When you click a protected file in Sitefinity it will send you over to your login page with a ReturnUrl back to the file, so something to this effect will be the URL

https://www.yoursite.com/login?ReturnUrl=https%3a%2f%2fwww.yoursite.com%2fdocs%2fdefault-source%2fsomefile.pdf%3fStatus%3dMaster%26sfvrsn%3dca0ac48b_2%26download%3dtrue

The fundamental issue though is that files are sent through an HttpHandler which can't do a redirect to somewhere else AFTER it sends you the file through the browser. So while the client does get the file, they're just staring at a blank page with the login auth route...

https://www.yoursite.com/Sitefinity/Authenticate/OpenID/connect/authorize?client_id=sitefinity&redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.yoursite.com%2F&response_mode=form_post...

The fix is to do a couple things...

  • Step 1:You want to detect the return url is a file and send it to an actual internal page to show the download (In this case a "Your file will download in 5 seconds..." thing.
Global.asax.csView on GitHub
public class Global : System.Web.HttpApplication
{
        protected void Application_Start(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            Bootstrapper.Bootstrapped += this.Bootstrapper_Bootstrapped;
        }
        

    private void Bootstrapper_Bootstrapped(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
        //Tell Sitefinity to use YOUR custom model instead of the default
        FrontendModule.Current.DependencyResolver.Rebind<ILoginFormModel>().To<LoginFormModelCustom>();
    }



}

  • Step 2: You want to have a Custom MVC widget on that page to handle that file download
AutoDownload.cshtmlView on GitHub
@model SitefinityWebApp.Mvc.Models.Download.DownloadModel



<div class="container">
    <div class="row">
        <div class="col text-center">
            @if (Model.HasFile)
            {
                <h2 class="mb-4">Your download will start in 5 seconds...</h2>
                <div>
                    <a id="downloadLink" href="@Model.Filename?hash=@DateTime.Now.Millisecond.GetHashCode()" class="btn btn-primary" target="_blank">Download Now</a>
                    <a href="/" class="btn btn_border2 ml-3" target="_blank">Home</a>
                </div>
            }
            else
            {
                <h2 class="mb-3">Nothing to download</h2>
                <a href="/" class="btn btn_border2" target="_blank">Home</a>
            }
        </div>
    </div>
</div>


@if (Model.HasFile)
{
    <script>
        setTimeout(function () {
            document.getElementById("downloadLink").click();
        }, 5000);
    </script>
}

So this is a WHOLE lot when it should be an OOTB feature, lets call this a bug, please go upvote it here