Uploading a file in Asp.Net MVC application is very easy. The posted file is automatically available as a HttpPostedFileBase parameters in the action of the controler. For uploading a file on the server you required to have a file input control with in html form having encoding type set to multipart/form-data. The default encoding type of a form is application/x-www-form-urlencoded and this is no sufficient for posting a large amount of data to server.

How to do it..

Step 1 : Form for uploading the file

@using (Html.BeginForm("FileUpload", "Home", FormMethod.Post, new { enctype = "multipart/form-data" }))
{ 
 @Html.ValidationSummary();
 <ol>
 <li class="lifile">
 <input type="file" id="fileToUpload" name="file" />
 <span class="field-validation-error" id="spanfile"></span>
 </li>
 </ol>
 <input type="submit" id="btnSubmit" value="Upload" />
}

Step 2 : Validating the file on client side

<script type="text/jscript">
//get file size
function GetFileSize(fileid) {
 try 
 {
 var fileSize = 0;
 //for IE
 if ($.browser.msie) 
 {
 //before making an object of ActiveXObject, 
 //please make sure ActiveX is enabled in your IE browser
 var objFSO = new ActiveXObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject"); var filePath = $("#" + fileid)[0].value;
 var objFile = objFSO.getFile(filePath);
 var fileSize = objFile.size; //size in kb
 fileSize = fileSize / 1048576; //size in mb 
 }
 //for FF, Safari, Opeara and Others
 else 
 {
 fileSize = $("#" + fileid)[0].files[0].size //size in kb
 fileSize = fileSize / 1048576; //size in mb 
 }
 return fileSize;
 }
 catch (e) 
 {
 alert("Error is :" + e);
 }
}
 
//get file path from client system
function getNameFromPath(strFilepath) 
{
 var objRE = new RegExp(/([^\/\\]+)$/);
 var strName = objRE.exec(strFilepath);
 
 if (strName == null) 
 {
 return null;
 }
 else 
 {
 return strName[0];
 }
}
 
$("#btnSubmit").live("click", function () 
{
 if ($(‘#fileToUpload‘).val() == "") 
 {
 $("#spanfile").html("Please upload file");
 return false;
 }
 else 
 {
 return checkfile();
 }
});
 
function checkfile() 
{
 var file = getNameFromPath($("#fileToUpload").val());
 if (file != null) 
 {
 var extension = file.substr((file.lastIndexOf(‘.‘) + 1));
 // alert(extension);
 switch (extension) {
 case ‘jpg‘:
 case ‘png‘:
 case ‘gif‘:
 case ‘pdf‘:
 flag = true;
 break;
 default:
 flag = false;
 }
 }
 if (flag == false) 
 {
 $("#spanfile").text("You can upload only jpg,png,gif,pdf extension file");
 return false;
 }
 else 
 {
 var size = GetFileSize(‘fileToUpload‘);
 if (size > 3) 
 {
 $("#spanfile").text("You can upload file up to 3 MB");
 return false;
 }
 else 
 {
 $("#spanfile").text("");
 }
 }
}
 
$(function () 
{
 $("#fileToUpload").change(function () {
 checkfile();});
});
</script>

Step 3 : Controller‘s action for receiving the posted file

[HttpPost]
public ActionResult FileUpload(HttpPostedFileBase file)
{
 if (ModelState.IsValid)
 {
 if (file == null)
 {
 ModelState.AddModelError("File", "Please Upload Your file");
 }
 else if (file.ContentLength > 0)
 {
 int MaxContentLength = 1024 * 1024 * 3; //3 MB
 string[] AllowedFileExtensions = new string[] { ".jpg", ".gif", ".png", ".pdf" };
 
 if (!AllowedFileExtensions.Contains(file.FileName.Substring(file.FileName.LastIndexOf(‘.‘))))
 {
 ModelState.AddModelError("File", "Please file of type: " + string.Join(", ", AllowedFileExtensions));
 }
 
 else if (file.ContentLength > MaxContentLength)
 {
 ModelState.AddModelError("File", "Your file is too large, maximum allowed size is: " + MaxContentLength + " MB");
 }
 else
 {
 //TO:DO
 var fileName = Path.GetFileName(file.FileName);
 var path = Path.Combine(Server.MapPath("~/Content/Upload"), fileName);
 file.SaveAs(path);
 ModelState.Clear();
 ViewBag.Message = "File uploaded successfully";
 }
 }
 }
 return View();
}

How it works...

How to upload a file in MVC4