asp.net file upload (how to create a hyperlink to uploaded documents, displayed in my gridview)

Question

Afternoon All,

I have a simple file upload tutorial that i have completed for a site that i am developing in visual studio 2010.

I just want to enhance the gridview that shows the uploaded file by making the file a link to that document in the gridview. This will enable users to then upload the file and view the file by pressing a link in the gridview to view the file.

Here is my code so far...

<form id="form1" runat="server">
<div> 
<table style="width: 90%"> 
   <tr> 
      <td style="width: 100px"> Single File Upload:<br />
      <asp:FileUpload ID="FileUpload1" runat="server" /><br />
      <asp:Button ID="buttonUpload" runat="server" Text="Upload" /><br />
<br />
       <asp:GridView ID="UploadedFiles" DataSource="<%# GetUploadList() %>" runat="server" CellPadding="4" ForeColor="#333333" GridLines="None"> 
        <FooterStyle BackColor="#507CD1" Font-Bold="True" ForeColor="White" />
        <RowStyle BackColor="#EFF3FB" />
        <EditRowStyle BackColor="#2461BF" />
        <SelectedRowStyle BackColor="#D1DDF1" Font-Bold="True" ForeColor="#333333" />
        <PagerStyle BackColor="#2461BF" ForeColor="White" HorizontalAlign="Center" />
        <HeaderStyle BackColor="#507CD1" Font-Bold="True" ForeColor="White" />
        <AlternatingRowStyle BackColor="White" />
      </asp:GridView>
    </td>
  </tr>
</table>
</div>
</form> 

And here is the .VB page

Partial Class test
Inherits System.Web.UI.Page

Protected Sub Page_Load(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Me.Load
    If Not IsPostBack Then
        UploadedFiles.DataBind()
    End If
End Sub

    Protected Function GetUploadList() As String()
    Dim folder As String = Server.MapPath("~/Uploads")
    Dim files() As String = Directory.GetFiles(folder)
    Dim fileNames(files.Length - 1) As String
    Array.Sort(files)

    For i As Integer = 0 To files.Length - 1
        fileNames(i) = Path.GetFileName(files(i))
    Next

    Return fileNames
End Function

 Protected Sub UploadThisFile(ByVal upload As FileUpload)
    If upload.HasFile Then
        Dim theFileName As String = Path.Combine(Server.MapPath("~/Uploads"), upload.FileName)
        If File.Exists(theFileName) Then
            File.Delete(theFileName)
        End If
        upload.SaveAs(theFileName)
    End If
End Sub

Protected Sub buttonUpload_Click(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles buttonUpload.Click
    UploadThisFile(FileUpload1)
    UploadedFiles.DataBind()
End Sub

End Class

Im not too sure on how to add a little extra code into the Protected Sub UploadThisFile(ByVal upload As FileUpload) section.

Any help to make this static list of items that are available in the Uploads file to a list that holds a link to these individual documents is much appriechiated.

Many thanks in advance, Betty

Answer 1

Tweat your code this way:

Generate the tags:

Protected Function GetUploadList() As String()

        Dim folder As String = Server.MapPath("~/Uploads")
        Dim files() As String = Directory.GetFiles(folder)
        Dim fileNames(files.Length - 1) As String
        Dim lnk As String = String.Empty
        Array.Sort(files)

        For i As Integer = 0 To files.Length - 1
            lnk = "  <a href=""Uploads/" & files(i).ToString() & """ target=""_blank"">File</a>"
            fileNames(i) = Path.GetFileName(files(i)) & lnk
            lnk = ""
        Next

        Return fileNames

End Function

Access each gridview cell to decode the markup:

Protected Sub UploadedFiles_RowDataBound(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.Web.UI.WebControls.GridViewRowEventArgs) Handles UploadedFiles.RowDataBound

        If e.Row.RowType = DataControlRowType.DataRow Then

            Dim tcls As TableCellCollection = e.Row.Cells

            For Each tc As TableCell In tcls
                tc.Text = Server.HtmlDecode(tc.Text)
            Next

        End If

End Sub    

If you want the "<a>" tag to get generated on your file name you could change each filename this way:

fileNames(i) = "<a href=""Uploads/" & Path.GetFileName(files(i).ToString()) & """ target=""_blank"">" & Path.GetFileName(files(i)) & "</a>"

Hope it helps.