Building a File Management Application with ASP.NET Core and SQL Server FileTable

Introduction

In today's digital world, effective file management is crucial for individuals and organizations alike. Developing a file management application can help streamline file organization and improve accessibility. In this article, we will explore the intricacies and implementation steps of building a file management application using ASP.NET Core and SQL Server FileTable.

Getting Started

1. You'll want to enable SQL Server FILESTREAM. Follow the instructions in this link for the necessary guidance on activation.

2. To install the Sam.File Table Framework package, simply use the following command

   • .NET CLI

     dotnet add package Sam.FileTableFramework --version 2.0.0

   • Package Manager

     NuGet\Install-Package Sam.FileTableFramework -Version 2.0.0

   • Package Reference

     <PackageReference Include="Sam.FileTableFramework" Version="2.0.0" />

   • Paket CLI

     paket add Sam.FileTableFramework --version 2.0.0

3. Create your DbContext by inheriting from FileTableDbContext. Then, define a FtDbSet property for your tables.

   using Sam.FileTableFramework.Context;
   
   namespace Sam.Persistence
   {
       public class DatabaseContext: FileTableDBContext
       {
           public FtDbSet Table1 { get; set; }
           public FtDbSet Table2 { get; set; }
           public FtDbSet Table3 { get; set; }
       }
   }

   You can have your advanced FtDbSet, for this, refer to this link

4. Register your DatabaseContext class in Program.cs

   // ...
   builder.Services.AddFileTableDBContext<DatabaseContext>(o =>
       o.ConnectionString = "Data Source =.; Initial Catalog = DatabaseName; Integrated Security = true");
   // ...

5. You can create the database by adding the following code when the project is running

   // ...
   using (var scope = app.Services.CreateScope())
   {
       var services = scope.ServiceProvider;
   
       services.GetRequiredService<DatabaseContext>().Migrate();
   }
   // ...

6. Now you can inject DatabaseContext in your classes and use your tables, for example, see the source code below

   using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc;
   using Sam.EndPoint.WebApi.Models;
   using Sam.FileTableFramework.Linq;
   using Sam.Persistence;
   using System.Net.Mime;
   
   namespace Sam.EndPoint.WebApi.Controllers
   {
       [ApiController]
       [Route("[controller]")]
       public class FileController(DatabaseContext databaseContext) : ControllerBase
       {
   
           [HttpGet("GetPaged/{page}/{pageCount}")]
           public async Task<IActionResult> GetPaged(int page, int pageCount)
           {
               var skip = (page - 1) * pageCount;
   
               var query = databaseContext.Table1;
   
               var result = await query
                   .Skip(skip)
                   .Take(pageCount)
                   .OrderBy(p => p.name)
                   .ToListAsync(p => new FileEntityDto()
                   {
                       Name = p.name,
                       Size = p.cached_file_size,
                       Id = p.stream_id,
                       Type = p.file_type
                   });
   
               return Ok(result);
           }
   
           [HttpGet("GetAll")]
           public async Task<IActionResult> GetAll()
           {
               var query = databaseContext.Table1;
   
               var result = await query
                   .ToListAsync(p => new FileEntityDto()
                   {
                       Name = p.name,
                       Size = p.cached_file_size,
                       Id = p.stream_id,
                       Type = p.file_type
                   });
   
               return Ok(result);
           }
   
           [HttpGet("Count")]
           public async Task<IActionResult> Count()
           {
               var query = databaseContext.Table1;
               return Ok(await query.CountAsync());
           }
   
           [HttpGet("Download/{name}")]
           public async Task<IActionResult> Download(string name)
           {
               var entity = await databaseContext.Table1.Where($"name = '{name}'").FirstOrDefaultAsync();
   
               if (entity is null)
                   return NotFound(nameof(NotFound));
   
               return File(entity.file_stream!, MediaTypeNames.Application.Octet, entity.name);
           }
   
           [HttpPost("Upload")]
           public async Task<IActionResult> Upload(IFormFile file)
           {
               var fileName = Guid.NewGuid() + file.FileName[file.FileName.LastIndexOf('.')..];
               var stream = file.OpenReadStream();
   
               await databaseContext.Table1.CreateAsync(fileName, stream);
   
               return Ok(fileName);
           }
   
           [HttpDelete("Delete")]
           public async Task<IActionResult> Delete(string name)
           {
               var entity = await databaseContext.Table1.Where($"name = '{name}'").FirstOrDefaultAsync();
   
               if (entity is null)
                   return NotFound(nameof(NotFound));
   
               var temp = await databaseContext.Table1.RemoveAsync(entity);
   
               return Ok(temp);
           }
   
           [HttpGet("TestQueryString")]
           public async Task<IActionResult> TestQueryString()
           {
   
               var query = databaseContext.Table1;
   
               var result = query
                   .Take(3)
                   .Skip(2)
                   .Where("name = 'TestName'")
                   .OrderBy(p => p.name)
                   .OrderBy(p => p.is_archive)
                   .OrderByDescending(p => p.stream_id)
                   .OrderBy(p => p.creation_time)
                   .Select(p => new FileEntityDto()
                   {
                       Name = p.name,
                       Size = p.cached_file_size,
                       Id = p.stream_id,
                       Type = p.file_type
                   });
   
               return Ok(new
               {
                   Query = result.ToQueryString(),
                   Data = await result.ToListAsync(p => new FileEntityDto()
                   {
                       Name = p.name,
                       Size = p.cached_file_size,
                       Id = p.stream_id,
                       Type = p.file_type
                   })
               });
           }
   
       }
   
       public class FileEntityDto
       {
           public Guid Id { get; set; }
           public string? Name { get; set; }
           public string? Type { get; set; }
           public long Size { get; set; }
       }
   }

Conclusion

In this article, we delved into creating a file management application using ASP.NET Core and SQL Server FileTable. This application provides functionalities for organizing and managing files in a web environment. Leveraging modern technologies and tools like FileTable, we were able to build a secure, reliable, and high-performance application.

Support

If you are having problems, please let me know by raising a new issue.

License

This project is licensed with the MIT license.