Can EditorFor() be used to create <input type="file">?

Question

Given this model, is it possible to use the Html.EditorFor() to render a file upload input element to the page? I played around with the Datatype of the property FileName, and it was definitely impacting the editor form rendered.

public class DR405Model {     [DataType(DataType.Text)]     public String TaxPayerId { get; set; }     [DataType(DataType.Text)]     public String ReturnYear { get; set; }      public String  FileName { get; set; } } 

Strongly Typed *.aspx page looks like this

    <div class="editor-field">         <%: Html.EditorFor(model => model.FileName) %>         <%: Html.ValidationMessageFor(model => model.FileName) %>     </div> 

Answer 1

It would make more sense to use HttpPostedFileBase to represent an uploaded file on your view model instead of string:

public class DR405Model {     [DataType(DataType.Text)]     public string TaxPayerId { get; set; }      [DataType(DataType.Text)]     public string ReturnYear { get; set; }      public HttpPostedFileBase File { get; set; } } 

then you could have the following view:

<% using (Html.BeginForm("Index", "Home", FormMethod.Post, new { enctype = "multipart/form-data" })) { %>      ... input fields for other view model properties      <div class="editor-field">         <%= Html.EditorFor(model => model.File) %>         <%= Html.ValidationMessageFor(model => model.File) %>     </div>      <input type="submit" value="OK" /> <% } %> 

And finally define the corresponding editor template inside ~/Views/Shared/EditorTemplates/HttpPostedFileBase.ascx:

<%@ Control Language="C#" Inherits="System.Web.Mvc.ViewUserControl" %> <input type="file" name="<%: ViewData.TemplateInfo.GetFullHtmlFieldName("") %>" id="<%: ViewData.TemplateInfo.GetFullHtmlFieldId("") %>" /> 

Now the controller might look like this:

public class HomeController : Controller {     public ActionResult Index()     {         return View(new DR405Model());     }      [HttpPost]     public ActionResult Index(DR405Model model)     {         if (model.File != null && model.File.ContentLength > 0)         {             var fileName = Path.GetFileName(model.File.FileName);             var path = Path.Combine(Server.MapPath("~/App_Data"), fileName);             model.File.SaveAs(path);         }          return RedirectToAction("Index");     } }