Upload Any File and Show the Thumbnail of Uploaded File in MVC

Concept

This project converts txt, doc, docx, xls, xlsx, ppt, pptx and rtf extension files into a PDF and then converts the created PDF into a JPEG format. When a user uploads the file and clicks on the Submit button then first page of the uploaded file is converted into the image file and shown on the browser without a postback. For converting from a doc, docx, xls, xlsx, ppt, pptx or rtf file, Microsoft Office 2007 or later should be installed in your system. The uploaded file and the converted PDF file will be stored in the Attachments Folder and the converted JPEG file will be stored in the Preview Folder of this project.

1. First of all open Visual Studio 2010 or later and then select "File" -> "New" -> "Project..." and click on ASP.NET MVC3 Web Application in Visual C#, name the project FileUploader. Then add the following folders to your project.

1. Classes
2. UploadBooks
   
   Attachments (Inside the UploadBooks folder)
   Preview (Inside the Attachments folder)

2. Create a controller named HomeController and in this controller create an ActionResult method named FileUploader.

3. Now create a view, right-click on the Fileuploader() and select Add View and then click OK.

Write the following code in this view.

4. Create a model named FileUploaderModel.cs and add the following code to this. Also add the class file “PdfConvert.cs” to the Classes folder, add the “gsdll32.dll”, in other words Ghost Script, in the bin folder of your project and the reference file TextPdf.dll. This code converts the PDF file into single a JPEG file. Download the required files from the link in the last.

Converting the text file into JPEG file

1. Add the following code to your controller to convert the text file that will come from the FileUploader view into a PDF and then into the JPEG format and finally pass the converted JPEG file path back to the FileUploader view.

Converting the text file into JPEG file

2. Add the following code to your controller to convert the text file that will come from the FileUploader view into the PDF and then into the JPEG format and finally pass the converted JPEG file path back to the FileUploader view.

3. Now add the following JavaScript to your view that will pass the file information to your controller and then return the path of the image that will be built from your controller HTTPPOST FileUploader method.

Converting the xls or xlsx file into a JPEG file

1. Add the following method code to your model to convert the xls or xlsx file into a PDF file and also add the reference file Microsoft.Office.Interop.Excel.dll.