How to delete file after download with ASP.NET MVC?

Question

I want to delete a file immediately after download, how do I do it? I've tried to subclass FilePathResult and override the WriteFile method where I delete file after

HttpResponseBase.TransmitFile

is called, but this hangs the application.

Can I safely delete a file after user downloads it?

Answer 1

You could create a custom actionfilter for the action with an OnActionExecuted Method that would then remove the file after the action was completed, something like

public class DeleteFileAttribute : ActionFilterAttribute 
{ 
    public override void OnActionExecuted(ActionExecutingContext filterContext) 
    { 
        // Delete file 
    } 
} 

then your action has

[DeleteFileAttribute]
public FileContentResult GetFile(int id)
{
   ...
}

Answer 2

My used pattern.

1)Create file.

2)Delete old created file, FileInfo.CreationTime < DateTime.Now.AddHour(-1)

3)User downloaded.

How about this idea?

Answer 3

SOLUTION:

One should either subclass the FileResult or create a custom action filter, but the tricky part is to flush the response before trying to delete the file.