Angular 4.3: Getting an arraybuffer with new HttpClient

Question

I would like to change to the new HttpClient. Until now I handle file downloads the following:

getXlsx (): Observable<any> {
    return this.http.get('api/xlsx', {
      responseType: ResponseContentType.ArrayBuffer, // set as ArrayBuffer instead of Json
    })
    .map(res => downloadFile(res, 'application/xlsx', 'export.xlsx'))
    .catch(err => handleError(err));
  }

export function downloadFile(data: any, type: string, filename: string): string {
  const blob = new Blob([data._body], { type });
  const url = window.URL.createObjectURL(blob);

  // create hidden dom element (so it works in all browsers)
  const a = document.createElement('a');
  a.setAttribute('style', 'display:none;');
  document.body.appendChild(a);

  // create file, attach to hidden element and open hidden element
  a.href = url;
  a.download = filename;
  a.click();
  return url;
}

Changing the respondeType to 'arraybuffer' will result in empty files. Any ideas how to solve it?

Answer 1

So Martin has solved my issue:

getXlsx (): Observable<any> {
    return this.http.get('api/xlsx', {
      responseType: 'blob' // <-- changed to blob
    })
    .map(res => downloadFile(res, 'application/xlsx', 'export.xlsx'))
    .catch(err => handleError(err));
  }

export function downloadFile(blob: any, type: string, filename: string): string {
  const url = window.URL.createObjectURL(blob); // <-- work with blob directly

  // create hidden dom element (so it works in all browsers)
  const a = document.createElement('a');
  a.setAttribute('style', 'display:none;');
  document.body.appendChild(a);

  // create file, attach to hidden element and open hidden element
  a.href = url;
  a.download = filename;
  a.click();
  return url;
}