File upload in MVC using a handler file

Here's how you can upload files in ASP.NET MVC without resorting to a HttpHandler (*.ashx):

Let's assume you want to create a new user profile. Each profile has a name and a profile picture.

1) Declare a model. Use the HttpPostedFileBase type for the profile picture.

public class ProfileModel
{
    public string Name { get; set; }
    public HttpPostedFileBase ProfilePicture { get; set; }
}

2) Use this model to create a view which contains a form that can be used to create a new profile. Don't forget to specify the enctype="multipart/form-data".

<% using (Html.BeginForm("Add", "Profiles", FormMethod.Post, 
          new { enctype = "multipart/form-data" })) { %>
   <%=Html.TextBoxFor(m => m.Name)%>
   <input type="file" id="ProfilePicture" name="ProfilePicture" />    
   <input type="submit" value="Save" />
<% }%>

3) Declare an action method in your controller that accepts the posted form. Here you can access a stream representing the uploaded file. The following code example reads the stream into a byte array (buffer). Afterwards you can save the file to the file system, a database...etc.

[HttpPost]
public ActionResult Add(ProfileModel model)
{  
    if (model.ProfilePicture != null && model.ProfilePicture.InputStream != null)
    {
        var filename = model.ProfilePicture.FileName;

        var buffer = new byte[model.ProfilePicture.InputStream.Length];
        model.ProfilePicture.InputStream.Read(buffer, 0, 
            (int) model.ProfilePicture.InputStream.Length);

        //...
     }
}