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Upload files in blazor server

Ravindra Devrani
8 min readNov 14, 2023

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In this blog post we are going to learn how to upload files in the blazor server application. I am going to upload images in this tutorial but you can upload any file (i have created reusable code).

💻Source Code: https://github.com/rd003/BlazorFile/

High level overview

We will upload images to a folder of a local machine ( on a production you have to use cloud storage) with a unique name (e.g. sd$3abccc3$1.png ), that name is going to save in database.

note: File name in the folder & database must be in sync and always be unique.

Database and ORM

  • We will use ms sql server database and dapper micro orm.

Database Design

create database BlazorFileDemo

use BlazorFileDemo

create table ImageFile
(
 Id int primary key identity,
 ImageName nvarchar(200) not null
)

Blazor server project

Create new blazor server app with a template “Blazor server app empty”

blazor server app empty

👉 Project Name :

BlazorFile

If you have created the project successfully then move ahead.

Database connectivity

In this section how we can insert record and retrieve record to/from a database.

Required packages: Install these packages from nuget

👉 Dapper

👉 Microsoft.Data.SqlClient

ConnectionString:

// appsettings.json
"ConnectionStrings": {
    "default": "data source=RAVINDRA\\MSSQLSERVER01 ;initial catalog=BlazorFileDemo;integrated security=true;encrypt=false"
  }

Models:

/* Models/ImageFile.cs */

namespace BlazorFile.Models
{
    public class ImageFile
    {
        public int Id { get; set; }
        public string ImageName { get; set; }
    }
}

Image Upload Repository:

Create a new directory Repositories. Inside this directory create a new class ImageUploadRepository.cs.

First we will create an interface. I am going to create interface and class inside a single file , since it is a demo project. I recommend you to create it a new file with Name IImageUploadRepository.cs

// ImageUploadRepository.cs

using BlazorFile.Models;

namespace BlazorFile.Repositories;
public interface IImageUploadRepository
{
    Task UploadImageToDb(ImageFile image);
    Task<IEnumerable<ImageFile>> GetImages();
}

Now we will implement this interface

// ImageUploadRepository.cs

using BlazorFile.Models;
using Dapper;
using Microsoft.Data.SqlClient;
using System.Data;

namespace BlazorFile.Repositories;

// Interface
public interface IImageUploadRepository
{
    Task UploadImageToDb(ImageFile image);
    Task<IEnumerable<ImageFile>> GetImages();
}

// Implementation of interface

public class ImageUploadRepository: IImageUploadRepository
{
    private readonly IConfiguration _config;
    // key defined in the connection string in appsettings.json
    const string CONN_KEY = "default";

    public ImageUploadRepository(IConfiguration config)
    {
        _config = config;
    }

    public async Task UploadImageToDb(ImageFile image)
    {
        var connectionString = _config.GetConnectionString(CONN_KEY);
        using IDbConnection connection = new SqlConnection(connectionString);
        string sql = "insert into ImageFile (ImageName) values (@ImageName)";
        await connection.ExecuteAsync(sql, new { ImageName = image.ImageName });
    }

    public async Task<IEnumerable<ImageFile>> GetImages()
    {
        var connectionString = _config.GetConnectionString(CONN_KEY);
        using IDbConnection connection = new SqlConnection(connectionString);
        string sql = "select * from ImageFile";
        var images = await connection.QueryAsync<ImageFile>(sql);
        return images;
    }
}

Breakdown:

  • Method UploadImageToDb will save your data to db.
  • Method GetImages will retrieve image from database.

Now add these services to DI container. Open program.cs file and add the line below


// program.cs

builder.Services.AddTransient<IImageUploadRepository,ImageUploadRepository>();

File Upload Service

Create a directory and name it Utilities. Inside this create a interface IFileUploadService and a class FileUploadService.

// IFileUploadService.cs
using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Components.Forms;

namespace BlazorFile.Utilities
{
    public interface IFileUploadService
    {
        Task<(int, string)> UploadFileAsync(IBrowserFile file, int maxFileSize, string[] allowedExtensions);
    }
}

Now we will implement this intrerface.

// FileUploadService.cs

using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Components.Forms;

namespace BlazorFile.Utilities;

public class FileUploadService : IFileUploadService
{
    private readonly IWebHostEnvironment _environment;

    public FileUploadService(IWebHostEnvironment environment, ILogger<FileUploadService> logger)
    {
        _environment = environment;
    }
    public async Task<(int, string)> UploadFileAsync(IBrowserFile file, int maxFileSize, string[] allowedExtensions)
    {
        var uploadDirectory = Path.Combine(_environment.WebRootPath, "Uploads");
        if (!Directory.Exists(uploadDirectory))
        {
            Directory.CreateDirectory(uploadDirectory);
        }

        if (file.Size > maxFileSize)
        {
            return (0, $"File: {file.Name} exceeds the maximum allowed file size.");
        }

        var fileExtension = Path.GetExtension(file.Name);
        if (!allowedExtensions.Contains(fileExtension))
        {
            return (0, $"File: {file.Name}, File type not allowed");
        }

        var fileName = $"{Guid.NewGuid()}{fileExtension}";
        var path = Path.Combine(uploadDirectory, fileName);
        await using var fs = new FileStream(path, FileMode.Create);
        await file.OpenReadStream(maxFileSize).CopyToAsync(fs);
        return (1, fileName);
    }

}

Let’s break it down.

  • UploadFileAsync takes 3 params IBrowserFile file, int maxFileSize, string[] allowedExtensions and returns a tuple (int, string). I want to return status code and a message(on error)/filename(on success), that is why Ihave used tuple here.
  • Files will be uploaded inside wwwroot/Uploads. We will check whether this directory exists or not if not then we will create it.
var uploadDirectory = Path.Combine(_environment.WebRootPath, "Uploads");
        if (!Directory.Exists(uploadDirectory))
        {
            Directory.CreateDirectory(uploadDirectory);
        }
  • If file exceeds to its max size we will return with with 0 and error message
 if (file.Size > maxFileSize)
        {
            return (0, $"File: {file.Name} exceeds the maximum allowed file size.");
        }
  • Retrieve the file extension and match it in allowedExtensions array.
var fileExtension = Path.GetExtension(file.Name);
        if (!allowedExtensions.Contains(fileExtension))
        {
            return (0, $"File: {file.Name}, File type not allowed");
        }
  • Create a filename with GUID with file extension, so it will be unique. Open the fileStream and save it to a directory. Return (1,filename). Since we need to save this filename in database ,thats why we are returning it.
var fileName = $"{Guid.NewGuid()}{fileExtension}";
        var path = Path.Combine(uploadDirectory, fileName);
        await using var fs = new FileStream(path, FileMode.Create);
        await file.OpenReadStream(maxFileSize).CopyToAsync(fs);
        return (1, fileName);

Add this service to DI container so open program.cs file.

builder.Services.AddTransient<IFileUploadService,FileUploadService>();

Our program.cs file should like this now.

// program.cs

using BlazorFile.Repositories;
using BlazorFile.Utilities;
using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Components;
using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Components.Web;

var builder = WebApplication.CreateBuilder(args);
builder.Services.AddRazorPages();
builder.Services.AddServerSideBlazor();
// new line
builder.Services.AddTransient<IFileUploadService,FileUploadService>(); 
// new line
builder.Services.AddTransient<IImageUploadRepository,ImageUploadRepository>();

var app = builder.Build();

if (!app.Environment.IsDevelopment())
{
    // The default HSTS value is 30 days. You may want to change this for production scenarios, see https://aka.ms/aspnetcore-hsts.
    app.UseHsts();
}

app.UseHttpsRedirection();

app.UseStaticFiles();

app.UseRouting();

app.MapBlazorHub();
app.MapFallbackToPage("/_Host");

app.Run();

Front end

Open the index.razor file add the necessary imports on the file.

@page "/"
@using BlazorFile.Models;
@using BlazorFile.Repositories;
@using BlazorFile.Utilities;
@using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Components.Forms
@using Microsoft.Extensions.Logging

@inject ILogger<Index> Logger
@inject IFileUploadService fileService
@inject IImageUploadRepository imageUploadRepo

We are injecting Logger(basic logger with console logging), fileService and imageUploadRepo.

// Index.razor 
@code 
{
bool loading = false;
    List<string> messages = new();
    List<IBrowserFile> files = new();
    int maxFileSize = 1 * 1024 * 1024;
    ImageFile imageModel = new();
}

These are few fields that we need in this component.

// Index.razor
@code 
{
   // .....remaining code which is defined above

private async void SelectFiles(InputFileChangeEventArgs e)
    {
        files = e.GetMultipleFiles(maxFileSize).ToList();
    }

    private async Task HandleFormSubmit()
    {
        loading = true;
        messages.Clear();
        var allowedExtenstions = new string[] { ".png", ".jpg", ".jpeg", ".gif" };
        int count = 0;
        foreach (var file in files)
        {
            try
            {
                (int statusCode, string statusMessage) = await fileService.UploadFileAsync(file, maxFileSize, allowedExtenstions);
                if (statusCode == 1)
                {
                    messages.Add($"File : {file.Name} uploaded");
                    var imageData = new ImageFile
                        {
                            ImageName = statusMessage
                        };
                    // saving imagename to database
                    await imageUploadRepo.UploadImageToDb(imageData);
                    count++;
                }
                else
                    messages.Add(statusMessage);

            }
            catch (Exception ex)
            {
                messages.Add($"File : {file.Name} Error : {ex.Message}");
                Logger.LogError(ex.Message);
            }
        }

        loading = false;
        messages.Add($"{count}/{files.Count} uploaded");
    }

}

Add corresponding html too.

// Index.razor
<EditForm Model="@imageModel" OnValidSubmit="@HandleFormSubmit">
    Select File(s):<InputFile OnChange="@SelectFiles" multiple />
    <br />
    <button type="submit">Upload</button>
</EditForm>

@if (loading)
{
    <span>Uploading...</span>
}

<ul style="list-style:none">
    @foreach (var message in messages)
    {
        <li>
            @message
        </li>
    }
</ul>
  • On file’s OnChange() event we are calling SelectFiles() method. In that method we are assigning all the selected files to a list named files.
  • On form submit we are calling HandleFormSubmit() method.
  • There, we will loop over files and inside it we will implement try/catch block.
  • With the help of try/catch block, we can count the successfull uploads.
  • Inside try block we will call fileService.UploadFileAsync(….) method to upload file to the wwwroot/Uploads directory. If we get status code ==1 then we will call imageUploadRepo.UploadImageToDb(…) to save image related data to database.
  • Since we are uploading multiple files, we need to display multiple message. That is why we have taken a list of message. So that we can add multiple messages.

Display Images:

On the same component (Index.razor) we will display images. In index.razor , add new field images which will contain list of messages.

// Index.razor
@code 
{
bool loading = false;
    List<string> messages = new();
    List<IBrowserFile> files = new();
    int maxFileSize = 1 * 1024 * 1024;
    ImageFile imageModel = new();
   List<ImageFile> images = new(); // new line

 // ..... remaining code
}

Now create a method to where you can fetch images data from ImageUploadRepository service.

// Index.razor

@code
{
  // ... remaining code
  
  // new code is below
  private async Task LoadImages()
    {
        try
        {
            images = (await imageUploadRepo.GetImages()).ToList();
        }
        catch(Exception ex)
        {
            messages.Add("Could not load images");
        }
    }
}

We will override a method OnInitializedAsync(), so that we can load data when component is initialized.

// Index.razor

@code
{
  // ... remaining code
  
  // new code is below
protected override async Task OnInitializedAsync()
    {
        messages.Clear();
        loading = true;
        await LoadImages();
        loading = false;
    }
}

Now we need to display it with html and css.

@if(images.Count>0)
{
    <h2>Images</h2>
     <div style="display:flex;gap:20px;flex-wrap:wrap;">
        @foreach (var image in images)
        {
                <img src="/Uploads/@image.ImageName" alt="image">
        }
    </div>
}

👉 Our final Index.razor component will look like this now.

@page "/"
@using BlazorFile.Models;
@using BlazorFile.Repositories;
@using BlazorFile.Utilities;
@using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Components.Forms
@using Microsoft.Extensions.Logging

@inject ILogger<Index> Logger
@inject IFileUploadService fileService
@inject IImageUploadRepository imageUploadRepo

<EditForm Model="@imageModel" OnValidSubmit="@HandleFormSubmit">
    Select File(s):<InputFile OnChange="@SelectFiles" multiple />
    <br />
    <button type="submit">Upload</button>
</EditForm>

@if (loading)
{
    <span>Uploading...</span>
}

<ul style="list-style:none">
    @foreach (var message in messages)
    {
        <li>
            @message
        </li>
    }
</ul>

@if(images.Count>0)
{
    <h2>Images</h2>
     <div style="display:flex;gap:20px;flex-wrap:wrap;">
        @foreach (var image in images)
        {
                <img src="/Uploads/@image.ImageName" alt="image">
        }
    </div>
}

@code {
    bool loading = false;
    List<string> messages = new();
    List<IBrowserFile> files = new();
    int maxFileSize = 1 * 1024 * 1024;
    ImageFile imageModel = new();
    List<ImageFile> images = new();


    private async void SelectFiles(InputFileChangeEventArgs e)
    {
        files = e.GetMultipleFiles(maxFileSize).ToList();
    }

    private async Task HandleFormSubmit()
    {
        loading = true;
        messages.Clear();
        var allowedExtenstions = new string[] { ".png", ".jpg", ".jpeg", ".gif" };
        int count = 0;
        foreach (var file in files)
        {
            try
            {
                (int statusCode, string statusMessage) = await fileService.UploadFileAsync(file, maxFileSize, allowedExtenstions);
                if (statusCode == 1)
                {
                    messages.Add($"File : {file.Name} uploaded");
                    var imageData = new ImageFile
                        {
                            ImageName = statusMessage
                        };
                    // saving imagename to database
                    await imageUploadRepo.UploadImageToDb(imageData);
                    images.Add(imageData);
                    count++;
                }
                else
                    messages.Add(statusMessage);

            }
            catch (Exception ex)
            {
                messages.Add($"File : {file.Name} Error : {ex.Message}");
                Logger.LogError(ex.Message);
            }
        }

        loading = false;
        messages.Add($"{count}/{files.Count} uploaded");
    }


    protected override async Task OnInitializedAsync()
    {
        messages.Clear();
        loading = true;
        await LoadImages();
        loading = false;
    }

    private async Task LoadImages()
    {
        try
        {
            images = (await imageUploadRepo.GetImages()).ToList();
        }
        catch(Exception ex)
        {
            messages.Add("Could not load images");
        }
    }

}

Run the code and enjoy. 😎

If you find this article useful, then consider to clap and share it. You can also follow me on YouTube, I have created lots of content related to .net core and angular.

Connect with me
👉 YouTube: https://youtube.com/@ravindradevrani
👉 Twitter: https://twitter.com/ravi_devrani
👉 GitHub: https://github.com/rd003

Become a supporter ❣️:
You can buy me a coffee 🍵 : https://www.buymeacoffee.com/ravindradevrani

Thanks a lot 🙂🙂

Blazor Server
Blazor

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Ravindra Devrani

Written by Ravindra Devrani

162 Followers

C# | Angular | 📺 YouTube: https://youtube.com/@ravindradevrani

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