HttpPostedFileBase always return null in ASP.NET MVC

Question

I have a problem when I upload a file in ASP.NET MVC. My code is below:

View:

@{
    ViewBag.Title = "Index";
    Layout = "~/Views/Shared/_Layout.cshtml";
}

<h2>Index2</h2>
@using (Html.BeginForm("FileUpload", "Board", FormMethod.Post, new { enctype = "multipart/form-data" }))
{
  <input type="file" />
  <input type="submit" />
}

Controller:

[HttpPost]
public ActionResult FileUpload(HttpPostedFileBase uploadFile)
{
    if (uploadFile != null && uploadFile.ContentLength > 0)
    {
        string filePath = Path.Combine(Server.MapPath("/Temp"), Path.GetFileName(uploadFile.FileName));
        uploadFile.SaveAs(filePath);
    }
    return View();
}

But uploadFile always returns null. Can anyone figure out why??

score 129 · Accepted Answer · edited Jan 02 '16 at 12:21

129

@{
    ViewBag.Title = "Index";
    Layout = "~/Views/Shared/_Layout.cshtml";
}

<h2>Index2</h2>
@using (Html.BeginForm("FileUpload", "Board", FormMethod.Post, new { enctype = "multipart/form-data" }))
{
  <input type="file" name="uploadFile"/>
  <input type="submit" />
}

you have to provide name to input type file to uploadFile in order to model binding work in ASP.net mvc and
also make sure that name of your input type file and argument name of HttpPostedFileBase is identical.

edited Jan 02 '16 at 12:21

Frank Myat Thu

4,172
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answered Dec 18 '11 at 12:13

dotnetstep

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wow...thanks very much. I had no idea about this MVC. I am very new to ASP.NET MVC. Thanks. – Joshua Son Dec 18 '11 at 13:29
53

I hadn't missed the field name but had the same 'null' issue due to missing the enctype parameter in the form definition. Thanks for the example. – eageranalyst Apr 02 '12 at 08:54
10

And the name in the controller parameter must match the name in the form. – pat capozzi Dec 17 '13 at 23:34
Thanks @patcapozzi! That parameter matching bit really saved my bacon. – Chris Valdivia Jun 11 '14 at 18:20
2

Thanks for this - I am doing multiple file uploads (so my FileUpload method has a parameter type of IEnumerable), and I named all of my file input elements the same to match the parameter name and it worked like a charm. – How 'bout a Fresca Sep 10 '15 at 15:22
I had a space in `enctype = "multipart/form-data "` before closing double quotes that was causing issue. – Anup Sharma Nov 10 '16 at 08:24
Thank you so much ... saved me – Rush.2707 Dec 26 '16 at 11:41
Thank you so much..had no idea that this could be the reason. – gunjan maheshwari Jan 20 '17 at 15:39
Yes, I was missing the `enctype` setting as well. Where is that documented? – Jonathan Wood Mar 27 '17 at 04:06
1

I was missing method="POST": `
`
– Dani Mar 31 '17 at 10:21
1

@Jonathan wood : It is not ASP.net mvc but it is related to html. https://www.w3.org/TR/html401/interact/forms.html#h-17.13.4.2 – dotnetstep Apr 01 '17 at 00:48
@Dani Method must be post in order to handle large amount of data. – dotnetstep Apr 01 '17 at 00:49
i was missing `set` attribute :) `public HttpPostedFileBase File { get; /* missing set; */ }` – Muflix Jun 23 '17 at 10:53
1

In my scenario, name attribute of file input is not matching the HTTPPost Method HttpPostedFileBase param name. `public ActionResult Index(HttpPostedFileBase abc) and ` – Pranesh Janarthanan Nov 13 '19 at 09:17

score 10 · Answer 2 · answered Sep 03 '14 at 21:23

I had tried most of the solutions posted online for this topic, but found it better to use a workaround instead..

It really didn't matter what I did the HttpPostedFileBase and/or HttpPostedFile were always null. Using the HttpContext.Request.Files collection seemed to work with no hassles at all.

e.g.

 if (HttpContext.Request.Files.AllKeys.Any())
        {
            // Get the uploaded image from the Files collection
            var httpPostedFile = HttpContext.Request.Files[0];

            if (httpPostedFile != null)
            {
                // Validate the uploaded image(optional)

                // Get the complete file path
                var fileSavePath =(HttpContext.Server.MapPath("~/UploadedFiles") + httpPostedFile.FileName.Substring(httpPostedFile.FileName.LastIndexOf(@"\")));

                // Save the uploaded file to "UploadedFiles" folder
                httpPostedFile.SaveAs(fileSavePath);
            }
        }

In the above example I only grab the first file, but it is just a matter of looping though the collection to save all files.

HTH

Rob

This works! Was unable to determine why it was always null with the other technique. Thanks! — Tarik.J, Mar 15 '18 at 20:26
Thank you, you are awesome! it took me two days to find the solution, @roblem — zaf y, Nov 28 '20 at 13:51

score 5 · Answer 3 · answered Mar 19 '15 at 13:44

5

In my scenario the problem was with id attribute, I had this:

<input type="file" name="file1" id="file1" />

The soultion was to remove id:

<input type="file" name="file1"  />

answered Mar 19 '15 at 13:44

pawel

51
1
2

3

Damm, in my case, I was using HttpPostedFile instead of HttpPostedFileBase.. programmer error :/ – Samuel Diogo Oct 21 '15 at 16:13
Samuel you saved my day! Although it is explained at http://stackoverflow.com/a/24911221/2346618 I think it is silly to use a base class HttpPostedFileBase in signature. In object oriented programming, base classes are used to help construction of concrete classes and interfaces are used for protocols. Using an interface like IHttpPostedFile will be less error-prone IMO. – Gökçer Gökdal Jan 31 '16 at 17:36

jmoreno · Answer 4 · 2018-06-21T01:11:42.880

3

While not the answer to this specific user, I would like to point out that HTML requires that the form tag has an enctype attribute with the value multipart/form-data. And of course both the attribute and it's value must be correct.

For mvc, this means that when using beginform, you should use the version with the htmlAttributes parameter

edited Jun 21 '18 at 01:11

answered Oct 22 '17 at 02:50

jmoreno

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I found this to be really helpful, and loaded with information on enctype [https://stackoverflow.com/questions/4526273/what-does-enctype-multipart-form-data-mean](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/4526273/what-does-enctype-multipart-form-data-mean). It's a great explanation. – Greg Barth Jun 20 '18 at 21:32

score 0 · Answer 5 · answered Jun 21 '14 at 18:06

There can be another scenario also. In my case, I was getting this issue because I was directly rendering script tag in my MVC view and IE is giving issue there.

Correct code in view should be as below:

@section scripts
{
    <script>
        $(document).ready(function () {
            $('.fileinput').fileinput();
...
}

score 0 · Answer 6 · answered Jul 18 '20 at 19:22

0

You need to use Razor code to set Name of the input file.

<input type="file" name="@Html.Namefor(m => m.propertyName)">

answered Jul 18 '20 at 19:22

Muhammad Zubair KHan

15
1
6

HttpPostedFileBase always return null in ASP.NET MVC

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