How can I stream an XPS document to a browser and embed it in a webpage?

Question

I'm looking for some suggestions on how to go about this. Any input is appreciated!

Currently, I have an ASP.NET MVC application. On the client, I have a link with an ID of an XPS document. When the user clicks the link, they are taken to a page with details about the document. In addition to this information, I wish to display the document along side of this information, in the same page.

On the server side, once I have the ID, I can get the document, serialized as a byte array, from the database. The question is, what's the best way to get that serialized document into the webpage?

I would SEVERELY prefer not having to drop that document into the file system and then munge together a file path. I would like to be able to stream the document to the browser as a content type of "application/vnd.ms-xpsdocument".

I've tried using a web control to handle this (can't write binary out), thought about creating a HTTP handler to do this (no idea where to start), and have fuddled around with a couple other ways to get the document stream to the browser.

In addition, there is also the question of how to embed the document in the web page. Do I use an EMBED tag? Or an Object? Or do I use an iframe and set the source to point to whatever delivers the document?

Again, I don't expect a solution wrapped up in a bow. I'm looking for some advice on how to go about this. And, while this question is about xps documents, it applies to any application that streams a binary file that is to be hosted in a browser (PDFs, etc).

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Okay, as for displaying in the browser, one word: Silverlight. That's solved. I still have the issue of figuring out the best way to send it from the server to the browser.

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Strike that. It appears Silverlight isn't advanced enough to display an XPS document just quite yet. I'm thinking about an iframe pointing to a http handler now... The iframe works. Too bad it throws the entire thing down the pipe. I suppose I could always strip off the first page and send that puppy...

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Wow. No need for a HTTP handler. A custom ActionResult in MVC is all you need. How friggen awesome is that?

Answer 1

I think the simplest way would be to provide the document as a link (target="_blank") from the details page. This has several advantages:

• You don't need to retrieve and stream the entire doc unless the user asks for it.
• On my system at least IE is already registered as the default XPS viewer, so by giving the doc it's own window you avoid the whole question of how to embed it.
• It makes it simple to provide a streaming source for the document: just use an HTTP Handler with an ID for a query string parameter.

Even if you don't like that idea, definitely go with an HTTP Handler for transmitting document. It's real simple to do: when you create a new HTTP Handler in Visual Studio it should give you a nice page with all the busy-work done already.

Answer 2

There is a Silverlight control capable of displaying XPS documents. See http://firstfloorsoftware.com/blog/announcement-document-toolkit-for-silverlight/ for more