store HttpContext.Current.Request.Files in session variable

Question

Hi, I want to store files uploaded by user in session variable,so that i can use it from any page i want in my project.i am retreiving files from statement:

httpFileCollection uploads=HttpContext.Current.Request.Files;

how can i store and retrieve this in session variable??

Thanks in adavnce

Answer 1

That Files object is limited to the current request; to persist this between requests you need to do something with the uploaded data - either SaveAs, or by reading from the InputStream.

IMO, storing it in session is not a great idea for scalability reasons - it would be more natural, for example, to write the files to a shared scratch area on disk, and store the paths in session.

Answer 2

The same way that you store and retrieve ANY other object into and from Session state:

//Store
Session["UploadedFiles"] = uploads;

//Retrieve
if (Session["UploadedFiles"] != null)
{
  //try-catch blocks omitted for brevity. Please implement yourself.
  HttpFileCollection myUploads = (HttpFileCollection)Session["UploadedFiles"];

  // Do something with the HttpFileCollection (such as Save).

  // Remove the object from Session after you have retrieved it.
  Session.Remove("UploadedFiles");
}

The wisdom of storing this object in Session is quite debatable and I would not recommend it however.

As for the contention (refer your previous question) that the HttpFileCollection variable cannot be stored in Session state, I refute that as I have been able to do it in the past. Once you have retrieved the object into a variable, you can save it however you want.