Maintain File Upload Control on Postbacks

Figure 1. File Upload control with a posted file.

Figure 2. The posted file is lost on postback after "Add Attachment" is clicked.

Although the File Upload control cannot save the posted file in its View State, the file can be saved in a session variable for later use. Its name can be displayed in a Literal control. Here is the design.

1. Hide a Literal control behind the File Upload control.


2. On postback, if the File Upload control contains a file, set the file name to the Literal control. Show the Literal control, and hide the File Upload control.


3. Save the posted file to a session variable, since it will be needed when the record is saved.

Figure 4. Add a Literal control alongside the File Upload control.

Step 2: Add a PreRender event handler to switch the visibilities of the controls
In the MyTableControlRow class (in file: ...\<App Name>\App_Code\MyFolder\MyPage.Controls.cs or .vb), insert the following code.

C#:

public MyTableControlRow(){     PreRender += new EventHandler(MyTableControlRow_PreRender); } private void MyTableControlRow_PreRender(object sender, EventArgs e){     if(ATCH_FILE.PostedFile != null && ATCH_FILE.PostedFile.FileName.Length > 0){         // Save PostedFile to a session variable         Page.Session[FilePath.ClientID] = ATCH_FILE.PostedFile;         // Also set filename to ATCH_FILENM         string fullPath = ATCH_FILE.PostedFile.FileName;         int LastIndex = fullPath.LastIndexOf("\\");         ATCH_FILENM.Text = fullPath.Substring((LastIndex + 1));     }     // Show Literal if PostedFile is in the session variable.     if(Page.Session[FilePath.ClientID] != null) {         FilePath.Text = ((HttpPostedFile)Page.Session[FilePath.ClientID]).FileName;         FilePath.Visible = true;         ATCH_FILE.Visible = false;     }else{ // Otherwise, show the FileUpload         FilePath.Visible = false;         ATCH_FILE.Visible = true;     } }

Visual Basic .NET:

Public Sub New()     AddHandler PreRender, AddressOf MyTableControlRow_PreRender End Sub Private Sub MyTableControlRow_PreRender(ByVal sender As Object, _     ByVal e As EventArgs)     If Not ATCH_FILE.PostedFile Is Not Nothing AndAlso _         ATCH_FILE.PostedFile.FileName.Length > 0 Then         ‘ Save PostedFile to a session variable         Page.Session(FilePath.ClientID) = ATCH_FILE.PostedFile         ‘ Also set filename to ATCH_FILENM         Dim fullPath As String = ATCH_FILE.PostedFile.FileName         Dim LastIndex As Integer = fullPath.LastIndexOf("\\")         ATCH_FILENM.Text = fullPath.Substring((LastIndex + 1))     End If     ‘ Show Literal if PostedFile is in the session variable.     If Not Page.Session(FilePath.ClientID) Is Not Nothing then         FilePath.Text = _             (DirectCast(Page.Session(FilePath.ClientID), HttpPostedFile)).FileName         FilePath.Visible = True         ATCH_FILE.Visible = False     Else         ‘ Otherwise, show the FileUpload         FilePath.Visible = False         ATCH_FILE.Visible = True     End If End Sub

Step 3: Override FileDeleteButton_Click event handler
While still in the MyTableControlRow class, add the following code to remove the posted file from the session if the user discards the file.

C#:

public override void FileDeleteButton_Click(object sender, ImageClickEventArgs args){     base.FileDeleteButton_Click(sender, args);     this.Visible = false;     this.Page.Session.Remove(FilePath.ClientID); }

Visual Basic .NET:

Public Overloads Overrides Sub FileDeleteButton_Click(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal args As ImageClickEventArgs)     MyBase.FileDeleteButton_Click(sender, args)     Me.Visible = False     Me.Page.Session.Remove(FilePath.ClientID) End Sub

Step 4: Override GetUIData() for uploading the file
Again in the MyTableControlRow class, insert the following code.

C#:

public override void GetUIData(){     HttpPostedFile file = null;     if (ATCH_FILE.PostedFile != null &&         ATCH_FILE.PostedFile.FileName.Length > 0 &&         ATCH_FILE.PostedFile.ContentLength > 0)         file = ATCH_FILE.PostedFile;     else         file = Page.Session[FilePath.ClientID] as HttpPostedFile;     if(file != null){         DataSource.Parse(MiscUtils.GetFileContent(file), MyTable.ATCH_FILE);         DataSource.Parse(HttpUtility.HtmlDecode(ATCH_FILENM.Text),           MyTable.ATCH_FILENM);     } }

Visual Basic .NET:

Public Overloads Overrides Sub GetUIData()     Dim file As HttpPostedFile = Nothing     If Not ATCH_FILE.PostedFile Is Not Nothing AndAlso _         ATCH_FILE.PostedFile.FileName.Length > 0 AndAlso _         ATCH_FILE.PostedFile.ContentLength > 0 Then         file = ATCH_FILE.PostedFile     Else         file = TryCast(Page.Session(FilePath.ClientID), HttpPostedFile)     End If     If Not file is Not Nothing Then         DataSource.Parse(MiscUtils.GetFileContent(file), MyTable.ATCH_FILE)         DataSource.Parse(HttpUtility.HtmlDecode(ATCH_FILENM.Text), _           MyTable.ATCH_FILENM)     End If End Sub

Step 5: Rebuild and run
Here is what it looks like (Fig. 5).

Figure 5. Upload multiple files in Iron Speed Designer generated app.