How to consume a file with a ServiceStack client
c#, servicestack
Solution
You wouldn't consume files with the ServiceStack's .NET ServiceClients as they're mainly for sending DTO's.
You can just use any normal WebRequest to download files, in the v3.9.33 of ServiceStack introduced some handy WebRequest extensions HTTP Utils that make this easy, e.g:
For a text file:
var xmlFile = downloadUrl.GetXmlFromUrl(responseFilter: httpRes => {
var fileInfoHeaders = httpRes.Headers[HttpHeaders.ContentDisposition];
});
Where fileInfoHeaders contains the W3C ContentDisposition HTTP Header, e.g. when returning a `FileInfo`, ServiceStack returns:
attachment;filename="file.xml";size={bytesLen};
creation-date={date};modification-date={date};read-date={date};
To download a binary file you can use:
var rawBytes = downloadUrl.GetBytesFromUrl(httpRes => ...);
Problem
I am trying to use ServiceStack to return a file to a ServiceStack client in a RESTful manner. I have read other questions on SO (here and here) which advise using HttpResult and a FileInfo object or MemoryStream to allow the ContentType header to be changed to the relevant file type. This works for me when I call the service via a browser, the correct file automatically starts to download. How do I consume the file using one of the ServiceStack clients though? I'm using a Request DTO and trying to return using something similar to ``` return new HttpResult(new FileInfo("file.xml"), asAttachment:true) { ContentType = "text/xml" }; ``` How would I consume this with the JsonServiceClient for example?