></head><body><form method='POST' action='" +
url +"'>"
Object.keys(data).forEach(function(key){
iframe_html += "<input type='hidden' name='"+key+"' value='"+data[key]+"'>";
});
iframe_html +="</form></body></html>";
iframe_doc.open();
iframe_doc.write(iframe_html);
$(iframe_doc).find('form').submit();
}
Use this like this;-
$('#someid').on('click', function() {
ajax_download('/download.action', {'para1': 1, 'para2': 2});
});
The params are sent as proper post params as if coming from an input rather than as a json encoded string as per the previous example.
CAVEAT: Be wary about the potential for variable injection on those forms. There might be a safer way to encode those variables. Alternatively contemplate escaping them.

My approach is completly based on jQuery. The problem for me was that it has to be a POST-HTTP call. And I wanted it to be done by jQuery alone.
The solution:
$.ajax({
type: "POST",
url: "/some/webpage",
headers: {'X-CSRF-TOKEN': csrfToken},
data: additionalDataToSend,
dataType: "text",
success: function(result) {
let blob = new Blob([result], { type: "application/octetstream" });
let a = document.createElement('a');
a.href = window.URL.createObjectURL(blob);
a.download = "test.xml";;
document.body.appendChild(a);
a.click();
document.body.removeChild(a);
window.URL.revokeObjectURL(a.href);
...
},
error: errorDialog
});
Explanation:
What I and many others do is to create a link on the webpage, indicating that the target should be downloaded and putting the result of the http-request as the target. After that I append the link to the document than simply clicking the link and removing the link afterwards. You don't need an iframe anymore.
The magic lies in the lines
let blob = new Blob([result], { type: "application/octetstream" });
a.href = window.URL.createObjectURL(blob);
The interesting point is that this solution is only working with a "blob". As you can see in other answers, some are simply using a blob but not explaining why and how to create it.
As you can read e.g. in the Mozilla developer documentation you need a file, media ressource or blob for the function "createObjectURL()" to work. The problem is that your http-response might not be any of those.
Therefore the first thing you must do is to convert your response to a blob. This is what the first line does. Then you can use the "createObjectURL" with your newly created blob.
If you than click the link your browser will open a file-save dialog and you can save your data. Obviously it s possible that you cannot define a fixed filename for your file to download. Then you must make your response more complex like in the answer from Luke.
And don't forget to free up the memory especially when you are working with large files. For more examples and information you can look at the details of the JS blob object

Here is what I did, pure javascript and html. Did not test it but this should work in all browsers.
Javascript Function
var iframe = document.createElement('iframe');
iframe.id = "IFRAMEID";
iframe.style.display = 'none';
document.body.appendChild(iframe);
iframe.src = 'SERVERURL'+'?' + $.param($scope.filtro);
iframe.addEventListener("load", function () {
console.log("FILE LOAD DONE.. Download should start now");
});
Using just components that is supported in all browsers no additional
libraries.
Here is my server side JAVA Spring controller code.
#RequestMapping(value = "/rootto/my/xlsx", method = RequestMethod.GET)
public void downloadExcelFile(#RequestParam(value = "param1", required = false) String param1,
HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response)
throws ParseException {
Workbook wb = service.getWorkbook(param1);
if (wb != null) {
try {
String fileName = "myfile_" + sdf.format(new Date());
response.setContentType("application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet");
response.setHeader("Content-disposition", "attachment; filename=\"" + fileName + ".xlsx\"");
wb.write(response.getOutputStream());
response.getOutputStream().close();
} catch (IOException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
}

How to DOWNLOAD a file after receiving it by AJAX
It’s convenient when the file is created for a long time and you need to show PRELOADER
Example when submitting a web form:
<script>
$(function () {
$('form').submit(function () {
$('#loader').show();
$.ajax({
url: $(this).attr('action'),
data: $(this).serialize(),
dataType: 'binary',
xhrFields: {
'responseType': 'blob'
},
success: function(data, status, xhr) {
$('#loader').hide();
// if(data.type.indexOf('text/html') != -1){//If instead of a file you get an error page
// var reader = new FileReader();
// reader.readAsText(data);
// reader.onload = function() {alert(reader.result);};
// return;
// }
var link = document.createElement('a'),
filename = 'file.xlsx';
// if(xhr.getResponseHeader('Content-Disposition')){//filename
// filename = xhr.getResponseHeader('Content-Disposition');
// filename=filename.match(/filename="(.*?)"/)[1];
// filename=decodeURIComponent(escape(filename));
// }
link.href = URL.createObjectURL(data);
link.download = filename;
link.click();
}
});
return false;
});
});
</script>
Optional functional is commented out to simplify the example.
No need to create temporary files on the server.
On jQuery v2.2.4 OK. There will be an error on the old version:
Uncaught DOMException: Failed to read the 'responseText' property from 'XMLHttpRequest': The value is only accessible if the object's 'responseType' is '' or 'text' (was 'blob').

function downloadURI(uri, name)
{
var link = document.createElement("a");
link.download = name;
link.href = uri;
link.click();
}

I try to download a CSV file and then do something after download has finished. So I need to implement an appropriate callback function.
Using window.location="..." is not a good idea because I cannot operate the program after finishing download. Something like this, change header so it is not a good idea.
fetch is a good alternative however it cannot support IE 11. And window.URL.createObjectURL cannot support IE 11.You can refer this.
This is my code, it is similar to the code of Shahrukh Alam. But you should take care that window.URL.createObjectURL maybe create memory leaks. You can refer this. When response has arrived, data will be stored into memory of browser. So before you click a link, the file has been downloaded. It means that you can do anything after download.
$.ajax({
url: 'your download url',
type: 'GET',
}).done(function (data, textStatus, request) {
// csv => Blob
var blob = new Blob([data]);
// the file name from server.
var fileName = request.getResponseHeader('fileName');
if (window.navigator && window.navigator.msSaveOrOpenBlob) { // for IE
window.navigator.msSaveOrOpenBlob(blob, fileName);
} else { // for others
var url = window.URL.createObjectURL(blob);
const a = document.createElement('a');
a.style.display = 'none';
a.href = url;
a.download = fileName;
document.body.appendChild(a);
a.click();
window.URL.revokeObjectURL(url);
//Do something after download
...
}
}).then(after_download)
}

Adding some more things to above answer for downloading a file
Below is some java spring code which generates byte Array
#RequestMapping(value = "/downloadReport", method = { RequestMethod.POST })
public ResponseEntity<byte[]> downloadReport(
#RequestBody final SomeObejct obj, HttpServletResponse response) throws Exception {
OutputStream out = new ByteArrayOutputStream();
// write something to output stream
HttpHeaders respHeaders = new HttpHeaders();
respHeaders.setContentType(MediaType.APPLICATION_OCTET_STREAM);
respHeaders.add("X-File-Name", name);
ByteArrayOutputStream bos = (ByteArrayOutputStream) out;
return new ResponseEntity<byte[]>(bos.toByteArray(), respHeaders, HttpStatus.CREATED);
}
Now in javascript code using FileSaver.js ,can download a file with below code
var json=angular.toJson("somejsobject");
var url=apiEndPoint+'some url';
var xhr = new XMLHttpRequest();
//headers('X-File-Name')
xhr.onreadystatechange = function() {
if (this.readyState == 4 && this.status == 201) {
var res = this.response;
var fileName=this.getResponseHeader('X-File-Name');
var data = new Blob([res]);
saveAs(data, fileName); //this from FileSaver.js
}
}
xhr.open('POST', url);
xhr.setRequestHeader('Authorization','Bearer ' + token);
xhr.setRequestHeader('Content-Type', 'application/json');
xhr.responseType = 'arraybuffer';
xhr.send(json);
The above will download file

In Rails, I do it this way:
function download_file(file_id) {
let url = '/files/' + file_id + '/download_file';
$.ajax({
type: 'GET',
url: url,
processData: false,
success: function (data) {
window.location = url;
},
error: function (xhr) {
console.log(' Error: >>>> ' + JSON.stringify(xhr));
}
});
}
The trick is the window.location part. The controller's method looks like:
# GET /files/{:id}/download_file/
def download_file
send_file(#file.file,
:disposition => 'attachment',
:url_based_filename => false)
end

Use window.open https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Window/open
For example, you can put this line of code in a click handler:
window.open('/file.txt', '_blank');
It will open a new tab (because of the '_blank' window-name) and that tab will open the URL.
Your server-side code should also have something like this:
res.set('Content-Disposition', 'attachment; filename=file.txt');
And that way, the browser should prompt the user to save the file to disk, instead of just showing them the file. It will also automatically close the tab that it just opened.

The HTML Code :
<button type="button" id="GetFile">Get File!</button>
The jQuery Code :
$('#GetFile').on('click', function () {
$.ajax({
url: 'https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/s.cdpn.io/172905/test.pdf',
method: 'GET',
xhrFields: {
responseType: 'blob'
},
success: function (data) {
var a = document.createElement('a');
var url = window.URL.createObjectURL(data);
a.href = url;
a.download = 'myfile.pdf';
document.body.append(a);
a.click();
a.remove();
window.URL.revokeObjectURL(url);
}
});
});

Ok so here is the working code when Using MVC and you are getting your file from a controller
lets say you have your byte array declare and populate, the only thing you need to do is to use the File function (using System.Web.Mvc)
byte[] bytes = .... insert your bytes in the array
return File(bytes, System.Net.Mime.MediaTypeNames.Application.Octet, "nameoffile.exe");
and then, in the same controller, add thoses 2 functions
protected override void OnResultExecuting(ResultExecutingContext context)
{
CheckAndHandleFileResult(context);
base.OnResultExecuting(context);
}
private const string FILE_DOWNLOAD_COOKIE_NAME = "fileDownload";
/// <summary>
/// If the current response is a FileResult (an MVC base class for files) then write a
/// cookie to inform jquery.fileDownload that a successful file download has occured
/// </summary>
/// <param name="context"></param>
private void CheckAndHandleFileResult(ResultExecutingContext context)
{
if (context.Result is FileResult)
//jquery.fileDownload uses this cookie to determine that a file download has completed successfully
Response.SetCookie(new HttpCookie(FILE_DOWNLOAD_COOKIE_NAME, "true") { Path = "/" });
else
//ensure that the cookie is removed in case someone did a file download without using jquery.fileDownload
if (Request.Cookies[FILE_DOWNLOAD_COOKIE_NAME] != null)
Response.Cookies[FILE_DOWNLOAD_COOKIE_NAME].Expires = DateTime.Now.AddYears(-1);
}
and then you will be able to call your controller to download and get the "success" or "failure" callback
$.fileDownload(mvcUrl('name of the controller'), {
httpMethod: 'POST',
successCallback: function (url) {
//insert success code
},
failCallback: function (html, url) {
//insert fail code
}
});

I found a fix that while it's not actually using ajax it does allow you to use a javascript call to request the download and then get a callback when the download actually starts. I found this helpful if the link runs a server side script that takes a little bit to compose the file before sending it. so you can alert them that it's processing, and then when it does finally send the file remove that processing notification. which is why I wanted to try to load the file via ajax to begin with so that I could have an event happen when the file is requested and another when it actually starts downloading.
the js on the front page
function expdone()
{
document.getElementById('exportdiv').style.display='none';
}
function expgo()
{
document.getElementById('exportdiv').style.display='block';
document.getElementById('exportif').src='test2.php?arguments=data';
}
the iframe
<div id="exportdiv" style="display:none;">
<img src="loader.gif"><br><h1>Generating Report</h1>
<iframe id="exportif" src="" style="width: 1px;height: 1px; border:0px;"></iframe>
</div>
then the other file:
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<script>
function expdone()
{
window.parent.expdone();
}
</script>
</head>
<body>
<iframe id="exportif" src="<?php echo "http://10.192.37.211/npdtracker/exportthismonth.php?arguments=".$_GET["arguments"]; ?>"></iframe>
<script>document.getElementById('exportif').onload= expdone;</script>
</body></html>
I think there's a way to read get data using js so then no php would be needed. but I don't know it off hand and the server I'm using supports php so this works for me. thought I'd share it in case it helps anyone.

If the server is writing the file back in the response (including cookies if
you use them to determine whether the file download started), Simply create a form with the values and submit it:
function ajaxPostDownload(url, data) {
var $form;
if (($form = $('#download_form')).length === 0) {
$form = $("<form id='download_form'" + " style='display: none; width: 1px; height: 1px; position: absolute; top: -10000px' method='POST' action='" + url + "'></form>");
$form.appendTo("body");
}
//Clear the form fields
$form.html("");
//Create new form fields
Object.keys(data).forEach(function (key) {
$form.append("<input type='hidden' name='" + key + "' value='" + data[key] + "'>");
});
//Submit the form post
$form.submit();
}
Usage:
ajaxPostDownload('/fileController/ExportFile', {
DownloadToken: 'newDownloadToken',
Name: $txtName.val(),
Type: $txtType.val()
});
Controller Method:
[HttpPost]
public FileResult ExportFile(string DownloadToken, string Name, string Type)
{
//Set DownloadToken Cookie.
Response.SetCookie(new HttpCookie("downloadToken", DownloadToken)
{
Expires = DateTime.UtcNow.AddDays(1),
Secure = false
});
using (var output = new MemoryStream())
{
//get File
return File(output.ToArray(), "application/vnd.ms-excel", "NewFile.xls");
}
}

I have tried Ajax and HttpRequest ways to get my result download file but I've failed, finally I've solved my problem using these steps:
implemented a simple hidden form in my html code:
<form method="post" id="post_form" style="display:none" action="amin.php" >
<input type="hidden" name="action" value="export_xlsx" />
<input type="hidden" name="post_form_data" value="" />
</form>
input with 'action' name is for calling function in my php code,
input with 'post_form_data' name for sending long data of a table which were not possible to send with GET. this data was encoded to json, and put json in input:
var list = new Array();
$('#table_name tr').each(function() {
var row = new Array();
$(this).find('td').each(function() {
row.push($(this).text());
});
list.push(row);
});
list = JSON.stringify(list);
$("input[name=post_form_data]").val(list);
now, the form is ready with my desire values in inputs, just need to trigger the submit.
document.getElementById('post_form').submit();
and done!
while my result is a file (xlsx file for me) the page wouldn't be redirected and instantly the file starts to download in last page, so no need to useiframe or window.open etc.
if you are trying to do something like this, this should be an easy trick 😉.

If you want to use jQuery File Download , please note this for IE.
You need to reset the response or it will not download
//The IE will only work if you reset response
getServletResponse().reset();
//The jquery.fileDownload needs a cookie be set
getServletResponse().setHeader("Set-Cookie", "fileDownload=true; path=/");
//Do the reset of your action create InputStream and return
Your action can implement ServletResponseAware to access getServletResponse()

It is certain that you can not do it through Ajax call.
However, there is a workaround.
Steps :
If you are using form.submit() for downloading the file, what you can do is :
Create an ajax call from client to server and store the file stream inside the session.
Upon "success" being returned from server, call your form.submit() to just stream the file stream stored in the session.
This is helpful in case when you want to decide whether or not file needs to be downloaded after making form.submit(), eg: there can be a case where on form.submit(), an exception occurs on the server side and instead of crashing, you might need to show a custom message on the client side, in such case this implementation might help.

there is another solution to download a web page in ajax. But I am referring to a page that must first be processed and then downloaded.
First you need to separate the page processing from the results download.
1) Only the page calculations are made in the ajax call.
$.post("CalculusPage.php", { calculusFunction: true, ID: 29, data1: "a", data2: "b" },
function(data, status)
{
if (status == "success")
{
/* 2) In the answer the page that uses the previous calculations is downloaded. For example, this can be a page that prints the results of a table calculated in the ajax call. */
window.location.href = DownloadPage.php+"?ID="+29;
}
}
);
// For example: in the CalculusPage.php
if ( !empty($_POST["calculusFunction"]) )
{
$ID = $_POST["ID"];
$query = "INSERT INTO ExamplePage (data1, data2) VALUES ('".$_POST["data1"]."', '".$_POST["data2"]."') WHERE id = ".$ID;
...
}
// For example: in the DownloadPage.php
$ID = $_GET["ID"];
$sede = "SELECT * FROM ExamplePage WHERE id = ".$ID;
...
$filename="Export_Data.xls";
header("Content-Type: application/vnd.ms-excel");
header("Content-Disposition: inline; filename=$filename");
...
I hope this solution can be useful for many, as it was for me.

That's it works so fine in any browser (I'm using asp.net core)
function onDownload() {
const api = '#Url.Action("myaction", "mycontroller")';
var form = new FormData(document.getElementById('form1'));
fetch(api, { body: form, method: "POST"})
.then(resp => resp.blob())
.then(blob => {
const url = window.URL.createObjectURL(blob);
$('#linkdownload').attr('download', 'Attachement.zip');
$('#linkdownload').attr("href", url);
$('#linkdownload')
.fadeIn(3000,
function() { });
})
.catch(() => alert('An error occurred'));
}
<button type="button" onclick="onDownload()" class="btn btn-primary btn-sm">Click to Process Files</button>
<a role="button" href="#" style="display: none" class="btn btn-sm btn-secondary" id="linkdownload">Click to download Attachments</a>
<form asp-controller="mycontroller" asp-action="myaction" id="form1"></form>
function onDownload() {
const api = '#Url.Action("myaction", "mycontroller")';
//form1 is your id form, and to get data content of form
var form = new FormData(document.getElementById('form1'));
fetch(api, { body: form, method: "POST"})
.then(resp => resp.blob())
.then(blob => {
const url = window.URL.createObjectURL(blob);
$('#linkdownload').attr('download', 'Attachments.zip');
$('#linkdownload').attr("href", url);
$('#linkdownload')
.fadeIn(3000,
function() {
});
})
.catch(() => alert('An error occurred'));
}

I struggled with this issue for a long time. Finally an elegant external library suggested here helped me out.

Download a file by jQuery.Ajax

I have a Struts2 action in the server side for file downloading.
<action name="download" class="com.xxx.DownAction">
<result name="success" type="stream">
<param name="contentType">text/plain</param>
<param name="inputName">imageStream</param>
<param name="contentDisposition">attachment;filename={fileName}</param>
<param name="bufferSize">1024</param>
</result>
</action>
However when I call the action using the jQuery:
$.post(
"/download.action",{
para1:value1,
para2:value2
....
},function(data){
console.info(data);
}
);
in Firebug I see the data is retrieved with the Binary stream. I wonder how to open the file downloading window with which the user can save the file locally?

2019 modern browsers update
This is the approach I'd now recommend with a few caveats:
A relatively modern browser is required
If the file is expected to be very large you should likely do something similar to the original approach (iframe and cookie) because some of the below operations could likely consume system memory at least as large as the file being downloaded and/or other interesting CPU side effects.
fetch('https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/todos/1')
.then(resp => resp.blob())
.then(blob => {
const url = window.URL.createObjectURL(blob);
const a = document.createElement('a');
a.style.display = 'none';
a.href = url;
// the filename you want
a.download = 'todo-1.json';
document.body.appendChild(a);
a.click();
window.URL.revokeObjectURL(url);
alert('your file has downloaded!'); // or you know, something with better UX...
})
.catch(() => alert('oh no!'));
2012 Original jQuery/iframe/Cookie based approach
Bluish is completely right about this, you can't do it through Ajax because JavaScript cannot save files directly to a user's computer (out of security concerns). Unfortunately pointing the main window's URL at your file download means you have little control over what the user experience is when a file download occurs.
I created jQuery File Download which allows for an "Ajax like" experience with file downloads complete with OnSuccess and OnFailure callbacks to provide for a better user experience. Take a look at my blog post on the common problem that the plugin solves and some ways to use it and also a demo of jQuery File Download in action. Here is the source
Here is a simple use case demo using the plugin source with promises. The demo page includes many other, 'better UX' examples as well.
$.fileDownload('some/file.pdf')
.done(function () { alert('File download a success!'); })
.fail(function () { alert('File download failed!'); });
Depending on what browsers you need to support you may be able to use https://github.com/eligrey/FileSaver.js/ which allows more explicit control than the IFRAME method jQuery File Download uses.

Noone posted this #Pekka's solution... so I'll post it. It can help someone.
You don't need to do this through Ajax. Just use
window.location="download.action?para1=value1...."

You can with HTML5
NB: The file data returned MUST be base64 encoded because you cannot JSON encode binary data
In my AJAX response I have a data structure that looks like this:
{
result: 'OK',
download: {
mimetype: string(mimetype in the form 'major/minor'),
filename: string(the name of the file to download),
data: base64(the binary data as base64 to download)
}
}
That means that I can do the following to save a file via AJAX
var a = document.createElement('a');
if (window.URL && window.Blob && ('download' in a) && window.atob) {
// Do it the HTML5 compliant way
var blob = base64ToBlob(result.download.data, result.download.mimetype);
var url = window.URL.createObjectURL(blob);
a.href = url;
a.download = result.download.filename;
a.click();
window.URL.revokeObjectURL(url);
}
The function base64ToBlob was taken from here and must be used in compliance with this function
function base64ToBlob(base64, mimetype, slicesize) {
if (!window.atob || !window.Uint8Array) {
// The current browser doesn't have the atob function. Cannot continue
return null;
}
mimetype = mimetype || '';
slicesize = slicesize || 512;
var bytechars = atob(base64);
var bytearrays = [];
for (var offset = 0; offset < bytechars.length; offset += slicesize) {
var slice = bytechars.slice(offset, offset + slicesize);
var bytenums = new Array(slice.length);
for (var i = 0; i < slice.length; i++) {
bytenums[i] = slice.charCodeAt(i);
}
var bytearray = new Uint8Array(bytenums);
bytearrays[bytearrays.length] = bytearray;
}
return new Blob(bytearrays, {type: mimetype});
};
This is good if your server is dumping filedata to be saved. However, I've not quite worked out how one would implement a HTML4 fallback

The simple way to make the browser downloads a file is to make the request like that:
function downloadFile(urlToSend) {
var req = new XMLHttpRequest();
req.open("GET", urlToSend, true);
req.responseType = "blob";
req.onload = function (event) {
var blob = req.response;
var fileName = req.getResponseHeader("fileName") //if you have the fileName header available
var link=document.createElement('a');
link.href=window.URL.createObjectURL(blob);
link.download=fileName;
link.click();
};
req.send();
}
This opens the browser download pop up.

1. Framework agnostic: Servlet downloading file as attachment
<!-- with JS -->
<a href="javascript:window.location='downloadServlet?param1=value1'">
download
</a>
<!-- without JS -->
<a href="downloadServlet?param1=value1" >download</a>
2. Struts2 Framework: Action downloading file as attachment
<!-- with JS -->
<a href="javascript:window.location='downloadAction.action?param1=value1'">
download
</a>
<!-- without JS -->
<a href="downloadAction.action?param1=value1" >download</a>
It would be better to use <s:a> tag pointing with OGNL to an URL created with <s:url> tag:
<!-- without JS, with Struts tags: THE RIGHT WAY -->
<s:url action="downloadAction.action" var="url">
<s:param name="param1">value1</s:param>
</s:ulr>
<s:a href="%{url}" >download</s:a>
In the above cases, you need to write the Content-Disposition header to the response, specifying that the file needs to be downloaded (attachment) and not opened by the browser (inline). You need to specify the Content Type too, and you may want to add the file name and length (to help the browser drawing a realistic progressbar).
For example, when downloading a ZIP:
response.setContentType("application/zip");
response.addHeader("Content-Disposition",
"attachment; filename=\"name of my file.zip\"");
response.setHeader("Content-Length", myFile.length()); // or myByte[].length...
With Struts2 (unless you are using the Action as a Servlet, an hack for direct streaming, for example), you don't need to directly write anything to the response; simply using the Stream result type and configuring it in struts.xml will work: EXAMPLE
<result name="success" type="stream">
<param name="contentType">application/zip</param>
<param name="contentDisposition">attachment;filename="${fileName}"</param>
<param name="contentLength">${fileLength}</param>
</result>
3. Framework agnostic (/ Struts2 framework): Servlet(/Action) opening file inside the browser
If you want to open the file inside the browser, instead of downloading it, the Content-disposition must be set to inline, but the target can't be the current window location; you must target a new window created by javascript, an <iframe> in the page, or a new window created on-the-fly with the "discussed" target="_blank":
<!-- From a parent page into an IFrame without javascript -->
<a href="downloadServlet?param1=value1" target="iFrameName">
download
</a>
<!-- In a new window without javascript -->
<a href="downloadServlet?param1=value1" target="_blank">
download
</a>
<!-- In a new window with javascript -->
<a href="javascript:window.open('downloadServlet?param1=value1');" >
download
</a>

I have created little function as workaround solution (inspired by #JohnCulviner plugin):
// creates iframe and form in it with hidden field,
// then submit form with provided data
// url - form url
// data - data to form field
// input_name - form hidden input name
function ajax_download(url, data, input_name) {
var $iframe,
iframe_doc,
iframe_html;
if (($iframe = $('#download_iframe')).length === 0) {
$iframe = $("<iframe id='download_iframe'" +
" style='display: none' src='about:blank'></iframe>"
).appendTo("body");
}
iframe_doc = $iframe[0].contentWindow || $iframe[0].contentDocument;
if (iframe_doc.document) {
iframe_doc = iframe_doc.document;
}
iframe_html = "<html><head></head><body><form method='POST' action='" +
url +"'>" +
"<input type=hidden name='" + input_name + "' value='" +
JSON.stringify(data) +"'/></form>" +
"</body></html>";
iframe_doc.open();
iframe_doc.write(iframe_html);
$(iframe_doc).find('form').submit();
}
Demo with click event:
$('#someid').on('click', function() {
ajax_download('/download.action', {'para1': 1, 'para2': 2}, 'dataname');
});

I faced the same issue and successfully solved it. My use-case is this.
"Post JSON data to the server and receive an excel file.
That excel file is created by the server and returned as a response to the client. Download that response as a file with custom name in browser"
$("#my-button").on("click", function(){
// Data to post
data = {
ids: [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
};
// Use XMLHttpRequest instead of Jquery $ajax
xhttp = new XMLHttpRequest();
xhttp.onreadystatechange = function() {
var a;
if (xhttp.readyState === 4 && xhttp.status === 200) {
// Trick for making downloadable link
a = document.createElement('a');
a.href = window.URL.createObjectURL(xhttp.response);
// Give filename you wish to download
a.download = "test-file.xls";
a.style.display = 'none';
document.body.appendChild(a);
a.click();
}
};
// Post data to URL which handles post request
xhttp.open("POST", excelDownloadUrl);
xhttp.setRequestHeader("Content-Type", "application/json");
// You should set responseType as blob for binary responses
xhttp.responseType = 'blob';
xhttp.send(JSON.stringify(data));
});
The above snippet is just doing following
Posting an array as JSON to the server using XMLHttpRequest.
After fetching content as a blob(binary), we are creating a downloadable URL and attaching it to invisible "a" link then clicking it. I did a POST request here. Instead, you can go for a simple GET too. We cannot download the file through Ajax, must use XMLHttpRequest.
Here we need to carefully set few things on the server side. I set few headers in Python Django HttpResponse. You need to set them accordingly if you use other programming languages.
# In python django code
response = HttpResponse(file_content, content_type="application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet")
Since I download xls(excel) here, I adjusted contentType to above one. You need to set it according to your file type. You can use this technique to download any kind of files.

Ok, based on ndpu's code heres an improved (I think) version of ajax_download;-
function ajax_download(url, data) {
var $iframe,
iframe_doc,
iframe_html;
if (($iframe = $('#download_iframe')).length === 0) {
$iframe = $("<iframe id='download_iframe'" +
" style='display: none' src='about:blank'></iframe>"
).appendTo("body");
}
iframe_doc = $iframe[0].contentWindow || $iframe[0].contentDocument;
if (iframe_doc.document) {
iframe_doc = iframe_doc.document;
}
iframe_html = "<html><head></head><body><form method='POST' action='" +
url +"'>"
Object.keys(data).forEach(function(key){
iframe_html += "<input type='hidden' name='"+key+"' value='"+data[key]+"'>";
});
iframe_html +="</form></body></html>";
iframe_doc.open();
iframe_doc.write(iframe_html);
$(iframe_doc).find('form').submit();
}
Use this like this;-
$('#someid').on('click', function() {
ajax_download('/download.action', {'para1': 1, 'para2': 2});
});
The params are sent as proper post params as if coming from an input rather than as a json encoded string as per the previous example.
CAVEAT: Be wary about the potential for variable injection on those forms. There might be a safer way to encode those variables. Alternatively contemplate escaping them.

My approach is completly based on jQuery. The problem for me was that it has to be a POST-HTTP call. And I wanted it to be done by jQuery alone.
The solution:
$.ajax({
type: "POST",
url: "/some/webpage",
headers: {'X-CSRF-TOKEN': csrfToken},
data: additionalDataToSend,
dataType: "text",
success: function(result) {
let blob = new Blob([result], { type: "application/octetstream" });
let a = document.createElement('a');
a.href = window.URL.createObjectURL(blob);
a.download = "test.xml";;
document.body.appendChild(a);
a.click();
document.body.removeChild(a);
window.URL.revokeObjectURL(a.href);
...
},
error: errorDialog
});
Explanation:
What I and many others do is to create a link on the webpage, indicating that the target should be downloaded and putting the result of the http-request as the target. After that I append the link to the document than simply clicking the link and removing the link afterwards. You don't need an iframe anymore.
The magic lies in the lines
let blob = new Blob([result], { type: "application/octetstream" });
a.href = window.URL.createObjectURL(blob);
The interesting point is that this solution is only working with a "blob". As you can see in other answers, some are simply using a blob but not explaining why and how to create it.
As you can read e.g. in the Mozilla developer documentation you need a file, media ressource or blob for the function "createObjectURL()" to work. The problem is that your http-response might not be any of those.
Therefore the first thing you must do is to convert your response to a blob. This is what the first line does. Then you can use the "createObjectURL" with your newly created blob.
If you than click the link your browser will open a file-save dialog and you can save your data. Obviously it s possible that you cannot define a fixed filename for your file to download. Then you must make your response more complex like in the answer from Luke.
And don't forget to free up the memory especially when you are working with large files. For more examples and information you can look at the details of the JS blob object

Here is what I did, pure javascript and html. Did not test it but this should work in all browsers.
Javascript Function
var iframe = document.createElement('iframe');
iframe.id = "IFRAMEID";
iframe.style.display = 'none';
document.body.appendChild(iframe);
iframe.src = 'SERVERURL'+'?' + $.param($scope.filtro);
iframe.addEventListener("load", function () {
console.log("FILE LOAD DONE.. Download should start now");
});
Using just components that is supported in all browsers no additional
libraries.
Here is my server side JAVA Spring controller code.
#RequestMapping(value = "/rootto/my/xlsx", method = RequestMethod.GET)
public void downloadExcelFile(#RequestParam(value = "param1", required = false) String param1,
HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response)
throws ParseException {
Workbook wb = service.getWorkbook(param1);
if (wb != null) {
try {
String fileName = "myfile_" + sdf.format(new Date());
response.setContentType("application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet");
response.setHeader("Content-disposition", "attachment; filename=\"" + fileName + ".xlsx\"");
wb.write(response.getOutputStream());
response.getOutputStream().close();
} catch (IOException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
}

How to DOWNLOAD a file after receiving it by AJAX
It’s convenient when the file is created for a long time and you need to show PRELOADER
Example when submitting a web form:
<script>
$(function () {
$('form').submit(function () {
$('#loader').show();
$.ajax({
url: $(this).attr('action'),
data: $(this).serialize(),
dataType: 'binary',
xhrFields: {
'responseType': 'blob'
},
success: function(data, status, xhr) {
$('#loader').hide();
// if(data.type.indexOf('text/html') != -1){//If instead of a file you get an error page
// var reader = new FileReader();
// reader.readAsText(data);
// reader.onload = function() {alert(reader.result);};
// return;
// }
var link = document.createElement('a'),
filename = 'file.xlsx';
// if(xhr.getResponseHeader('Content-Disposition')){//filename
// filename = xhr.getResponseHeader('Content-Disposition');
// filename=filename.match(/filename="(.*?)"/)[1];
// filename=decodeURIComponent(escape(filename));
// }
link.href = URL.createObjectURL(data);
link.download = filename;
link.click();
}
});
return false;
});
});
</script>
Optional functional is commented out to simplify the example.
No need to create temporary files on the server.
On jQuery v2.2.4 OK. There will be an error on the old version:
Uncaught DOMException: Failed to read the 'responseText' property from 'XMLHttpRequest': The value is only accessible if the object's 'responseType' is '' or 'text' (was 'blob').

function downloadURI(uri, name)
{
var link = document.createElement("a");
link.download = name;
link.href = uri;
link.click();
}

I try to download a CSV file and then do something after download has finished. So I need to implement an appropriate callback function.
Using window.location="..." is not a good idea because I cannot operate the program after finishing download. Something like this, change header so it is not a good idea.
fetch is a good alternative however it cannot support IE 11. And window.URL.createObjectURL cannot support IE 11.You can refer this.
This is my code, it is similar to the code of Shahrukh Alam. But you should take care that window.URL.createObjectURL maybe create memory leaks. You can refer this. When response has arrived, data will be stored into memory of browser. So before you click a link, the file has been downloaded. It means that you can do anything after download.
$.ajax({
url: 'your download url',
type: 'GET',
}).done(function (data, textStatus, request) {
// csv => Blob
var blob = new Blob([data]);
// the file name from server.
var fileName = request.getResponseHeader('fileName');
if (window.navigator && window.navigator.msSaveOrOpenBlob) { // for IE
window.navigator.msSaveOrOpenBlob(blob, fileName);
} else { // for others
var url = window.URL.createObjectURL(blob);
const a = document.createElement('a');
a.style.display = 'none';
a.href = url;
a.download = fileName;
document.body.appendChild(a);
a.click();
window.URL.revokeObjectURL(url);
//Do something after download
...
}
}).then(after_download)
}

Adding some more things to above answer for downloading a file
Below is some java spring code which generates byte Array
#RequestMapping(value = "/downloadReport", method = { RequestMethod.POST })
public ResponseEntity<byte[]> downloadReport(
#RequestBody final SomeObejct obj, HttpServletResponse response) throws Exception {
OutputStream out = new ByteArrayOutputStream();
// write something to output stream
HttpHeaders respHeaders = new HttpHeaders();
respHeaders.setContentType(MediaType.APPLICATION_OCTET_STREAM);
respHeaders.add("X-File-Name", name);
ByteArrayOutputStream bos = (ByteArrayOutputStream) out;
return new ResponseEntity<byte[]>(bos.toByteArray(), respHeaders, HttpStatus.CREATED);
}
Now in javascript code using FileSaver.js ,can download a file with below code
var json=angular.toJson("somejsobject");
var url=apiEndPoint+'some url';
var xhr = new XMLHttpRequest();
//headers('X-File-Name')
xhr.onreadystatechange = function() {
if (this.readyState == 4 && this.status == 201) {
var res = this.response;
var fileName=this.getResponseHeader('X-File-Name');
var data = new Blob([res]);
saveAs(data, fileName); //this from FileSaver.js
}
}
xhr.open('POST', url);
xhr.setRequestHeader('Authorization','Bearer ' + token);
xhr.setRequestHeader('Content-Type', 'application/json');
xhr.responseType = 'arraybuffer';
xhr.send(json);
The above will download file

In Rails, I do it this way:
function download_file(file_id) {
let url = '/files/' + file_id + '/download_file';
$.ajax({
type: 'GET',
url: url,
processData: false,
success: function (data) {
window.location = url;
},
error: function (xhr) {
console.log(' Error: >>>> ' + JSON.stringify(xhr));
}
});
}
The trick is the window.location part. The controller's method looks like:
# GET /files/{:id}/download_file/
def download_file
send_file(#file.file,
:disposition => 'attachment',
:url_based_filename => false)
end

Use window.open https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Window/open
For example, you can put this line of code in a click handler:
window.open('/file.txt', '_blank');
It will open a new tab (because of the '_blank' window-name) and that tab will open the URL.
Your server-side code should also have something like this:
res.set('Content-Disposition', 'attachment; filename=file.txt');
And that way, the browser should prompt the user to save the file to disk, instead of just showing them the file. It will also automatically close the tab that it just opened.

The HTML Code :
<button type="button" id="GetFile">Get File!</button>
The jQuery Code :
$('#GetFile').on('click', function () {
$.ajax({
url: 'https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/s.cdpn.io/172905/test.pdf',
method: 'GET',
xhrFields: {
responseType: 'blob'
},
success: function (data) {
var a = document.createElement('a');
var url = window.URL.createObjectURL(data);
a.href = url;
a.download = 'myfile.pdf';
document.body.append(a);
a.click();
a.remove();
window.URL.revokeObjectURL(url);
}
});
});

Ok so here is the working code when Using MVC and you are getting your file from a controller
lets say you have your byte array declare and populate, the only thing you need to do is to use the File function (using System.Web.Mvc)
byte[] bytes = .... insert your bytes in the array
return File(bytes, System.Net.Mime.MediaTypeNames.Application.Octet, "nameoffile.exe");
and then, in the same controller, add thoses 2 functions
protected override void OnResultExecuting(ResultExecutingContext context)
{
CheckAndHandleFileResult(context);
base.OnResultExecuting(context);
}
private const string FILE_DOWNLOAD_COOKIE_NAME = "fileDownload";
/// <summary>
/// If the current response is a FileResult (an MVC base class for files) then write a
/// cookie to inform jquery.fileDownload that a successful file download has occured
/// </summary>
/// <param name="context"></param>
private void CheckAndHandleFileResult(ResultExecutingContext context)
{
if (context.Result is FileResult)
//jquery.fileDownload uses this cookie to determine that a file download has completed successfully
Response.SetCookie(new HttpCookie(FILE_DOWNLOAD_COOKIE_NAME, "true") { Path = "/" });
else
//ensure that the cookie is removed in case someone did a file download without using jquery.fileDownload
if (Request.Cookies[FILE_DOWNLOAD_COOKIE_NAME] != null)
Response.Cookies[FILE_DOWNLOAD_COOKIE_NAME].Expires = DateTime.Now.AddYears(-1);
}
and then you will be able to call your controller to download and get the "success" or "failure" callback
$.fileDownload(mvcUrl('name of the controller'), {
httpMethod: 'POST',
successCallback: function (url) {
//insert success code
},
failCallback: function (html, url) {
//insert fail code
}
});

I found a fix that while it's not actually using ajax it does allow you to use a javascript call to request the download and then get a callback when the download actually starts. I found this helpful if the link runs a server side script that takes a little bit to compose the file before sending it. so you can alert them that it's processing, and then when it does finally send the file remove that processing notification. which is why I wanted to try to load the file via ajax to begin with so that I could have an event happen when the file is requested and another when it actually starts downloading.
the js on the front page
function expdone()
{
document.getElementById('exportdiv').style.display='none';
}
function expgo()
{
document.getElementById('exportdiv').style.display='block';
document.getElementById('exportif').src='test2.php?arguments=data';
}
the iframe
<div id="exportdiv" style="display:none;">
<img src="loader.gif"><br><h1>Generating Report</h1>
<iframe id="exportif" src="" style="width: 1px;height: 1px; border:0px;"></iframe>
</div>
then the other file:
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<script>
function expdone()
{
window.parent.expdone();
}
</script>
</head>
<body>
<iframe id="exportif" src="<?php echo "http://10.192.37.211/npdtracker/exportthismonth.php?arguments=".$_GET["arguments"]; ?>"></iframe>
<script>document.getElementById('exportif').onload= expdone;</script>
</body></html>
I think there's a way to read get data using js so then no php would be needed. but I don't know it off hand and the server I'm using supports php so this works for me. thought I'd share it in case it helps anyone.

If the server is writing the file back in the response (including cookies if
you use them to determine whether the file download started), Simply create a form with the values and submit it:
function ajaxPostDownload(url, data) {
var $form;
if (($form = $('#download_form')).length === 0) {
$form = $("<form id='download_form'" + " style='display: none; width: 1px; height: 1px; position: absolute; top: -10000px' method='POST' action='" + url + "'></form>");
$form.appendTo("body");
}
//Clear the form fields
$form.html("");
//Create new form fields
Object.keys(data).forEach(function (key) {
$form.append("<input type='hidden' name='" + key + "' value='" + data[key] + "'>");
});
//Submit the form post
$form.submit();
}
Usage:
ajaxPostDownload('/fileController/ExportFile', {
DownloadToken: 'newDownloadToken',
Name: $txtName.val(),
Type: $txtType.val()
});
Controller Method:
[HttpPost]
public FileResult ExportFile(string DownloadToken, string Name, string Type)
{
//Set DownloadToken Cookie.
Response.SetCookie(new HttpCookie("downloadToken", DownloadToken)
{
Expires = DateTime.UtcNow.AddDays(1),
Secure = false
});
using (var output = new MemoryStream())
{
//get File
return File(output.ToArray(), "application/vnd.ms-excel", "NewFile.xls");
}
}

I have tried Ajax and HttpRequest ways to get my result download file but I've failed, finally I've solved my problem using these steps:
implemented a simple hidden form in my html code:
<form method="post" id="post_form" style="display:none" action="amin.php" >
<input type="hidden" name="action" value="export_xlsx" />
<input type="hidden" name="post_form_data" value="" />
</form>
input with 'action' name is for calling function in my php code,
input with 'post_form_data' name for sending long data of a table which were not possible to send with GET. this data was encoded to json, and put json in input:
var list = new Array();
$('#table_name tr').each(function() {
var row = new Array();
$(this).find('td').each(function() {
row.push($(this).text());
});
list.push(row);
});
list = JSON.stringify(list);
$("input[name=post_form_data]").val(list);
now, the form is ready with my desire values in inputs, just need to trigger the submit.
document.getElementById('post_form').submit();
and done!
while my result is a file (xlsx file for me) the page wouldn't be redirected and instantly the file starts to download in last page, so no need to useiframe or window.open etc.
if you are trying to do something like this, this should be an easy trick 😉.

If you want to use jQuery File Download , please note this for IE.
You need to reset the response or it will not download
//The IE will only work if you reset response
getServletResponse().reset();
//The jquery.fileDownload needs a cookie be set
getServletResponse().setHeader("Set-Cookie", "fileDownload=true; path=/");
//Do the reset of your action create InputStream and return
Your action can implement ServletResponseAware to access getServletResponse()

It is certain that you can not do it through Ajax call.
However, there is a workaround.
Steps :
If you are using form.submit() for downloading the file, what you can do is :
Create an ajax call from client to server and store the file stream inside the session.
Upon "success" being returned from server, call your form.submit() to just stream the file stream stored in the session.
This is helpful in case when you want to decide whether or not file needs to be downloaded after making form.submit(), eg: there can be a case where on form.submit(), an exception occurs on the server side and instead of crashing, you might need to show a custom message on the client side, in such case this implementation might help.

there is another solution to download a web page in ajax. But I am referring to a page that must first be processed and then downloaded.
First you need to separate the page processing from the results download.
1) Only the page calculations are made in the ajax call.
$.post("CalculusPage.php", { calculusFunction: true, ID: 29, data1: "a", data2: "b" },
function(data, status)
{
if (status == "success")
{
/* 2) In the answer the page that uses the previous calculations is downloaded. For example, this can be a page that prints the results of a table calculated in the ajax call. */
window.location.href = DownloadPage.php+"?ID="+29;
}
}
);
// For example: in the CalculusPage.php
if ( !empty($_POST["calculusFunction"]) )
{
$ID = $_POST["ID"];
$query = "INSERT INTO ExamplePage (data1, data2) VALUES ('".$_POST["data1"]."', '".$_POST["data2"]."') WHERE id = ".$ID;
...
}
// For example: in the DownloadPage.php
$ID = $_GET["ID"];
$sede = "SELECT * FROM ExamplePage WHERE id = ".$ID;
...
$filename="Export_Data.xls";
header("Content-Type: application/vnd.ms-excel");
header("Content-Disposition: inline; filename=$filename");
...
I hope this solution can be useful for many, as it was for me.

That's it works so fine in any browser (I'm using asp.net core)
function onDownload() {
const api = '#Url.Action("myaction", "mycontroller")';
var form = new FormData(document.getElementById('form1'));
fetch(api, { body: form, method: "POST"})
.then(resp => resp.blob())
.then(blob => {
const url = window.URL.createObjectURL(blob);
$('#linkdownload').attr('download', 'Attachement.zip');
$('#linkdownload').attr("href", url);
$('#linkdownload')
.fadeIn(3000,
function() { });
})
.catch(() => alert('An error occurred'));
}
<button type="button" onclick="onDownload()" class="btn btn-primary btn-sm">Click to Process Files</button>
<a role="button" href="#" style="display: none" class="btn btn-sm btn-secondary" id="linkdownload">Click to download Attachments</a>
<form asp-controller="mycontroller" asp-action="myaction" id="form1"></form>
function onDownload() {
const api = '#Url.Action("myaction", "mycontroller")';
//form1 is your id form, and to get data content of form
var form = new FormData(document.getElementById('form1'));
fetch(api, { body: form, method: "POST"})
.then(resp => resp.blob())
.then(blob => {
const url = window.URL.createObjectURL(blob);
$('#linkdownload').attr('download', 'Attachments.zip');
$('#linkdownload').attr("href", url);
$('#linkdownload')
.fadeIn(3000,
function() {
});
})
.catch(() => alert('An error occurred'));
}

I struggled with this issue for a long time. Finally an elegant external library suggested here helped me out.