SQL database file system provider

1 Feb 20263 minutes to read

To get started with the SQL database file system provider, ensure that a SQL Server instance or LocalDB is available and properly configured. A database with the required schema to manage files and folders should be created, and a valid connection string must be defined in the application configuration to establish connectivity.

The SQL database file system provider allows the users to manage the file system being maintained in a SQL database table. Unlike the other file system providers, the SQL database file system provider works on ID basis. Here, each file and folder have a unique ID based on which all the file operations will be performed. To get started, clone the EJ2.ASP.NET Core SQL Server Database File Provider using the following command.

git clone https://github.com/SyncfusionExamples/sql-server-database-aspcore-file-provider  sql-server-database-aspcore-file-provider

After cloning, just open the project in Visual Studio and restore the NuGet packages. To establish the SQL server connection with the database file (for eg: FileManager.mdf), you need to specify the connection string in the web.config file as shown below.

<add name="FileExplorerConnection" connectionString="Data Source=(LocalDB)\v11.0;AttachDbFilename=|DataDirectory|\FileManager.mdf;Integrated Security=True;Trusted_Connection=true" />

Then, make an entry for the connection string in appsettings.json file as shown below.

"ConnectionStrings": {
    "FileManagerConnection": "Data Source=(LocalDB)\\MSSQLLocalDB;AttachDbFilename=|DataDirectory|\\App_Data\\FileManager.mdf;Integrated Security=True;Connect Timeout=30"
  }

Now, to configure the database connection, you need to set the connectionName, tableName, rootFolderID value by passing these values to the SetSQLConnection method in the SQLProviderController.cs file.

operation.SetSQLConnection(connectionName, tableName, rootFolderID);

NOTE

Refer to this FileManager.mdf to learn about the pre-defined file system SQL database for the Blazor File Manager.

After configuring the connection, just build and run the project. Now, the project will be hosted in http://localhost:{port} and just mapping the FileManagerAjaxSettings property of the File Manager component to the appropriate controller methods allows to manage the files in the SQL database table.

@*Initializing File Manager with SQL database file system service*@

@* Replace the hosted port number in the place of "{port}" *@

<SfFileManager TValue="FileManagerDirectoryContent">
    <FileManagerAjaxSettings Url="http://localhost:{port}/api/SQLProvider/SQLFileOperations"
                             UploadUrl="http://localhost:{port}/api/SQLProvider/SQLUpload"
                             DownloadUrl="http://localhost:{port}/api/SQLProvider/SQLDownload"
                             GetImageUrl="http://localhost:{port}/api/SQLProvider/SQLGetImage">
    </FileManagerAjaxSettings>
</SfFileManager>

To perform file operations (Read, Create, Rename, Delete, Get file details, Search, Copy, Move, Upload, Download, GetImage) in the Syncfusion^® Blazor File Manager component using the SQL database file system provider, you need to initialize the SQL database file system provider in the controller.

To initialize a local service with the above-mentioned file operations, create a new folder named Controllers inside the server part of the project. Then, create a new file with the extension .cs inside the Controllers folder and add the necessary file operations code available in the SQLProviderController.cs found at this link. Additionally, you can check out all the necessary file operation method details for this provider in the same GitHub repository.

NOTE

To learn more about file actions that can be performed with SQL database file system provider, refer to this link