ASP.NET includes a control named FileUpload that allows website users to upload files to the web server. The FileUpload control manages the posted file data, by examining it, disregarding it, or saving it to a back-end database or a file on the web server.   The FileUpload control represents the <input  type = “file”> HTML tag and you can use it through the control tag:

<asp:FileUpload ID=”Uploader” runat=”server” />

The next picture shows a complete web page that demonstrates how to upload a user-specified file.  This example allows the upload of only those files with the extensions .pdf, .doc,.xls and .ppt.

 

Uploading file to the Web server with FileUpload control in VB.NET

Uploading file to the Web server with FileUpload control in VB.NET

Here’s the markup for the upload page:

<%@ Page Language=”vb” AutoEventWireup=”false” CodeBehind=”FileUploaderTest.aspx.vb”

Inherits=”FileUploaderVB.FileUploaderTest” %>

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC “-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN” “https://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd”>

<html xmlns=”https://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml”>

<head runat=”server”>

<title>Upload file example in VB.NET</title>

</head>

<body>

<form id=”form1″ runat=”server”>

<div>

<asp:FileUpload ID=”Uploader” runat=”server” Width=”512px” />

<asp:Button ID=”btnUpload” runat=”server” Text=”Upload” OnClick=”btnUpload_Click” />

<br />

<br />

<asp:Label ID=”lblInfo” runat=”server”></asp:Label>

</div>

</form>

</body>

</html>

 

Here’s the VB.NET code for the upload page:

Imports System

Imports System.Collections.Generic

Imports System.Linq

Imports System.Web

Imports System.Web.UI

Imports System.Web.UI.WebControls

Imports System.IO

Public Class FileUploaderTest

Inherits System.Web.UI.Page

Private UploadDir As String

 

Protected Sub Page_Load(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Me.Load

‘ Place files in a website subfolder named Uploads.

UploadDir = Path.Combine(Request.PhysicalApplicationPath, “Uploads”)

End Sub

Protected Sub btnUpload_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles btnUpload.Click

‘Check that a file is actually being submitted.

If Uploader.PostedFile.FileName = “” Then

lblInfo.Text = “You do not specify a file.”

Else

‘ Check the extension.

Dim Ext As String = Path.GetExtension(Uploader.PostedFile.FileName)

Dim SrvFName As String = “”

Dim FullUpldPath As String = “”

 

Select Case Ext.ToLower()

Case “.pdf”, “.doc”, “.xls”, “.ppt”

‘ Using this code, the saved file will retain its original

‘ file name when it’s placed on the server.

SrvFName = Path.GetFileName(Uploader.PostedFile.FileName)

FullUpldPath = Path.Combine(UploadDir, SrvFName)

Case Else

lblInfo.Text = “This file type is not allowed.”

Return

End Select

Try

Uploader.PostedFile.SaveAs(FullUpldPath)

lblInfo.Text = “File ” + SrvFName

lblInfo.Text += ” uploaded successfully to” + FullUpldPath

Catch ex As Exception

lblInfo.Text = ex.Message

End Try

End If

End Sub

End Class

 

Notes:

– The saved file keeps its original (client-side) name. The code uses the Path.GetFileName() static method to transform the fully qualified name provided by FileUpload.PostedFile.FileName and retrieve just the file, without the path.

– The FileUpload.PostedFile object contains only a few properties. One interesting property is ContentLength, which returns the size of the file in bytes. You could examine this setting and use it to prevent a user from uploading excessively large files.