OutOfMemoryException when send big file 500MB using FileStream ASPNET - asp.net

Question

I'm using Filestream for read big file (> 500 MB) and I get the OutOfMemoryException.
I use Asp.net , .net 3.5, win2003, iis 6.0
I want this in my app:
Read DATA from Oracle
Uncompress file using FileStream and BZip2
Read file uncompressed and send it to asp.net page for download.
When I read file from disk, Fails !!! and get OutOfMemory...
. My Code is:
using (var fs3 = new FileStream(filePath2, FileMode.Open, FileAccess.Read))
{
byte[] b2 = ReadFully(fs3, 1024);
}
// http://www.yoda.arachsys.com/csharp/readbinary.html
public static byte[] ReadFully(Stream stream, int initialLength)
{
// If we've been passed an unhelpful initial length, just
// use 32K.
if (initialLength < 1)
{
initialLength = 32768;
}
byte[] buffer = new byte[initialLength];
int read = 0;
int chunk;
while ((chunk = stream.Read(buffer, read, buffer.Length - read)) > 0)
{
read += chunk;
// If we've reached the end of our buffer, check to see if there's
// any more information
if (read == buffer.Length)
{
int nextByte = stream.ReadByte();
// End of stream? If so, we're done
if (nextByte == -1)
{
return buffer;
}
// Nope. Resize the buffer, put in the byte we've just
// read, and continue
byte[] newBuffer = new byte[buffer.Length * 2];
Array.Copy(buffer, newBuffer, buffer.Length);
newBuffer[read] = (byte)nextByte;
buffer = newBuffer;
read++;
}
}
// Buffer is now too big. Shrink it.
byte[] ret = new byte[read];
Array.Copy(buffer, ret, read);
return ret;
}
Now, I specify my issue better.
Uncompress file using FileStream and BZip2 is OK, all is right.
The Problem is the following:
Read fat big file in disk (> 500 MB) in byte[] and send bytes to Response (asp.net) for download it.
When use
http://www.yoda.arachsys.com/csharp/readbinary.html
public static byte[] ReadFully
I get the error: OutOfMemoryException...
If better BufferedStream than Stream (FileStream, MemoryStream, ...) ??
Using BufferedStream , Can I read big file of 700 MB ?? (any sample code source using BufferedStream for download big file)
I think, this is the question: Not "how to read a 500mb file into memory?" , But "how to send a large file to the ASPNET Response stream?"
I found this code by Cheeso:
using (var fs = new FileStream(filePath, FileMode.Open, FileAccess.Read))
{
Response.BufferOutput= false; // to prevent buffering
byte[] buffer = new byte[1024];
int bytesRead = 0;
while ((bytesRead = fs.Read(buffer, 0, buffer.Length)) > 0)
{
Response.OutputStream.Write(buffer, 0, bytesRead);
}
}
Is it good code ?? any improvements for high performance ??
A collegue say me, use
Response.TransmitFile(filePath);
Now, another question, better TransmitFile or code by Cheeso ??
Many years ago, in msdn magazine appears great article about it but I cannot access http://msdn.microsoft.com/msdnmag/issues/06/09/WebDownloads/,
Update: You can access using webarchive in the link: https://web.archive.org/web/20070627063111/http://msdn.microsoft.com/msdnmag/issues/06/09/WebDownloads/
Any suggestions, comments, sample code source??

Answer 1

I've created download page which allows user to download up to 4gb (may be more) few months ago. Here is my working snippet:
private void TransmitFile(string fullPath, string outFileName)
{
System.IO.Stream iStream = null;
// Buffer to read 10K bytes in chunk:
byte[] buffer = new Byte[10000];
// Length of the file:
int length;
// Total bytes to read:
long dataToRead;
// Identify the file to download including its path.
string filepath = fullPath;
// Identify the file name.
string filename = System.IO.Path.GetFileName(filepath);
try
{
// Open the file.
iStream = new System.IO.FileStream(filepath, System.IO.FileMode.Open,
System.IO.FileAccess.Read, System.IO.FileShare.Read);
// Total bytes to read:
dataToRead = iStream.Length;
Response.Clear();
Response.ContentType = "application/octet-stream";
Response.AddHeader("Content-Disposition", "attachment; filename=" + outFileName);
Response.AddHeader("Content-Length", iStream.Length.ToString());
// Read the bytes.
while (dataToRead > 0)
{
// Verify that the client is connected.
if (Response.IsClientConnected)
{
// Read the data in buffer.
length = iStream.Read(buffer, 0, 10000);
// Write the data to the current output stream.
Response.OutputStream.Write(buffer, 0, length);
// Flush the data to the output.
Response.Flush();
buffer = new Byte[10000];
dataToRead = dataToRead - length;
}
else
{
//prevent infinite loop if user disconnects
dataToRead = -1;
}
}
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
throw new ApplicationException(ex.Message);
}
finally
{
if (iStream != null)
{
//Close the file.
iStream.Close();
}
Response.Close();
}
}

Answer 2

You do not need to hold the whole file in memory just read it and write to the response stream in a loop.

Answer 3

I came across this question in my search to return a FileStreamResult from a controller, as I kept running into issues while working with large streams due to .Net trying to build the entire response all at once. Pavel Morshenyuk's answer was a huge help, but I figured I'd share the BufferedFileStreamResult that I ended up with.
/// <summary>Based upon https://stackoverflow.com/a/3363015/595473 </summary>
public class BufferedFileStreamResult : System.Web.Mvc.FileStreamResult
{
public BufferedFileStreamResult(System.IO.Stream stream, string contentType, string fileDownloadName)
: base(stream, contentType)
{
FileDownloadName = fileDownloadName;
}
public int BufferSize { get; set; } = 16 * 1024 * 1024;//--16MiB
protected override void WriteFile(System.Web.HttpResponseBase response)
{
try
{
response.Clear();
response.Headers.Set("Content-Disposition", $"attachment; filename={FileDownloadName}");
response.Headers.Set("Content-Length", FileStream.Length.ToString());
byte[] buffer;
int bytesRead;
while (response.IsClientConnected)//--Prevent infinite loop if user disconnects
{
buffer = new byte[BufferSize];
//--Read the data in buffer
if ((bytesRead = FileStream.Read(buffer, 0, BufferSize)) == 0)
{
break;//--Stop writing if there's nothing left to write
}
//--Write the data to the current output stream
response.OutputStream.Write(buffer, 0, bytesRead);
//--Flush the data to the output
response.Flush();
}
}
finally
{
FileStream?.Close();
response.Close();
}
}
}
Now, in my controller, I can just
return new BufferedFileStreamResult(stream, contentType, fileDownloadName);

Answer 4

There are more than one solution
1- Using RecyclableMemoryStream instead of MemoryStream solution
You can read more about RecyclableMemoryStream here :
http://www.philosophicalgeek.com/2015/02/06/announcing-microsoft-io-recycablememorystream/
https://github.com/Microsoft/Microsoft.IO.RecyclableMemoryStream
2- Using MemoryTributary instead of MemoryStream
You can read more about MemoryTributary here :
https://www.codeproject.com/Articles/348590/A-replacement-for-MemoryStream?msg=5257615#xx5257615xx
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.IO;
using System.Runtime.InteropServices;
namespace LiquidEngine.Tools
{
/// <summary>
/// MemoryTributary is a re-implementation of MemoryStream that uses a dynamic list of byte arrays as a backing store, instead of a single byte array, the allocation
/// of which will fail for relatively small streams as it requires contiguous memory.
/// </summary>
public class MemoryTributary : Stream /* http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.io.stream.aspx */
{
#region Constructors
public MemoryTributary()
{
Position = 0;
}
public MemoryTributary(byte[] source)
{
this.Write(source, 0, source.Length);
Position = 0;
}
/* length is ignored because capacity has no meaning unless we implement an artifical limit */
public MemoryTributary(int length)
{
SetLength(length);
Position = length;
byte[] d = block; //access block to prompt the allocation of memory
Position = 0;
}
#endregion
#region Status Properties
public override bool CanRead
{
get { return true; }
}
public override bool CanSeek
{
get { return true; }
}
public override bool CanWrite
{
get { return true; }
}
#endregion
#region Public Properties
public override long Length
{
get { return length; }
}
public override long Position { get; set; }
#endregion
#region Members
protected long length = 0;
protected long blockSize = 65536;
protected List<byte[]> blocks = new List<byte[]>();
#endregion
#region Internal Properties
/* Use these properties to gain access to the appropriate block of memory for the current Position */
/// <summary>
/// The block of memory currently addressed by Position
/// </summary>
protected byte[] block
{
get
{
while (blocks.Count <= blockId)
blocks.Add(new byte[blockSize]);
return blocks[(int)blockId];
}
}
/// <summary>
/// The id of the block currently addressed by Position
/// </summary>
protected long blockId
{
get { return Position / blockSize; }
}
/// <summary>
/// The offset of the byte currently addressed by Position, into the block that contains it
/// </summary>
protected long blockOffset
{
get { return Position % blockSize; }
}
#endregion
#region Public Stream Methods
public override void Flush()
{
}
public override int Read(byte[] buffer, int offset, int count)
{
long lcount = (long)count;
if (lcount < 0)
{
throw new ArgumentOutOfRangeException("count", lcount, "Number of bytes to copy cannot be negative.");
}
long remaining = (length - Position);
if (lcount > remaining)
lcount = remaining;
if (buffer == null)
{
throw new ArgumentNullException("buffer", "Buffer cannot be null.");
}
if (offset < 0)
{
throw new ArgumentOutOfRangeException("offset",offset,"Destination offset cannot be negative.");
}
int read = 0;
long copysize = 0;
do
{
copysize = Math.Min(lcount, (blockSize - blockOffset));
Buffer.BlockCopy(block, (int)blockOffset, buffer, offset, (int)copysize);
lcount -= copysize;
offset += (int)copysize;
read += (int)copysize;
Position += copysize;
} while (lcount > 0);
return read;
}
public override long Seek(long offset, SeekOrigin origin)
{
switch (origin)
{
case SeekOrigin.Begin:
Position = offset;
break;
case SeekOrigin.Current:
Position += offset;
break;
case SeekOrigin.End:
Position = Length - offset;
break;
}
return Position;
}
public override void SetLength(long value)
{
length = value;
}
public override void Write(byte[] buffer, int offset, int count)
{
long initialPosition = Position;
int copysize;
try
{
do
{
copysize = Math.Min(count, (int)(blockSize - blockOffset));
EnsureCapacity(Position + copysize);
Buffer.BlockCopy(buffer, (int)offset, block, (int)blockOffset, copysize);
count -= copysize;
offset += copysize;
Position += copysize;
} while (count > 0);
}
catch (Exception e)
{
Position = initialPosition;
throw e;
}
}
public override int ReadByte()
{
if (Position >= length)
return -1;
byte b = block[blockOffset];
Position++;
return b;
}
public override void WriteByte(byte value)
{
EnsureCapacity(Position + 1);
block[blockOffset] = value;
Position++;
}
protected void EnsureCapacity(long intended_length)
{
if (intended_length > length)
length = (intended_length);
}
#endregion
#region IDispose
/* http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/fs2xkftw.aspx */
protected override void Dispose(bool disposing)
{
/* We do not currently use unmanaged resources */
base.Dispose(disposing);
}
#endregion
#region Public Additional Helper Methods
/// <summary>
/// Returns the entire content of the stream as a byte array. This is not safe because the call to new byte[] may
/// fail if the stream is large enough. Where possible use methods which operate on streams directly instead.
/// </summary>
/// <returns>A byte[] containing the current data in the stream</returns>
public byte[] ToArray()
{
long firstposition = Position;
Position = 0;
byte[] destination = new byte[Length];
Read(destination, 0, (int)Length);
Position = firstposition;
return destination;
}
/// <summary>
/// Reads length bytes from source into the this instance at the current position.
/// </summary>
/// <param name="source">The stream containing the data to copy</param>
/// <param name="length">The number of bytes to copy</param>
public void ReadFrom(Stream source, long length)
{
byte[] buffer = new byte[4096];
int read;
do
{
read = source.Read(buffer, 0, (int)Math.Min(4096, length));
length -= read;
this.Write(buffer, 0, read);
} while (length > 0);
}
/// <summary>
/// Writes the entire stream into destination, regardless of Position, which remains unchanged.
/// </summary>
/// <param name="destination">The stream to write the content of this stream to</param>
public void WriteTo(Stream destination)
{
long initialpos = Position;
Position = 0;
this.CopyTo(destination);
Position = initialpos;
}
#endregion
}
}