download a file using Angular JS and a Spring-based RESTful web service

Question

I'm using Spring boot and Angular JS . I have a Spring REST Controller that I use to download a File. when I call it using http://localhost:8080/download it works and the file is downloaded. Now I have a button ,when I click on it , I the file will be downloaded . so I wrote a function in my angular js controller to get the url of my spring web service but when I tested it nothing happened . what should I do to fix this ? Is there a better way to download files using Spring and Angular ?

 /**
 * Size of a byte buffer to read/write file
 */
private static final int BUFFER_SIZE = 4096;
private String filePath = "C:\\Users\\marwa\\Desktop\\marwa\\gg.jpg";

/**
 * Method for handling file download request from client
 */
@RequestMapping (value="/download", method=RequestMethod.GET )
public void doDownload(HttpServletRequest request,
        HttpServletResponse response) throws IOException {

    // get absolute path of the application
    ServletContext context = request.getServletContext();
    String appPath = context.getRealPath("");
    System.out.println("filepath = " + filePath);

    // construct the complete absolute path of the file

    File downloadFile = new File(filePath);
    FileInputStream inputStream = new FileInputStream(downloadFile);

    // get MIME type of the file
    String mimeType = context.getMimeType(filePath);
    if (mimeType == null) {
        // set to binary type if MIME mapping not found
        mimeType = "application/octet-stream";
    }
    System.out.println("MIME type: " + mimeType);

    // set content attributes for the response
    response.setContentType(mimeType);
    response.setContentLength((int) downloadFile.length());

    // set headers for the response
    String headerKey = "Content-Disposition";
    String headerValue = String.format("attachment; filename=\"%s\"",
            downloadFile.getName());
    response.setHeader(headerKey, headerValue);

    // get output stream of the response
    OutputStream outStream = response.getOutputStream();

    byte[] buffer = new byte[BUFFER_SIZE];
    int bytesRead = -1;

    // write bytes read from the input stream into the output stream
    while ((bytesRead = inputStream.read(buffer)) != -1) {
        outStream.write(buffer, 0, bytesRead);
    }

    inputStream.close();
    outStream.close();

}

my angular js function ( I added console.log("ok") to see if I get a result from the spring controller and it printed ok )

$scope.downloadFile = function () {                   
        $http({method: 'GET', url: '/download'}).
         success(function(result) {
                        console.log("ok");
          }).
     error(function(data, status, headers, config) {
            console.log("oops");
         });
 };

and my button

<button  class="btn btn-success" ng-click="downloadFile()">download</button>

Answer 1

It's working for me :

• Spring controller : DownloadController.java

  package com.mycompany.myapp.controller;
  
  import java.io.File;
  import java.io.FileInputStream;
  import java.io.IOException;
  import java.io.InputStream;
  import java.io.OutputStream;
  
  import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletRequest;
  import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletResponse;
  
  import org.apache.commons.io.IOUtils;
  import org.slf4j.Logger;
  import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
  import org.springframework.http.HttpStatus;
  import org.springframework.http.ResponseEntity;
  import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.ExceptionHandler;
  import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.RequestMapping;
  import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.RequestMethod;
  import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.RequestParam;
  import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.RestController;
  
  import com.mycompany.myapp.exception.TechnicalException;
  
  
  @RestController
  public class DownloadController {
  
      private final Logger log = LoggerFactory.getLogger(DownloadController.class);
  
      @RequestMapping(value = "/download", method = RequestMethod.GET)
      public void download(@RequestParam ("name") String name, final HttpServletRequest request, final HttpServletResponse response) throws TechnicalException {
          log.trace("name : {}", name);
  
          File file = new File ("src/main/resources/" + name);
          log.trace("Write response...");
          try (InputStream fileInputStream = new FileInputStream(file);
                  OutputStream output = response.getOutputStream();) {
  
              response.reset();
  
              response.setContentType("application/octet-stream");
              response.setContentLength((int) (file.length()));
  
              response.setHeader("Content-Disposition", "attachment; filename=\"" + file.getName() + "\"");
  
              IOUtils.copyLarge(fileInputStream, output);
              output.flush();
          } catch (IOException e) {
              log.error(e.getMessage(), e);
          }
  
      }
  
  }
  

• AngularJs Service : download.service.js

  (function() {
      'use strict';
  
      var downloadModule = angular.module('components.donwload', []);
  
      downloadModule.factory('downloadService', ['$q', '$timeout', '$window',
          function($q, $timeout, $window) {
              return {
                  download: function(name) {
  
                      var defer = $q.defer();
  
                      $timeout(function() {
                              $window.location = 'download?name=' + name;
  
                          }, 1000)
                          .then(function() {
                              defer.resolve('success');
                          }, function() {
                              defer.reject('error');
                          });
                      return defer.promise;
                  }
              };
          }
      ]);
  })();
  

• AngularJs config : app.js

  (function() {
      'use strict';
  
      var myApp = angular.module('myApp', ['components.donwload']);
     /* myApp.config([function () {
  
      }]);
      myApp.run([function () {
  
      }]);*/
  
  
  })();
  

• AngularJs controller : download.controller.js

  (function() {
      'use strict';
  
      angular.module('myApp')
          .controller('DownloadSampleCtrl', ['downloadService', function(downloadService) {
              this.download = function(fileName) {
                  downloadService.download(fileName)
                      .then(function(success) {
                          console.log('success : ' + success);
                      }, function(error) {
                          console.log('error : ' + error);
                      });
              };
          }]);
  })();
  

• index.html

  <!DOCTYPE html>
  <html ng-app="myApp">
  
  <head>
      <title>My App</title>
      <link rel="stylesheet" href="bower_components/normalize.css/normalize.css" />
      <link rel="stylesheet" href="assets/styles/main.css" />
      <link rel="icon" href="favicon.ico">
  </head>
  
  <body>
      <div ng-controller="DownloadSampleCtrl as ctrl">
          <button ng-click="ctrl.download('fileName.txt')">Download</button>
      </div>
  
      <script src="bower_components/angular/angular.min.js"></script>
  
      <!-- App config -->
      <script src="scripts/app/app.js"></script>
      <!-- Download Feature -->
      <script src="scripts/app/download/download.controller.js"></script>
      <!-- Components -->
      <script src="scripts/components/download/download.service.js"></script>
  </body>
  
  </html>
  

Answer 2

You are not able to download file because Angular is Expecting a JSON response. You have to tell Angular that you are going to receive ArrayBuffer in response.

$http.post('Api/DownloadURL',$scope.data,{responseType:'arraybuffer'})

Answer 3

I solved this problem using the following:

$scope.getReport = function() {
    var downloadPath = 'your/spring/controller/address';
    window.open(downloadPath, '_blank', '');
}

and call getReport() using ng-click from your html page.