How can i download an excel file from sharepoint server?

Question

I have a project (c# console application), in which I want to automatically download an excel file, via URL, with login credentials.

I have been using a webclient to download the file automatically, and all I receive is an html page as response, informing me to login into the site (I have run it in Chrome.)

     private static string url = "[the whole url link to the file, deleted for privacy]";
     public void test()
    {
        const string username = "[mail]";
        const string password = "[password]";

        var securedPassword = new SecureString();
        foreach (var c in password.ToCharArray())
        {
            securedPassword.AppendChar(c);
        }

        var credentials = new SharePointOnlineCredentials(username, securedPassword);

        DownloadFile(url, credentials, @"C:\Documents\ExcelFilesSinc\test.xlsx");
    }


    private static void DownloadFile(string webUrl, ICredentials credentials, string fileRelativeUrl)
    {
        using (var client = new WebClient())
        {
            client.Credentials = credentials;

            string _UserAgent = "Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.2; .NET CLR 1.0.3705;)";
            client.Headers.Add(HttpRequestHeader.UserAgent, _UserAgent);
            client.DownloadFile(webUrl, fileRelativeUrl);
        }
    }

In this way, the file is generated, but the whole content saved in it is an HTML page that requires me to login to Microsoft. Any suggestions?

Answer 1

You can try to add headers for base auth like

client.Headers.Add("X-FORMS_BASED_AUTH_ACCEPTED", "f");
client.Headers.Add("User-Agent: Other");
client.Credentials = credentials;

see also here: Download File From SharePoint 365