How to Stream and Prompt Download of a File from a URL in ASP.NET?

Downloading and Streaming Files from URLs in ASP.NET

Question:

How can a file be streamed from a URL and prompted to save in the browser?

Background:

In this scenario, a file is stored in a virtually mapped directory, making it inaccessible via Server.MapPath. The goal is to stream the file while passing a web URL instead of a server file path.

Solution:

To overcome this issue, HttpWebRequest can be utilized to retrieve the file from the URL and stream it back to the client.

// Create stream for the file
Stream stream = null;

// Chunk size for reading bytes
int bytesToRead = 10000;

// Buffer for reading bytes
byte[] buffer = new Byte[bytesToRead];

try
{
    // HTTP request to get the file
    HttpWebRequest fileReq = (HttpWebRequest)HttpWebRequest.Create(url);

    // HTTP response for the request
    HttpWebResponse fileResp = (HttpWebResponse)fileReq.GetResponse();

    // Get response stream
    stream = fileResp.GetResponseStream();

    // Client response object
    var resp = HttpContext.Current.Response;

    // Indicate data type
    resp.ContentType = "application/octet-stream";

    // File name
    resp.AddHeader("Content-Disposition", "attachment; filename=\"" + fileName + "\"");

    // File size
    resp.AddHeader("Content-Length", fileResp.ContentLength.ToString());

    int length;
    do
    {
        // Client connected?
        if (resp.IsClientConnected)
        {
            // Read data into buffer
            length = stream.Read(buffer, 0, bytesToRead);

            // Write data to output stream
            resp.OutputStream.Write(buffer, 0, length);

            // Flush data
            resp.Flush();

            // Clear buffer
            buffer = new Byte[bytesToRead];
        }
        else
        {
            // Cancel if client disconnected
            length = -1;
        }
    } while (length > 0);
}
finally
{
    // Close input stream
    if (stream != null)
        stream.Close();
}

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