Rails how do I - export data with send_data then redirect_to a new page?

Question

I have a rails app that allows a user to download a generated CSV file. After the file is downloaded, I'd like to redirect the user to a new URL or action. Is there a trick to do a redirect after a send_data?

I want to do something like this (which doesn't work):

send_data(output,:type => content_type,:filename => "myfile.csv")
redirect_to :controller => 'my_controller', :action => 'download_done'

Answer 1

send_data is a render, so you can't do anything after it in a controller method.

The ways around it all involve Javascript. Here's one way I hacked together and never really liked:

• user hits submit
• small window pops up and connects to the controller to download the file
• main window redirects to the next page

Eventually I turned file generation into a background job. Then the user went to a jobs page (that didn't need a subsequent redirect) to get the files.