Question

I am trying to upload files to a folder from the admin side like a CMS.
The front-end will display links to download the file.
On the admin end, I would like to not only delete the reference to but also remove the actual file from the server.

Here is the part of my controller that saves the uploaded file:

[HttpPost]
public ActionResult Upload(HttpPostedFileBase file)
{
    if (file != null && file.ContentLength > 0)
    {
        var fileName = Path.GetFileName(file.FileName);
        var path = Path.Combine(Server.MapPath("~/App_Data/uploads"), fileName);
        file.SaveAs(path);

        ViewBag.fileName = fileName.ToString();

        return RedirectToAction("Create", new {fileName = fileName });
    }

    return RedirectToAction("Index");
}

In the Create view, the admin is then allowed to enter other details about the document and that is stored on a table along with the fileName.

Now I need to be able to link to that document name like document.pdf. Am I even able to link to an uploads folder under App_Data folder?

Also, how do I remove the file and not just the table row on doing delete?

Answer 1

Create a separate controller to handle the downloading of the file. It also prevents your users to hotlink directly to the files.

public ActionResult GetDocument(String pathName)
{
    try
    {
        Byte[] buffer = DownloadMyFileFromSomeWhere(pathName);
        FileContentResult result = new FileContentResult(buffer, "PDF"); // or whatever file ext
        // these next two lines are optional
        String[] folders = pathName.Split(new char[] { '\\' }, StringSplitOptions.RemoveEmptyEntries);            
        result.FileDownloadName = folders[folders.Length - 1];

        return result;
    }
    catch (Exception ex)
    {
        // log the error or something
    }
    return new HttpNotFoundResult();
}

Where DownloadMyFileFromSomeWhere(string) should be able to retrieve the byte-array file from some storage like a blob or even the local server. It can look something like:

private Byte[] DownloadMyFileFromSomeWhere(string pathname)
{
    Byte[] file = System.IO.File.ReadAllBytes(Server.MapPath(pathname));
    return file;
}

For the Admin side, you can do the same approach: Write a separate controller to delete the file and its entry in the database.