Uploading a File to a SharePoint Site from a Local Folder

Article
03/25/2009

This programming task shows how to upload a file to a folder on a SharePoint site from a local folder. The task uses the EnsureParentFolder method to ensure that the destination folder exists.

Create a Web application in Visual Studio .NET as described in Creating a Web Application on a SharePoint Site, adding a FormDigest control and a page directive for the Microsoft.SharePoint.WebControls namespace to the .aspx file, as follows:
```
<%@ Register Tagprefix="SharePoint" Namespace="Microsoft.SharePoint.WebControls"
   Assembly="Microsoft.SharePoint, Version=11.0.0.0, Culture=neutral,
   PublicKeyToken=71e9bce111e9429c" %>
```
Note You can obtain the PublicKeyToken value for the current Windows SharePoint Services deployment from the default.aspx file in the Local_Drive:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\60\TEMPLATE\LCID(1033 in English)\STS folder, or from information provided for the Microsoft.SharePoint assembly at Local_Drive:\WINDOWS|WINNT\assembly in Windows Explorer.

Add an HtmlInputFile control, a text box, and a button to the form on the .aspx page:

<form id="Form1" method="post" >
   <SharePoint:FormDigest  />
   <input id="File1" type="file"  title="upldFileBox">
   <asp:Button id="Button1"  Text="Upload File"></asp:Button>
   <asp:TextBox id="TextBox1" ></asp:TextBox>
</form>

In the .aspx.cs code-behind file, add using directives for the System.IO and Microsoft.SharePoint namespaces, as follows:

[Visual Basic .NET]

Imports System.IO
Imports Microsoft.SharePoint

[C#]

using System.IO;
using Microsoft.SharePoint;

Add the following code to the Click event for the button:

[Visual Basic .NET]

If File1.PostedFile Is Nothing Then

    Return

End If

Dim destUrl As String = TextBox1.Text

Dim site As SPWeb = New SPSite(destUrl).OpenWeb()

Dim fStream As Stream = File1.PostedFile.InputStream
Dim contents(fStream.Length) As Byte

fStream.Read(contents, 0, CInt(fStream.Length))
fStream.Close()

EnsureParentFolder(site, destUrl)

site.Files.Add(destUrl, contents)

[C#]

if (File1.PostedFile == null)
    return;

string destUrl = TextBox1.Text;

SPWeb site = new SPSite(destUrl).OpenWeb();

Stream fStream = File1.PostedFile.InputStream;
byte[] contents = new byte[fStream.Length];

fStream.Read(contents, 0, (int)fStream.Length);
fStream.Close();

EnsureParentFolder(site, destUrl);

site.Files.Add(destUrl, contents);

The value typed in the text box for the destination must be an absolute URL, including the file name, which is assigned to the destUrl parameter.

In addition to instantiating an SPWeb object for the parent site, the combined use of the SPSite constructor and OpenWeb method validates the URL and throws an argument exception if the URL is not served by the current Windows SharePoint Services deployment. A System.Web.UI.HtmlControls.HtmlInputFile object is used to read the source file into a byte array for use with the Add method of the SPFileCollection class.

The EnsureParentFolder method ensures that the parent folder in the destination URL exists in the specified site, and it returns the site-relative URL of the parent folder. The EnsureParentFolder method accepts two parameters: an SPWeb object that represents the parent site, and a string that contains the absolute URL that is passed from the UploadFile method. If the parent folder does not exist, the EnsureParentFolder method creates it.

[Visual Basic .NET]

Public Function EnsureParentFolder(parentSite As SPWeb, destinUrl As String) As String

    destinUrl = parentSite.GetFile(destinUrl).Url

    Dim index As Integer = destinUrl.LastIndexOf("/")
    Dim parentFolderUrl As String = String.Empty

    If index > - 1 Then

        parentFolderUrl = destinUrl.Substring(0, index)

        Dim parentFolder As SPFolder = parentSite.GetFolder(parentFolderUrl)

        If Not parentFolder.Exists Then

            Dim currentFolder As SPFolder = parentSite.RootFolder
            Dim folder As String

            For Each folder In  parentFolderUrl.Split("/"c)

                currentFolder = currentFolder.SubFolders.Add(folder)

            Next folder

        End If

    End If

    Return parentFolderUrl

End Function 'EnsureParentFolder

[C#]

public string EnsureParentFolder(SPWeb parentSite, string destinUrl)
{
    destinUrl = parentSite.GetFile(destinUrl).Url;

    int index = destinUrl.LastIndexOf("/");
    string parentFolderUrl = string.Empty;

    if (index > -1)
    {
        parentFolderUrl = destinUrl.Substring(0, index);

        SPFolder parentFolder = parentSite.GetFolder(parentFolderUrl);

        if (! parentFolder.Exists)
        {
            SPFolder currentFolder = parentSite.RootFolder;

            foreach(string folder in parentFolderUrl.Split('/'))
            {
                currentFolder = currentFolder.SubFolders.Add(folder);
            }
        }
    }

    return parentFolderUrl;
}

The GetFile method of the SPWeb class is used in combination with the Url property of the SPFile class to convert the URL to a site-relative URL, throwing an exception if the specified URL is not found within the scope of the site. The URL of the parent folder is calculated by using the String.LastIndexOf method to determine the last appearance of a forward slash (/) within the destination URL. If there is no slash (in other words, the index equals -1), then the destination is the root folder for the site and the parentFolderUrl parameter returns an empty string. Otherwise, the example uses the GetFolder method of the SPWeb class to return the destination parent folder. If the folder does not exist, the example constructs the folder.

To upload a file from a local folder on the same server that is running Windows SharePoint Services, you can instead use a System.IO.FileStream object. In this case, add a using directive for the System.IO namespace, in addition to directives for System and Microsoft.SharePoint. The following example uses the Click event handler to call an UploadFile method, which in turn calls the previously described EnsureParentFolder method:

[Visual Basic .NET]

Public Sub UploadFile(srcUrl As String, destUrl As String)

    If Not File.Exists(srcUrl) Then

        Throw New ArgumentException(String.Format("{0} does not exist", srcUrl), "srcUrl")

    End If

    Dim site As SPWeb = New SPSite(destUrl).OpenWeb()

    Dim fStream As FileStream = File.OpenRead(srcUrl)
    Dim contents(fStream.Length) As Byte
    fStream.Read(contents, 0, CInt(fStream.Length))
    fStream.Close()

    EnsureParentFolder(site, destUrl)

    site.Files.Add(destUrl, contents)

End Sub 'UploadFile

[C#]

public void UploadFile(string srcUrl, string destUrl)
{
    if (! File.Exists(srcUrl))
    {
        throw new ArgumentException(String.Format("{0} does not exist", srcUrl), "srcUrl");
    }

    SPWeb site = new SPSite(destUrl).OpenWeb();

    FileStream fStream = File.OpenRead(srcUrl);
    byte[] contents = new byte[fStream.Length];
    fStream.Read(contents, 0, (int)fStream.Length);
    fStream.Close();

    EnsureParentFolder(site, destUrl);
    site.Files.Add(destUrl, contents);
}

The UploadFile method accepts two parameters. The srcUrl parameter specifies the path of the source location in the file system of the local computer, and the destUrl parameter specifies the absolute URL of the destination. A System.IO.FileStream object is used to read the source file into a byte array for use with the Add method of the SPFileCollection class.

Note The size of the file that is uploaded cannot exceed two gigabytes.

Uploading a File to a SharePoint Site from a Local Folder

Additional resources