Getting Started with Blazor File Manager Component

3 Mar 202524 minutes to read

This section briefly explains about how to include Blazor FileManager component in your Blazor Server App using Visual Studio and Visual Studio Code.

Prerequisites

Create a new Blazor App in Visual Studio

You can create a Blazor Server App using Visual Studio via Microsoft Templates or the Syncfusion® Blazor Extension.

Install Syncfusion® Blazor File Manager and Themes NuGet in the App

To add Blazor FileManager component in the app, open the NuGet package manager in Visual Studio (Tools → NuGet Package Manager → Manage NuGet Packages for Solution), search and install Syncfusion.Blazor.FileManager and Syncfusion.Blazor.Themes. Alternatively, you can utilize the following package manager command to achieve the same.

Install-Package Syncfusion.Blazor.FileManager -Version 29.1.33
Install-Package Syncfusion.Blazor.Themes -Version 29.1.33

NOTE

Syncfusion® Blazor components are available in nuget.org. Refer to NuGet packages topic for available NuGet packages list with component details.

Prerequisites

Create a new Blazor App in Visual Studio Code

You can create a Blazor Server App using Visual Studio Code via Microsoft Templates or the Syncfusion® Blazor Extension.

Alternatively, you can create a Server application using the following command in the terminal(Ctrl+`).

dotnet new blazorserver -o BlazorApp
cd BlazorApp

Install Syncfusion® Blazor File Manager and Themes NuGet in the App

  • Press Ctrl+` to open the integrated terminal in Visual Studio Code.
  • Ensure you’re in the project root directory where your .csproj file is located.
  • Run the following command to install a Syncfusion.Blazor.FileManager and Syncfusion.Blazor.Themes NuGet package and ensure all dependencies are installed.
dotnet add package Syncfusion.Blazor.FileManager -v 29.1.33
dotnet add package Syncfusion.Blazor.Themes -v 29.1.33
dotnet restore

NOTE

Syncfusion® Blazor components are available in nuget.org. Refer to NuGet packages topic for available NuGet packages list with component details.

Register Syncfusion® Blazor Service

Open ~/_Imports.razor file and import the Syncfusion.Blazor and Syncfusion.Blazor.FileManager namespace.

@using Syncfusion.Blazor
@using Syncfusion.Blazor.FileManager

Now, register the Syncfusion® Blazor Service in the ~/Program.cs file of your Blazor Server App.

using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Components;
using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Components.Web;
using Syncfusion.Blazor;

var builder = WebApplication.CreateBuilder(args);

// Add services to the container.
builder.Services.AddRazorPages();
builder.Services.AddServerSideBlazor();
builder.Services.AddSyncfusionBlazor();

var app = builder.Build();
....

Add stylesheet and script resources

The theme stylesheet and script can be accessed from NuGet through Static Web Assets. Reference the stylesheet and script in the <head> of the main page as follows:

  • For .NET 6 Blazor Server app, include it in ~/Pages/_Layout.cshtml file.

  • For .NET 7 Blazor Server app, include it in the ~/Pages/_Host.cshtml file.

<head>
    ....
    <link href="_content/Syncfusion.Blazor.Themes/bootstrap5.css" rel="stylesheet" />
    <script src="_content/Syncfusion.Blazor.Core/scripts/syncfusion-blazor.min.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
</head>

NOTE

Check out the Blazor Themes topic to discover various methods (Static Web Assets, CDN, and CRG) for referencing themes in your Blazor application. Also, check out the Adding Script Reference topic to learn different approaches for adding script references in your Blazor application.

Add Blazor File Manager component

Add the Syncfusion® Blazor File Manager component in the ~/Pages/Index.razor file.

@using Syncfusion.Blazor.FileManager

<SfFileManager TValue="FileManagerDirectoryContent">
    <FileManagerAjaxSettings Url="https://ej2-aspcore-service.azurewebsites.net/api/FileManager/FileOperations"
                             UploadUrl="https://ej2-aspcore-service.azurewebsites.net/api/FileManager/Upload"
                             DownloadUrl="https://ej2-aspcore-service.azurewebsites.net/api/FileManager/Download"
                             GetImageUrl="https://ej2-aspcore-service.azurewebsites.net/api/FileManager/GetImage">
    </FileManagerAjaxSettings>
</SfFileManager>

Create Models

Create a new folder named Models in the server project. Add the necessary model files to this folder for handling file operations. Download the PhysicalFileProvider.cs and Base folder from this repository and place them in the Models folder.

Create a new folder controller

To initialize a local service, create a new folder name with Controllers inside the server part of the project. Then, create a new file FileManagerController with extension .cs inside the Controllers folder.

Make sure your controller FileManagerController.cs uses the model classes you’ve created. Import the model namespace at the top of your controller file

File Manager’s base functions are available in the below namespace.

using Syncfusion.EJ2.FileManager.Base;

File Manager’s operations are available in the below namespace.

using Syncfusion.EJ2.FileManager.PhysicalFileProvider;

Initialize the service in controller

File Manager supports the basic file actions like Read, Delete, Copy, Move, Get Details, Search, Rename, and Create New Folder.

To initialize a local service, create a new folder name with Controllers inside the server part of the project. Then, create a new file FileManagerController with extension .cs inside the Controllers folder and add the following code in that file.

using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc;
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Hosting;
using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Http;
using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Http.Features;
//File Manager's base functions are available in the below namespace.
using Syncfusion.EJ2.FileManager.Base;
//File Manager's operations are available in the below namespace.
using Syncfusion.EJ2.FileManager.PhysicalFileProvider;
using System.IO;
using System.Linq;
using System.Threading.Tasks;

namespace filemanager.Server.Controllers
{
    [Route("api/[controller]")]
    public class FileManagerController : Controller
    {
        public PhysicalFileProvider operation;
        public string basePath;
        string root = "wwwroot\\Files";
        [Obsolete]
        public FileManagerController(IWebHostEnvironment hostingEnvironment)
        {
            this.basePath = hostingEnvironment.ContentRootPath;
            this.operation = new PhysicalFileProvider();
            this.operation.RootFolder(this.basePath + "\\" + this.root); // It denotes in which files and folders are available.
        }

        // Processing the File Manager operations.
        [Route("FileOperations")]
        public object FileOperations([FromBody] FileManagerDirectoryContent args)
        {
            switch (args.Action)
            {
                // Add your custom action here.
                case "read":
                    // Path - Current path; ShowHiddenItems - Boolean value to show/hide hidden items.
                    return this.operation.ToCamelCase(this.operation.GetFiles(args.Path, args.ShowHiddenItems));
                case "delete":
                    // Path - Current path where the folder to be deleted; Names - Name of the files to be deleted
                    return this.operation.ToCamelCase(this.operation.Delete(args.Path, args.Names));
                case "copy":
                    //  Path - Path from where the file was copied; TargetPath - Path where the file/folder is to be copied; RenameFiles - Files with same name in the copied location that is confirmed for renaming; TargetData - Data of the copied file
                    return this.operation.ToCamelCase(this.operation.Copy(args.Path, args.TargetPath, args.Names, args.RenameFiles, args.TargetData));
                case "move":
                    // Path - Path from where the file was cut; TargetPath - Path where the file/folder is to be moved; RenameFiles - Files with same name in the moved location that is confirmed for renaming; TargetData - Data of the moved file
                    return this.operation.ToCamelCase(this.operation.Move(args.Path, args.TargetPath, args.Names, args.RenameFiles, args.TargetData));
                case "details":
                    // Path - Current path where details of file/folder is requested; Name - Names of the requested folders
                    return this.operation.ToCamelCase(this.operation.Details(args.Path, args.Names));
                case "create":
                    // Path - Current path where the folder is to be created; Name - Name of the new folder
                    return this.operation.ToCamelCase(this.operation.Create(args.Path, args.Name));
                case "search":
                    // Path - Current path where the search is performed; SearchString - String typed in the searchbox; CaseSensitive - Boolean value which specifies whether the search must be casesensitive
                    return this.operation.ToCamelCase(this.operation.Search(args.Path, args.SearchString, args.ShowHiddenItems, args.CaseSensitive));
                case "rename":
                    // Path - Current path of the renamed file; Name - Old file name; NewName - New file name
                    return this.operation.ToCamelCase(this.operation.Rename(args.Path, args.Name, args.NewName));
            }
            return null;
        }
    }
}

To configure and map the controller, open the ~/Program.cs file of the server part of the application. Add the following code to configure the service for the controller and map the controller after app.UseRouting():

builder.Services.AddControllers();
...
app.UseRouting();
app.MapControllers();

This will configure and map the controller in your Blazor App.

Create Web Server App

Add the Syncfusion® Blazor File Manager component in ~/Pages/Index.razor file.

@using Syncfusion.Blazor.FileManager

<SfFileManager TValue="FileManagerDirectoryContent">
    <FileManagerAjaxSettings Url="/api/FileManager/FileOperations"
                             UploadUrl="/api/FileManager/Upload"
                             DownloadUrl="/api/FileManager/Download"
                             GetImageUrl="/api/FileManager/GetImage">
    </FileManagerAjaxSettings>
</SfFileManager>

Add your required files and folders under the wwwroot\Files directory.

  • In your project, the wwwroot directory is where static files are served from. It is typically found at the root level of your server project.
  • Inside the wwwroot directory, create a new folder named Files. This will be used to store static files like images, documents, or other resources that you want to serve directly.
  • Press Ctrl+F5 (Windows) or ⌘+F5 (macOS) to launch the application. This will render the Syncfusion® Blazor File Manager component in your default web browser.

Blazor File Manager Component

NOTE

View Sample in GitHub.

File download support

To perform the download operation, initialize the DownloadUrl property in a FileManagerAjaxSettings.

@using Syncfusion.Blazor.FileManager

<SfFileManager TValue="FileManagerDirectoryContent">
    <FileManagerAjaxSettings Url="/api/FileManager/FileOperations"
                                DownloadUrl="/api/FileManager/Download">
    </FileManagerAjaxSettings>
</SfFileManager>

Initialize the Download FileOperation in Controller part with the following code snippet.

namespace filemanager.Server.Controllers
{
    [Route("api/[controller]")]
    public class FileManagerController : Controller
    {
        // Processing the Download operation.
        [Route("Download")]
        public IActionResult Download(string downloadInput)
        {
            var options = new JsonSerializerOptions
            {
                PropertyNamingPolicy = JsonNamingPolicy.CamelCase,
            };
            FileManagerDirectoryContent args = JsonSerializer.Deserialize<FileManagerDirectoryContent>(downloadInput, options);
            return operation.Download(args.Path, args.Names, args.Data);
        }
    }
}

File upload support

To perform the upload operation, initialize the UploadUrl property in a FileManagerAjaxSettings.

@using Syncfusion.Blazor.FileManager

<SfFileManager TValue="FileManagerDirectoryContent">
    <FileManagerAjaxSettings Url="/api/FileManager/FileOperations"
                                UploadUrl="/api/FileManager/Upload">
    </FileManagerAjaxSettings>
</SfFileManager>

Initialize the Upload File Operation in Controller part with the following code snippet.

namespace filemanager.Server.Controllers
{
    [Route("api/[controller]")]
    public class FileManagerController : Controller
    {
        // Processing the Upload operation.
        [Route("Upload")]
        [DisableRequestSizeLimit]
        public IActionResult Upload(string path, long size, IList<IFormFile> uploadFiles, string action)
        {
            try
            {
                FileManagerResponse uploadResponse;
                foreach (var file in uploadFiles)
                {
                    var folders = (file.FileName).Split('/');
                    // checking the folder upload
                    if (folders.Length > 1)
                    {
                        for (var i = 0; i < folders.Length - 1; i++)
                        {
                            string newDirectoryPath = Path.Combine(this.basePath + path, folders[i]);
                            if (Path.GetFullPath(newDirectoryPath) != (Path.GetDirectoryName(newDirectoryPath) + Path.DirectorySeparatorChar + folders[i]))
                            {
                                throw new UnauthorizedAccessException("Access denied for Directory-traversal");
                            }
                            if (!Directory.Exists(newDirectoryPath))
                            {
                                this.operation.ToCamelCase(this.operation.Create(path, folders[i]));
                            }
                            path += folders[i] + "/";
                        }
                    }
                }
                uploadResponse = operation.Upload(path, uploadFiles, action, size, null);
                if (uploadResponse.Error != null)
                {
                    Response.Clear();
                    Response.ContentType = "application/json; charset=utf-8";
                    Response.StatusCode = Convert.ToInt32(uploadResponse.Error.Code);
                    Response.HttpContext.Features.Get<IHttpResponseFeature>().ReasonPhrase = uploadResponse.Error.Message;
                }
            }
            catch (Exception e)
            {
                ErrorDetails er = new ErrorDetails();
                er.Message = e.Message.ToString();
                er.Code = "417";
                er.Message = "Access denied for Directory-traversal";
                Response.Clear();
                Response.ContentType = "application/json; charset=utf-8";
                Response.StatusCode = Convert.ToInt32(er.Code);
                Response.HttpContext.Features.Get<IHttpResponseFeature>().ReasonPhrase = er.Message;
                return Content("");
            }
            return Content("");
        }
    }
}

Image preview support

To perform image preview support in the File Manager component, initialize the GetImageUrl property in a FileManagerAjaxSettings.

@using Syncfusion.Blazor.FileManager

<SfFileManager TValue="FileManagerDirectoryContent">
    <FileManagerAjaxSettings Url="/api/FileManager/FileOperations"
                                GetImageUrl="/api/FileManager/GetImage">
    </FileManagerAjaxSettings>
</SfFileManager>

Initialize the GetImage File Operation in Controller part with the following code snippet.

namespace filemanager.Server.Controllers
{
    [Route("api/[controller]")]
    public class FileManagerController : Controller
    {
        // Processing the GetImage operation.
        [Route("GetImage")]
        public IActionResult GetImage(FileManagerDirectoryContent args)
        {
            return this.operation.GetImage(args.Path, args.Id,false,null, null);
        }
    }
}

Blazor File Manager with Image Preview

See Also

Getting Started with Syncfusion® Blazor for Client-Side in .NET Core CLI

Getting Started with Syncfusion® Blazor for Client-Side in Visual Studio

Getting Started with Syncfusion® Blazor for Server-Side in .NET Core CLI