MVC - Print contents of files (DOCX, PDF, etc) stored on SQL SERVER

To achieve your goal of printing out the contents of each document stored in the SQL Server database, you can modify your approach to read each document's contents from the database and then display or download them one after the other. Since you're dealing with various file types stored as VARBINARY(MAX), you'll need to determine the appropriate way to handle each file type.

Here's how you can modify your code:

@if (Model.Case_Documents_List.Count > 0)
{
   

In the above code:

• Replace "YourController" with the name of your controller.
• Replace "ViewDocument" with the name of the action method in your controller that will handle displaying or downloading the document.
• documentId should be the parameter name you expect to receive in the action method.

Now, in your controller, you need to implement the ViewDocument action method:

public ActionResult ViewDocument(int documentId)
{
    // Retrieve the document from the database using the documentId
    var document = YourDatabaseContext.Case_Documents.FirstOrDefault(d => d.DocumentId == documentId);

    if (document == null)
    {
        // Document not found, handle error
        return HttpNotFound();
    }

    // Convert VARBINARY data to byte array
    byte[] fileBytes = document.DOC_DOCUMENT_Content;

    // Determine the file extension
    string fileExt = document.FileExtension.ToUpper();

    // Set appropriate content type based on file extension
    string contentType;
    switch (fileExt)
    {
        case "PDF":
            contentType = "application/pdf";
            break;
        case "JPG":
        case "JPEG":
            contentType = "image/jpeg";
            break;
        case "PNG":
            contentType = "image/png";
            break;
        // Add cases for other file types as needed
        default:
            contentType = "application/octet-stream"; // Default to binary stream
            break;
    }

    // Return the file as a FileResult
    return File(fileBytes, contentType);
}
 

In the ViewDocument action method:

• Retrieve the document from the database based on the documentId.
• Get the document's content as a byte array (fileBytes) and its file extension (fileExt).
• Determine the appropriate content type (contentType) based on the file extension.
• Return the document as a FileResult with the specified content type.

This setup should allow you to loop through your list of documents, and when a user clicks "View Document," it will display or download the document based on its file type.