Uploading an image to database in C#

1. Placing the FileUpload object

First, we need to set the FileUpload object, we will use the one .Net gives us:

    <asp:FileUpload ID="myFile" runat="server" />

That was easy 🙂

2. Getting the file from the FileUpload object

2.1 Checking the uploaded file is an image

Before going on, I want to show you this useful function you will need later:

        public Boolean IsImage(HttpPostedFile pf) {
            Boolean res = false;

            switch (pf.ContentType) {
                case "image/gif":
                case "image/jpeg":
                case "image/jpg":
                case "image/bmp":
                case "image/png":
                case "image/pjpeg":
                case "image/x-png":
                    res = true;
                    break;
                default:
                    res = false;
                    break;
            }

            if (!res) { //If the filetype doesnt work i try with the extension:
                switch (Path.GetExtension(pf.FileName)) {
                    case "gif":
                    case "jpeg":
                    case "jpg":
                    case "bmp":
                    case "png":
                        res = true; break;
                    default: break;
                }
            }

            return res;
        }

2.2 Checking Im uploading something

I like to have these two useful methods:

        private Boolean IsUploadingAnImage() {
            return (myFile.PostedFile != null && myFile.PostedFile.FileName != "");
        }

        private void UploadPhoto() {
            MyNamespace.Uploads.UploadProfileImage(myFile); // A call to a class that will do the stuff (see below)
            // Do more stuff if necessary
        }

So I can do this:

        if (IsUploadingAnImage()) { UploadPhoto(); }

2.3 Getting the file

To get the file in the object you need a byte array to get the input, then you can use that array to save it into the db, to create a file and save it in disk or to create an image object and play with it before doing something else. Lets see:

// Getting the object into a byte array:
byte[] fileData = new byte[Uploader.PostedFile.ContentLength]; //We make a byte array with the file size.
Uploader.PostedFile.InputStream.Read(fileData, 0, (int)Uploader.PostedFile.ContentLength); //we read the file into our array.

Saving it into the database

Putting all of it together and using a stored that saves the image into db with its type.

        public void UploadProfileImage(FileUpload Uploader) {
            if (IsImage(Uploader.PostedFile)) {

                byte[] fileData = new byte[Uploader.PostedFile.ContentLength]; //We make a byte array with the file size.
                Uploader.PostedFile.InputStream.Read(fileData, 0, (int)Uploader.PostedFile.ContentLength); //we read the file into our array.

                List<SqlParameter> pl = new List<SqlParameter>();
                pl.Add(new SqlParameter("image", fileData));
                pl.Add(new SqlParameter("mimeType", Uploader.PostedFile.ContentType));

                IDataReader dr = MyNamespace.db.getReader("sp_UploadImage", pl);
                if (dr != null && dr.Read()) {
                    if (dr[0].ToString().ToUpper() == "OK") { 
                        ImageID = (int)dr[1]; // I could get the new image id in db, for example.
                    }
                }

            } else {
                ErrorMessage = "File must be an image.";
            }
        }