How to download files using axios

Question

I am using axios for basic http requests like GET and POST, and it works well. Now I need to be able to download Excel files too. Is this possible with axios? If so does anyone have some sample code? If not, what else can I use in a React application to do the same?

Answer 1

1. Download the file with Axios as a responseType: 'blob'
2. Create a file link using the blob in the response from Axios/Server
3. Create <a> HTML element with a the href linked to the file link created in step 2 & click the link
4. Clean up the dynamically created file link and HTML element

axios({
    url: 'http://api.dev/file-download', //your url
    method: 'GET',
    responseType: 'blob', // important
}).then((response) => {
    // create file link in browser's memory
    const href = URL.createObjectURL(response.data);

    // create "a" HTML element with href to file & click
    const link = document.createElement('a');
    link.href = href;
    link.setAttribute('download', 'file.pdf'); //or any other extension
    document.body.appendChild(link);
    link.click();

    // clean up "a" element & remove ObjectURL
    document.body.removeChild(link);
    URL.revokeObjectURL(href);
});

Check out the quirks at https://gist.github.com/javilobo8/097c30a233786be52070986d8cdb1743

Full credits to: https://gist.github.com/javilobo8

More documentation for URL.createObjectURL is available on MDN. It's critical to release the object with URL.revokeObjectURL to prevent a memory leak. In the function above, since we've already downloaded the file, we can immediately revoke the object.

Each time you call createObjectURL(), a new object URL is created, even if you've already created one for the same object. Each of these must be released by calling URL.revokeObjectURL() when you no longer need them.

Browsers will release object URLs automatically when the document is unloaded; however, for optimal performance and memory usage, if there are safe times when you can explicitly unload them, you should do so.

Answer 2

When response comes with a downloadable file, response headers will be something like:

{
  "Content-Disposition": "attachment;filename=report.xls"
  "Content-Type": "application/octet-stream" // or "application/vnd.ms-excel"
}

What you can do is create a separate component, which will contain a hidden iframe.

import * as React from 'react';

var MyIframe = React.createClass({
 
   render: function() {
       return (
         <div style={{display: 'none'}}>
             <iframe src={this.props.iframeSrc} />
         </div>
       );
   }
});

Now, you can pass the url of the downloadable file as prop to this component. So when this component will receive prop, it will re-render and file will be downloaded.

Edit: You can also use js-file-download module. Link to Github repo

const FileDownload = require('js-file-download');

Axios({
  url: 'http://localhost/downloadFile',
  method: 'GET',
  responseType: 'blob', // Important
}).then((response) => {
    FileDownload(response.data, 'report.csv');
});

Answer 3

Downloading Files (using Axios and Security)

This is actually even more complex when you want to download files using Axios and some means of security. To prevent anyone else from spending too much time in figuring this out, let me walk you through this.

You need to do 3 things:

1. Configure your server to permit the browser to see required HTTP headers
2. Implement the server-side service, and making it advertise the correct file type for the downloaded file.
3. Implementing an Axios handler to trigger a FileDownload dialog within the browser

These steps are mostly doable - but are complicated considerably by the browser's relation to CORS. One step at a time:

1. Configure your (HTTP) server

When employing transport security, JavaScript executing within a browser can [by design] access only 6 of the HTTP headers actually sent by the HTTP server. If we would like the server to suggest a filename for the download, we must inform the browser that it is "OK" for JavaScript to be granted access to other headers where the suggested filename would be transported.

Let us assume - for the sake of discussion - that we want the server to transmit the suggested filename within an HTTP header called X-Suggested-Filename. The HTTP server tells the browser that it is OK to expose this received custom header to the JavaScript/Axios with the following header:

Access-Control-Expose-Headers: X-Suggested-Filename

The exact way to configure your HTTP server to set this header varies from product to product.

See https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTTP/Headers/Access-Control-Expose-Headers for a full explanation and detailed description of these standard headers.

2. Implement the server-side service

Your server-side service implementation must now perform 2 things:

1. Create the (binary) document and assign the correct ContentType to the response
2. Assign the custom header (X-Suggested-Filename) containing the suggested file name for the client

This is done in different ways depending on your chosen technology stack. I will sketch an example using the JavaEE 7 standard which should emit an Excel report:

    @GET
    @Path("/report/excel")
    @Produces("application/vnd.ms-excel")
    public Response getAllergyAndPreferencesReport() {

        // Create the document which should be downloaded
        final byte[] theDocumentData = .... 

        // Define a suggested filename
        final String filename = ... 
     
        // Create the JAXRS response
        // Don't forget to include the filename in 2 HTTP headers: 
        //
        // a) The standard 'Content-Disposition' one, and
        // b) The custom 'X-Suggested-Filename'  
        //
        final Response.ResponseBuilder builder = Response.ok(
                theDocumentData, "application/vnd.ms-excel")
                .header("X-Suggested-Filename", fileName);
        builder.header("Content-Disposition", "attachment; filename=" + fileName);

        // All Done.
        return builder.build();
    }

The service now emits the binary document (an Excel report, in this case), sets the correct content type - and also sends a custom HTTP header containing the suggested filename to use when saving the document.

3. Implement an Axios handler for the Received document

There are a few pitfalls here, so let's ensure all details are correctly configured:

1. The service responds to @GET (i.e. HTTP GET), so the Axios call must be 'axios.get(...)'.
2. The document is transmitted as a stream of bytes, so you must tell Axios to treat the response as an HTML5 Blob. (I.e. responseType: 'blob').
3. In this case, the file-saver JavaScript library is used to pop the browser dialog open. However, you could choose another.

The skeleton Axios implementation would then be something along the lines of:

     // Fetch the dynamically generated excel document from the server.
     axios.get(resource, {responseType: 'blob'}).then((response) => {

        // Log somewhat to show that the browser actually exposes the custom HTTP header
        const fileNameHeader = "x-suggested-filename";
        const suggestedFileName = response.headers[fileNameHeader];
        const effectiveFileName = (suggestedFileName === undefined
                    ? "allergierOchPreferenser.xls"
                    : suggestedFileName);
        console.log(`Received header [${fileNameHeader}]: ${suggestedFileName}, effective fileName: ${effectiveFileName}`);

        // Let the user save the file.
        FileSaver.saveAs(response.data, effectiveFileName);

        }).catch((response) => {
            console.error("Could not Download the Excel report from the backend.", response);
        });

Answer 4

Axios.post solution with IE and other browsers

I've found some incredible solutions here. But they frequently don't take into account problems with IE browser. Maybe it will save some time to somebody else.

axios.post("/yourUrl",
    data,
    { responseType: 'blob' }
).then(function (response) {
    let fileName = response.headers["content-disposition"].split("filename=")[1];
    if (window.navigator && window.navigator.msSaveOrOpenBlob) { // IE variant
        window.navigator.msSaveOrOpenBlob(new Blob([response.data],
                { type: 'application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet' }
            ),
            fileName
        );
    } else {
        const url = window.URL.createObjectURL(new Blob([response.data],
            { type: 'application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet' }));
        const link = document.createElement('a');
        link.href = url;
        link.setAttribute('download',
            response.headers["content-disposition"].split("filename=")[1]);
        document.body.appendChild(link);
        link.click();
    }
    }
);

example above is for excel files, but with little changes can be applied to any format.

And on server I've done this to send an excel file.

response.contentType = "application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet"

response.addHeader(HttpHeaders.CONTENT_DISPOSITION, "attachment; filename=exceptions.xlsx")

Answer 5

The function to make the API call with axios:

function getFileToDownload (apiUrl) {
   return axios.get(apiUrl, {
     responseType: 'arraybuffer',
     headers: {
       'Content-Type': 'application/json'
     }
   })
}

Call the function and then download the excel file you get:

getFileToDownload('putApiUrlHere')
  .then (response => {
      const type = response.headers['content-type']
      const blob = new Blob([response.data], { type: type, encoding: 'UTF-8' })
      const link = document.createElement('a')
      link.href = window.URL.createObjectURL(blob)
      link.download = 'file.xlsx'
      link.click()
  })

Answer 6

It's very simple javascript code to trigger a download for the user:

window.open("<insert URL here>")

You don't want/need axios for this operation; it should be standard to just let the browser do it's thing.

Note: If you need authorisation for the download then this might not work. I'm pretty sure you can use cookies to authorise a request like this, provided it's within the same domain, but regardless, this might not work immediately in such a case.

---

As for whether it's possible... not with the in-built file downloading mechanism, no.

Answer 7

        axios.get(
            '/app/export'
        ).then(response => {    
            const url = window.URL.createObjectURL(new Blob([response]));
            const link = document.createElement('a');
            link.href = url;
            const fileName = `${+ new Date()}.csv`// whatever your file name .
            link.setAttribute('download', fileName);
            document.body.appendChild(link);
            link.click();
            link.remove();// you need to remove that elelment which is created before.
})

Answer 8

There are a couple of critical points most of the answers are missing.

I will try to explain in much depth here.

TLDR;

If you are creating an a tag link and initiating a download through broswer request, then

1. Always call window.URL.revokeObjectURL(url);. Else there can be unnecessary memory leaks.

2. There is NO need to append the created link to the document body using document.body.appendChild(link);, preventing the unnecessary need to remove the child later.

---

For Component code and a deeper analysis, read further

First is to figure out if the API endpoint from which you are trying to download the data is public or private. Do you have control over the server or not?

---

If the server responds with

Content-Disposition: attachment; filename=dummy.pdf
Content-Type: application/pdf

Browser will always try to download the file with the name 'dummy.pdf'

---

If the server responds with

Content-Disposition: inline; filename=dummy.pdf
Content-Type: application/pdf

Browser will first try to open a native file reader if available with the name 'dummy.pdf', else it will start file download.

---

If the server responds with neither of the above 2 headers

Browser (atleast chrome) will try to open the file if the download attribute is not set. If set, it will download the file. The name of the file will be the value of the last path param in cases where the url is not a blob.

---

Apart from that keep in mind to use Transfer-Encoding: chunked from server to transfer large volumes of data from the server. This will ensure the client knows when to stop reading from the current request in the absence of Content-Length header

For Private Files

import { useState, useEffect } from "react";
import axios from "axios";

export default function DownloadPrivateFile(props) {
  const [download, setDownload] = useState(false);

  useEffect(() => {
    async function downloadApi() {
      try {
        // It doesn't matter whether this api responds with the Content-Disposition header or not
        const response = await axios.get(
          "http://localhost:9000/api/v1/service/email/attachment/1mbdoc.docx",
          {
            responseType: "blob", // this is important!
            headers: { Authorization: "sometoken" },
          }
        );
        const url = window.URL.createObjectURL(new Blob([response.data])); // you can mention a type if you wish
        const link = document.createElement("a");
        link.href = url;
        link.setAttribute("download", "dummy.docx"); //this is the name with which the file will be downloaded
        link.click();
        // no need to append link as child to body.
        setTimeout(() => window.URL.revokeObjectURL(url), 0); // this is important too, otherwise we will be unnecessarily spiking memory!
        setDownload(false);
      } catch (e) {} //error handling }
    }

    if (download) {
      downloadApi();
    }
  }, [download]);

  return <button onClick={() => setDownload(true)}>Download Private</button>;
}

For Public Files

import { useState, useEffect } from "react";
export default function DownloadPublicFile(props) {
  const [download, setDownload] = useState(false);

  useEffect(() => {
    if (download) {
      const link = document.createElement("a");
      link.href =
        "http://localhost:9000/api/v1/service/email/attachment/dummy.pdf";
      link.setAttribute("download", "dummy.pdf");
      link.click();
      setDownload(false);
    }
  }, [download]);

  return <button onClick={() => setDownload(true)}>Download Public</button>;
}

Good to know:

0. Always control file downloads from server.

1. Axios in the browser uses XHR under the hood, in which streaming of responses is not supported.

2. Use onDownloadProgress method from Axios to implement progress bar.

3. Chunked responses from server do not ( cannot ) indicate Content-Length. Hence you need some way of knowing the response size if you are using them while building a progress bar.

4. <a> tag links can only make GET HTTP requests without any ability to send headers or cookies to the server (ideal for downloading from public endpoints)

5. Brower request is slightly different from XHR request made in code.

Ref: Difference between AJAX request and a regular browser request

Answer 9

The trick is to make an invisible anchor tag in the render() and add a React ref allowing to trigger a click once we have the axios response:

class Example extends Component {
    state = {
        ref: React.createRef()
    }

    exportCSV = () => {
        axios.get(
            '/app/export'
        ).then(response => {
            let blob = new Blob([response.data], {type: 'application/octet-stream'})
            let ref = this.state.ref
            ref.current.href = URL.createObjectURL(blob)
            ref.current.download = 'data.csv'
            ref.current.click()
        })
    }

    render(){
        return(
            <div>
                <a style={{display: 'none'}} href='empty' ref={this.state.ref}>ref</a>
                <button onClick={this.exportCSV}>Export CSV</button>
            </div>
        )
    }
}

Here is the documentation: https://reactjs.org/docs/refs-and-the-dom.html. You can find a similar idea here: https://thewebtier.com/snippets/download-files-with-axios/.

Answer 10

File download with custom header request. In this example, it shows how to send file download request with the bearer token. Good for downloadable content with authorization.

    download(urlHere) {
 
    axios.get(urlHere, {
      headers: {
        "Access-Control-Allow-Origin": "*",
        Authorization: `Bearer ${sessionStorage.getItem("auth-token")}`,
      }
    }).then((response) => {
    const temp = window.URL.createObjectURL(new Blob([response.data]));
    const link = document.createElement('a');
    link.href = temp;
    link.setAttribute('download', 'file.csv'); //or any other extension
    document.body.appendChild(link);
    link.click();
});
  }

Answer 11

You need to return File({file_to_download}, "application/vnd.ms-excel") from your backend to the frontend and in your js file you need to update the code that is written below:

function exportToExcel() {
        
        axios.post({path to call your controller}, null,
            {
                headers:
                {
                    'Content-Disposition': "attachment; filename=XYZ.xlsx",
                    'Content-Type': 'application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet'
                },
                responseType: 'arraybuffer',
            }
        ).then((r) => {
            const path= window.URL.createObjectURL(new Blob([r.data]));
            const link = document.createElement('a');
            link.href = path;
            link.setAttribute('download', 'XYZ.xlsx');
            document.body.appendChild(link);
            link.click();
        }).catch((error) => console.log(error));
    }

Answer 12

For those who'd like to implement an authenticated native download.

I'm currently developing a SPA with Axios.
Unfortunately Axios does't allow stream response type in such case. From documentation:

// `responseType` indicates the type of data that the server will respond with
// options are: 'arraybuffer', 'document', 'json', 'text', 'stream'
// browser only: 'blob'

---

But I figured out a workaround as mentioned in this topic.
The trick is to send a basic Form POST containing your token and the targeted file.

"That targets a new window. Once the browser reads the attachment header on the server response, it will close the new tab and begin the download."

Here's a sample:

let form = document.createElement('form');
form.method = 'post';
form.target = '_blank';

form.action = `${API_URL}/${targetedResource}`;
form.innerHTML = `'<input type="hidden" name="jwtToken" value="${jwtToken}">'`;

document.body.appendChild(form);
form.submit();
document.body.removeChild(form);

"You may need to mark your handler as unauthenticated/anonymous so that you can manually validate the JWT to ensure proper authorization."

Which results for my ASP.NET implementation in:

[AllowAnonymous]
[HttpPost("{targetedResource}")]
public async Task<IActionResult> GetFile(string targetedResource, [FromForm] string jwtToken)
{
    var jsonWebTokenHandler = new JsonWebTokenHandler();

    var validationParameters = new TokenValidationParameters()
    {
        // Your token validation parameters here
    };

    var tokenValidationResult = jsonWebTokenHandler.ValidateToken(jwtToken, validationParameters);

    if (!tokenValidationResult.IsValid)
    {
        return Unauthorized();
    }

    // Your file upload implementation here
}

Answer 13

Basically, I solved the problem of the filename by reading it, if present, from the 'content-disposition' header:

const generateFile = async ({ api, url, payload }) => {
    return await api({
        url: url,
        method: 'POST',
        data: payload, // payload
        responseType: 'blob'
    }).catch((e) => {
        throw e;
    });
};

const getFileName = (fileBlob, defaultFileName) => {
    const contentDisposition = fileBlob.headers.get('content-disposition');
    if (contentDisposition) {
        const fileNameIdentifier = 'filename=';
        const filenamePosition = contentDisposition.indexOf(fileNameIdentifier);
        if (~filenamePosition) {
            return contentDisposition.slice(filenamePosition + fileNameIdentifier.length, contentDisposition.length).replace(/"/g,'');
        }
    }
    return defaultFileName;
};

const downloadFile = (fileBlob, fileName) => {
    const url = window.URL.createObjectURL(new Blob([fileBlob]));
    const link = document.createElement('a');
    link.href = url;
    link.setAttribute('download', `${fileName}`);
    document.body.appendChild(link);
    link.click();
    link.remove();
    link.style.display = 'none';
    window.URL.revokeObjectURL(url);
};

// "api" is an instance of Axios (axios.create)
// "payload" is the payload you submit to the server
const fileBlob = await generateFile({ api, '/url/to/download', payload });
const fileName = getFileName(fileBlob, "MyDownload.xls");
downloadFile(fileBlob.data, fileName);

Answer 14

This Worked for me. i implemented this solution in reactJS

const requestOptions = {`enter code here`
method: 'GET',
headers: { 'Content-Type': 'application/json' }
};

fetch(`${url}`, requestOptions)
.then((res) => {
    return res.blob();
})
.then((blob) => {
    const href = window.URL.createObjectURL(blob);
    const link = document.createElement('a');
    link.href = href;
    link.setAttribute('download', 'config.json'); //or any other extension
    document.body.appendChild(link);
    link.click();
})
.catch((err) => {
    return Promise.reject({ Error: 'Something Went Wrong', err });
})

Answer 15

This function will help you to download a ready xlsx, csv etc file download. I just send a ready xlsx static file from backend and it in react.

const downloadFabricFormat = async () => {
    try{
      await axios({
        url: '/api/fabric/fabric_excel_format/',
        method: 'GET',
        responseType: 'blob',
      }).then((response) => {
         const url = window.URL.createObjectURL(new Blob([response.data]));
         const link = document.createElement('a');
         link.href = url;
         link.setAttribute('download', 'Fabric Excel Format.xlsx');
         document.body.appendChild(link);
         link.click();
      });
    } catch(error){
      console.log(error)
    }
  };

Answer 16

I had an issue where transferring one file I downloaded from axios const axiosResponse = await axios.get(pdf.url) to google drive googleDrive.files.create({media: {body: axiosResponse.data, mimeType}, requestBody: {name: fileName, parents: [parentFolder], mimeType}, auth: jwtClient}) uploaded a corrupted file.

The reason the file was corrupted was because axios transformed the axiosResponse.data to a string. To solve the issue, I had to ask axios to return a stream axios.get(pdf.url, { responseType: 'stream' }).

Answer 17

Implement an Axios handler for the Received document, the data format octect-stream, data might look weird PK something JbxfFGvddvbdfbVVH34365436fdkln as its octet stream format, you might end up creating file with this data might be corrupt, {responseType: 'blob'} will make data into readable format,

axios.get("URL", {responseType: 'blob'})
     .then((r) => {
         let fileName =  r.headers['content-disposition'].split('filename=')[1];
         let blob = new Blob([r.data]);
         window.saveAs(blob, fileName);             
      }).catch(err => {
        console.log(err);
      });

you might have tried solution which fails like this, window.saveAs(blob, 'file.zip') will try to save file as zip but will wont work,

const downloadFile = (fileData) => {
    axios.get(baseUrl+"/file/download/"+fileData.id)
        .then((response) => {
            console.log(response.data);
            const blob = new Blob([response.data], {type: response.headers['content-type'], encoding:'UTF-8'});
            const link = document.createElement('a');
            link.href = window.URL.createObjectURL(blob);
            link.download = 'file.zip';
            link.click();
        })
        .catch((err) => console.log(err))
}
const downloadFile = (fileData) => {
axios.get(baseUrl+"/file/download/"+fileData.id)
    .then((response) => {
        console.log(response);
        //const binaryString = window.atob(response.data)
        //const bytes = new Uint8Array(response.data)
        //const arrBuff = bytes.map((byte, i) => response.data.charCodeAt(i));
        //var base64 = btoa(String.fromCharCode.apply(null, new Uint8Array(response.data)));
        const blob = new Blob([response.data], {type:"application/octet-stream"});
        window.saveAs(blob, 'file.zip')
        // const link = document.createElement('a');
        // link.href = window.URL.createObjectURL(blob);
        // link.download = 'file.zip';
        // link.click();
    })
    .catch((err) => console.log(err))
}
function base64ToArrayBuffer(base64) {
    var binaryString = window.atob(base64);
    var binaryLen = binaryString.length;
    var bytes = new Uint8Array(binaryLen);
    for (var i = 0; i < binaryLen; i++) {
        var ascii = binaryString.charCodeAt(i);
        bytes[i] = ascii;
    };

    return bytes;
}

another short solution is,

window.open("URL")

will keep opening new tabs unnecessarily and user might have to make allow popups for work this code, what if user want to download multiple files at the same time so go with solution first or if not try for other solutions also

Answer 18

For axios POST request, the request should be something like this: The key here is that the responseType and header fields must be in the 3rd parameter of Post. The 2nd parameter is the application parameters.

export const requestDownloadReport = (requestParams) => async dispatch => { 
  let response = null;
  try {
    response = await frontEndApi.post('createPdf', {
      requestParams: requestParams,
    },
    {
      responseType: 'arraybuffer', // important...because we need to convert it to a blob. If we don't specify this, response.data will be the raw data. It cannot be converted to blob directly.
      headers: {
          'Content-Type': 'application/json',
          'Accept': 'application/pdf'
      }
  });          
  }
  catch(err) {
    console.log('[requestDownloadReport][ERROR]', err);
    return err
  }

  return response;
}

Answer 19

The answers using URL.CreateObject() have worked well for me. I still want to point out the option of using HTTP Headers.

Using HttpHeaders has these advantages:

• very widespread browser support
• does not require creating a blob object in the browser's memory
• does not require waiting for the full response from the server before showing giving the user feedback
• no size limitations

Using HttpHeaders requires you to have access to the back-end server where the files are downloaded from (which seems to be the case for OP's Excel files)

HttpHeaders solution:

FRONT-END:

//... 
// the download link
<a href="download/destination?parameter1=foo&param2=bar"> 
click me to download!
</a>

BACK-END

(C# in this example, but could be any language. Adapt as required)

...
var fs = new FileStream(filepath, FileMode.OpenOrCreate, FileAccess.Read);
Response.Headers["Content-Disposition"] = "attachment; filename=someName.txt";
return File(fs, "application/octet-stream");
...

This solution assumes you have control of the back-end server that responds.

https://github.com/eligrey/FileSaver.js/wiki/Saving-a-remote-file#using-http-header

Answer 20

My answer is a total hack- I just created a link that looks like a button and add the URL to that.

<a class="el-button"
  style="color: white; background-color: #58B7FF;"
  :href="<YOUR URL ENDPOINT HERE>"
  :download="<FILE NAME NERE>">
<i class="fa fa-file-excel-o"></i>&nbsp;Excel
</a>

I'm using the excellent VueJs hence the odd anotations, however, this solution is framework agnostic. The idea would work for any HTML based design.