File Upload ASP.NET MVC 3.0

Question

(Preface: this question is about ASP.NET MVC 3.0 which was released in 2011, it is not about ASP.NET Core 3.0 which was released in 2019)

I want to

Answer 1

Often you want to pass a viewmodel also, and not the only one file. In the code below you'll find some other useful features:

• checking if the file has been attached
• checking if file size is 0
• checking if file size is above 4 MB
• checking if file size is less than 100 bytes
• checking file extensions

It could be done via the following code:

[HttpPost]
public ActionResult Index(MyViewModel viewModel)
{
    // if file's content length is zero or no files submitted

    if (Request.Files.Count != 1 || Request.Files[0].ContentLength == 0)
    {
        ModelState.AddModelError("uploadError", "File's length is zero, or no files found");
        return View(viewModel);
    }

    // check the file size (max 4 Mb)

    if (Request.Files[0].ContentLength > 1024 * 1024 * 4)
    {
        ModelState.AddModelError("uploadError", "File size can't exceed 4 MB");
        return View(viewModel);
    }

    // check the file size (min 100 bytes)

    if (Request.Files[0].ContentLength < 100)
    {
        ModelState.AddModelError("uploadError", "File size is too small");
        return View(viewModel);
    }

    // check file extension

    string extension = Path.GetExtension(Request.Files[0].FileName).ToLower();

    if (extension != ".pdf" && extension != ".doc" && extension != ".docx" && extension != ".rtf" && extension != ".txt")
    {
        ModelState.AddModelError("uploadError", "Supported file extensions: pdf, doc, docx, rtf, txt");
        return View(viewModel);
    }

    // extract only the filename
    var fileName = Path.GetFileName(Request.Files[0].FileName);

    // store the file inside ~/App_Data/uploads folder
    var path = Path.Combine(Server.MapPath("~/App_Data/uploads"), fileName);

    try
    {
        if (System.IO.File.Exists(path))
            System.IO.File.Delete(path);

        Request.Files[0].SaveAs(path);
    }
    catch (Exception)
    {
        ModelState.AddModelError("uploadError", "Can't save file to disk");
    }

    if(ModelState.IsValid)
    {
        // put your logic here

        return View("Success");
    }

    return View(viewModel);         
}

Make sure you have

@Html.ValidationMessage("uploadError")

in your view for validation errors.

Also keep in mind that default maximum request length is 4MB (maxRequestLength = 4096), to upload larger files you have to change this parameter in web.config:

(40960 = 40 MB here).

Execution timeout is the whole number of seconds. You may want to change it to allow huge files uploads.