Save a Document

• Nov 15, 2022
• 2 minutes to read

The Spreadsheet allows you to save an active document at any point in time. To initiate a save operation, send the Spreadsheet’s client state to the server within a POST request.

The example below illustrates how to send a POST request to the server once a user clicks an app’s custom Save button:

Razor

<div id="button-save"></div>
<script type="text/javascript">
    $("#button-save").dxButton({
        text: "Save",
        onClick: function (e) {
            var spreadsheetState = spreadsheet.getSpreadsheetState();
            $.ajax({
                type: 'POST',
                url: '@Url.Action("SaveDocument")',
                data: { spreadsheetState: spreadsheetState }
            });
        }
    });
</script>

@(Html.DevExpress()
    .Spreadsheet("spreadsheet")
)

On the server, use the GetSpreadsheetFromState method to access the server-side Spreadsheet object. Call this object’s Save() method to save the document that you opened from a file. If you opened a document from a byte array or stream, call the SaveCopy method overload to save the document to a file using custom storage:

C#

public class SpreadsheetController : Controller {

    public void SaveDocument(SpreadsheetClientState spreadsheetState) {
        var spreadsheet = SpreadsheetRequestProcessor.GetSpreadsheetFromState(spreadsheetState);

        // Saves an active document back to the file you opened it from
        spreadsheet.Save();

        // Saves a copy of an active document to a file in the server's file system.
        spreadsheet.SaveCopy("your-file-path");

        // Saves a copy of an active document to a byte array
        byte[] documentContent = spreadsheet.SaveCopy(DocumentFormat.Xlsx);

        // Saves a copy of an active document to a stream
        var stream = new MemoryStream();
        spreadsheet.SaveCopy(stream, DocumentFormat.Xlsx);
    }
}

Run Demo: Open a File Run Demo: Open a Byte Array Run Demo: Open a Stream

Enable Auto-Save Feature

The Spreadsheet can save an active document at regular intervals. Pass the On mode to the AutoSaveMode method to enable auto-save feature. Call the AutoSaveTimeout method to set the control’s auto-save timeout period:

Razor

@(Html.DevExpress().Spreadsheet("spreadsheet")
    // ...
    .AutoSaveMode(DevExpress.Web.Office.AutoSaveMode.On)
    .AutoSaveTimeout(TimeSpan.FromMinutes(3)))

The Spreadsheet cannot save the following documents:

• Documents with an empty identifier.
• Documents opened from a custom storage as a byte array or stream.

In such instances, you need to implement custom auto-save logic in the AddAutoSaving method (to save the document):

Program.cs

builder.Services.AddSingleton<IHttpContextAccessor, HttpContextAccessor>();
builder.Services.AddDevExpressControls(options => {
    options.AddSpreadsheet(
        spreadsheetOptions => {
            spreadsheetOptions
                .AddAutoSaving(
                    (IDocumentInfo documentInfo, DocumentSavingEventArgs e) => {
                        byte[] documentContent = documentInfo.SaveCopy();
                        // Your custom logic to save a document
                        e.Handled = true;
                    }
                );
        }
    );
});