window.location.href does not work in Internet Explorer with XLS files

Question

I have a legacy application that, at some point, generates the following code in one of its pages:

window.location.href = "http://localhost:8080/myApplication/manuals/charts.xls";

When Mozilla sees this, it opens a download dialog with "open with...\save as..." options.

IE (v7 and v8) does not open a dialog. It takes the file and just renders it in the page, like some HTML; but it's a binary file, so all you see is garbage on the screen.

Has anyone encountered this before?

EDIT1: This works on some IE browser but not on all. I am thinking a configuration issue with IE. Also, for .ppt and .doc files it works, the issue is just for .xls files.

EDIT2: Even if I place a link in the page like:

click <a href="http://localhost:8080/myApplication/manuals/charts.xls">here</a> for the XLS

it won’t display the dialog box when I click on it. It just gets written in the page.

Answer 1

You need to make sure your web server is sending the correct MIME type for the xls file.

Look for a directory WEB-INF with a file web.xml. Add this to the file, within the web-app element:

<mime-mapping>
  <extension>xls</extension>
  <mime-type>application/octet-stream</mime-type>
</mime-mapping>