Redirect / show view after generated file is dowloaded

Question

I've got a controller action that downloads a dynamically generated file:

    public ActionResult DownloadFile()
    {
        var obj = new MyClass { MyString = "Hello", MyBool = true };
        var ser = new XmlSerializer(typeof(MyClass));
        var stream = new MemoryStream();
        ser.Serialize(stream, obj);
        stream.Position = 0;

        Response.Clear();
        Response.AddHeader("Content-Disposition", "attachment; filename=myfile.xml");
        Response.ContentType = "application/xml";

        // Write all my data
        stream.WriteTo(Response.OutputStream);
        Response.End();

        return Content("Downloaded");
    }

Just for reference:

    public class MyClass
    {
        public string MyString { get; set; }
        public int MyInt { get; set; }
    }

This is working, and the file (myfile.xml) is downloaded.
However, the message "Downloaded" is not sent to the browser.

Similarly, if I replace return Content("Downloaded");
for return Redirect("www.something.com");
then the browser is redirected before the file downloads.

As a bit of a pre-amble, the user journey is:

• User fills out form on previous view
• Form is submitted
• XML is generated and downloaded
• User is redirected / "Downloaded" view is shown (so hitting F5 won't re-post the form)

Answer 1

As Ross has said, you can only return one response to a HTTP request. What i do in that case is:

1. Send the request to the server
2. The server generates the file and stores it in some server side data structure (Cache, Usersession, TempData)
3. The server returns a RedirectToAction() (POST, REDIRECT, GET pattern)
4. The redirected action returns a View with some javascript which
5. Triggers the download of the pregenerated file by setting window.location.href property to an special download action which sends the file back to the browser