ASP.NET MVC passing Model *together* with files back to controller

Question

Ok, I've been going at this for several hours and I simply cannot find the solution.

I want to get some data from my user. So first, I use a controller to create a view which receives a Model:

public ViewResult CreateArticle()
{
    Article newArticle = new Article();
    ImagesUploadModel dataFromUser = new ImagesUploadModel(newArticle);
    return View(dataFromUser);
}

Then, I have the view:

<asp:Content ID="Content1" ContentPlaceHolderID="MainContentPlaceHolder" runat="server">

    <h2>AddArticle</h2>

    <% using (Html.BeginForm("CreateArticle", "Admin", FormMethod.Post, new { enctype = "multipart/form-data" })){ %>


                <%= Html.LabelFor(model => model.newArticle.Title)%>
                <%= Html.TextBoxFor(model => model.newArticle.Title)%>

                <%= Html.LabelFor(model => model.newArticle.ContentText)%>
                <%= Html.TextBoxFor(model => model.newArticle.ContentText)%>

                <%= Html.LabelFor(model => model.newArticle.CategoryID)%>
                <%= Html.TextBoxFor(model => model.newArticle.CategoryID)%>

                <p>
                    Image1: <input type="file" name="file1" id="file1" />
                </p>
                <p>
                    Image2: <input type="file" name="file2" id="file2" />
                </p>

            <div>
                <button type="submit" />Create
            </div>



    <%} %>


</asp:Content>

and finally - the original controller, but this time configured to accept the data:

   [HttpPost]
    public ActionResult CreateArticle(ImagesUploadModel dataFromUser)
    {
        if (ModelState.IsValid)
        {
            HttpPostedFileBase[] imagesArr;
            imagesArr = new HttpPostedFileBase[2]; 
            int i = 0;
            foreach (string f in Request.Files)
            {
                HttpPostedFileBase file = Request.Files[f];
                if (file.ContentLength > 0)
                    imagesArr[i] = file;
            }

The rest of this controller does not matter since no matter what I do, the count attribute of Request.Files (or Request.Files.Keys) remains 0. I simply can't find a way to pass the files from the form (the Model passes just fine).

Answer 1

You might want to consider not posting the files with the rest of the form- there are good reasons and other ways you can achieve what you want.

Also, check out this question and this advice regarding file uploads in MVC.

Answer 2

You could add the files to your view model:

public class ImagesUploadModel
{
    ...
    public HttpPostedFileBase File1 { get; set; }
    public HttpPostedFileBase File2 { get; set; }
}

And then:

[HttpPost]
public ActionResult CreateArticle(ImagesUploadModel dataFromUser)
{
    if (ModelState.IsValid)
    {
        // Use dataFromUser.File1 and dataFromUser.File2 directly here
    }
    return RedirectToAction("index");
}