Response.WriteFile PDF files - corrupted files

Question

I am having problem with writing PDF files to browser. Other mime types work fine. PDF files become corrupted.

        FileInfo file = new FileInfo(Path.Combine(_module.FileDir, _file.FilePath));
        Response.ClearContent();
        Response.ClearHeaders();
        Response.ContentType = _file.ContentType;
        Response.AppendHeader("Content-Disposition", "attachment; filename=" + Regex.Replace(_file.FilePath, "\\s", "-"));
        Response.AppendHeader("Content-Length", file.Length.ToString());
        try
        {
            Response.WriteFile(file.FullName);
            Response.Flush();
            Response.Close();
        }
        catch
        {
            Response.ClearContent();
        }

Answer 1

For this situation, a Response.Redirect should work just as well:

FileInfo file = new FileInfo(Path.Combine(_module.FileDir, _file.FilePath));
Response.Redirect(file.FullName);

Answer 2

1. Are you sure you're getting the right MIME type?
2. Are you attempting to force the user to download, or just stream out the PDF data?
3. Are you performing a Response.End() call anywhere to ensure that no extra data (outside of the headers and the PDF binary) is sent?

I'm thinking it's #3 that may be your issue here. Microsoft's Knowledge Base provides this code to do, essentially, what you seem to be doing.

//Set the appropriate ContentType.
Response.ContentType = "Application/pdf";
//Get the physical path to the file.
string FilePath = MapPath("acrobat.pdf");
//Write the file directly to the HTTP content output stream.
Response.WriteFile(FilePath);
Response.End();

Answer 3

My problem was with HTTP Module. I was applying White space filter

    HttpApplication app = sender as HttpApplication;
    if (app != null && app.Request.RawUrl.Contains(".aspx"))
    {
        app.Response.Filter = new WhitespaceFilter(app.Response.Filter);
    }

Answer 4

IIS HTTP Compression and Streaming PDF's: Don't work well. http://blog.1530technologies.com/2006/11/iis_http_compre.html

Answer 5

You need these three statements:

Response.Flush(); Response.Close(); Response.End();

The last one is the most important.