Chunk Upload in JavaScript Uploader control

06 Jun 2023 / 7 minutes to read

The Uploader sends the large file split into small chunks and transmits to the server using AJAX. You can also pause, resume, and retry the failed chunk file.

The chunk upload works in asynchronous upload only.

This feature is available from the Essential Studio Vol 2, 2018 release.

To enable the chunk upload, set the size to chunkSize option of the upload and it receives the value in bytes.

Source

Preview

app.ts

index.html

import { Uploader } from '@syncfusion/ej2-inputs';

// initialize Uploader component
let uploadObject: Uploader = new Uploader({
asyncSettings: {
    saveUrl: 'https://ej2.syncfusion.com/services/api/uploadbox/Save',
    removeUrl: 'https://ej2.syncfusion.com/services/api/uploadbox/Remove',
    // split the files into chunks of the size 102400 bytes
    chunkSize: 102400
}
});

// render initialized Uploader
uploadObject.appendTo('#fileupload');

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">

<head>
            
    <title>Essential JS 2 Uploader</title>
    <meta charset="utf-8" />
    <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0" />
    <meta name="description" content="Essential JS 2 Uploader Component" />
    <meta name="author" content="Syncfusion" />
    <link href="index.css" rel="stylesheet" />
    <link href="//cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/21.2.3/ej2-base/styles/material.css" rel="stylesheet" />
    <link href="//cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/21.2.3/ej2-inputs/styles/material.css" rel="stylesheet" />
    <link href="//cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/21.2.3/ej2-popups/styles/material.css" rel="stylesheet" />
    <link href="//cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/21.2.3/ej2-buttons/styles/material.css" rel="stylesheet" />
    <script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/systemjs/0.19.38/system.js"></script>
    <script src="systemjs.config.js"></script>
</head>
<body>
    <div id='loader'>Loading....</div>
        <div id='container' class="fileupload">
            <input type="file" id="fileupload" name="UploadFiles"/>
        </div>
    </div>
</body>
</html>

The chunk upload functionality separates the selected files into blobs of the data or chunks. These chunks are transmitted to the server using an AJAX request. The chunks are sent in sequential order, and the next chunk can be sent to the server according to the success of the previous chunk. If any one of the chunk failed, then the remaining chunk cannot be sent to the server. The chunkSuccess or chunkFailure event will be triggered when the chunk is sent to the server successfully or failed. If all the chunks are sent to the server successfully, the uploader success event is triggered.

Chunk upload will work when the selected file size is greater than the specified chunk size. otherwise, it upload the files normally.

Additional configurations

To modify the chunk upload, the following options can be used.

RetryAfterDelay - If error occurs while sending any chunk request from JavaScript, hold the operation for 500 milliseconds (by default), and retry the operation using chunk. This can be achieved by using the asyncSettings.retryAfterDelay property. You can modify the holding time interval in milliseconds.
RetryCount - Specifies the number of retry actions performed when the file fails to upload. By default, retry action is performed 3 times. If the file fails to upload continuously, the request is aborted and the uploader failure event will trigger.

The following sample specifies the chunk upload delay with 3000 milliseconds and the retry count is 5. The failure event is triggered as the wrong saveUrl is used.

Source

Preview

app.ts

index.html

import { Uploader } from '@syncfusion/ej2-inputs';

// initialize Uploader component
let uploadObject: Uploader = new Uploader({
asyncSettings: {
    // provided the wrong url to showcase the chunk upload failure related properties.
    saveUrl: 'https://aspnetmvc.syncfusion.com/service/api/uploadbox/Save',
    removeUrl: 'https://aspnetmvc.syncfusion.com/service/api/uploadbox/Remove',
    // set chunk size for enable the chunk upload
    chunkSize: 102400,
    // set count for automatic retry when chunk upload failed
    retryCount: 5,
    // set time delay for automatic retry when chunk upload failed
    retryAfterDelay: 3000
}
});

// render initialized Uploader
uploadObject.appendTo('#fileupload');

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">

<head>
            
    <title>Essential JS 2 Uploader</title>
    <meta charset="utf-8" />
    <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0" />
    <meta name="description" content="Essential JS 2 Uploader Component" />
    <meta name="author" content="Syncfusion" />
    <link href="index.css" rel="stylesheet" />
    <link href="//cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/21.2.3/ej2-base/styles/material.css" rel="stylesheet" />
    <link href="//cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/21.2.3/ej2-inputs/styles/material.css" rel="stylesheet" />
    <link href="//cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/21.2.3/ej2-popups/styles/material.css" rel="stylesheet" />
    <link href="//cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/21.2.3/ej2-buttons/styles/material.css" rel="stylesheet" />
    <script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/systemjs/0.19.38/system.js"></script>
    <script src="systemjs.config.js"></script>
</head>
<body>
    <div id='loader'>Loading....</div>
        <div id='container' class="fileupload">
            <input type="file" id="fileupload" name="UploadFiles"/>
        </div>
    </div>
</body>
</html>

Resumable upload

Allows you to resume an upload operation after a network failure or manually interrupts (pause) the upload. You can perform pause and resume upload actions using public methods (pause and resume) and UI interaction. The pause icon is enabled after the upload begins.

This pause and resume features available only when the chunk upload is enabled.

Source

Preview

app.ts

index.html

import { Uploader } from '@syncfusion/ej2-inputs';

// initialize Uploader component
let uploadObject: Uploader = new Uploader ({
asyncSettings: {
    saveUrl: 'https://ej2.syncfusion.com/services/api/uploadbox/Save',
    removeUrl: 'https://ej2.syncfusion.com/services/api/uploadbox/Remove',
    // set chunk size for enable the chunk upload
    chunkSize: 102400
}
});

// render initialized Uploader
uploadObject.appendTo('#fileupload');

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">

<head>
            
    <title>Essential JS 2 Uploader</title>
    <meta charset="utf-8" />
    <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0" />
    <meta name="description" content="Essential JS 2 Uploader Component" />
    <meta name="author" content="Syncfusion" />
    <link href="index.css" rel="stylesheet" />
    <link href="//cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/21.2.3/ej2-base/styles/material.css" rel="stylesheet" />
    <link href="//cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/21.2.3/ej2-inputs/styles/material.css" rel="stylesheet" />
    <link href="//cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/21.2.3/ej2-popups/styles/material.css" rel="stylesheet" />
    <link href="//cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/21.2.3/ej2-buttons/styles/material.css" rel="stylesheet" />
    <script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/systemjs/0.19.38/system.js"></script>
    <script src="systemjs.config.js"></script>
</head>
<body>
    <div id='loader'>Loading....</div>
        <div id='container' class="fileupload">
            <input type="file" id="fileupload" name="UploadFiles"/>
        </div>
    </div>
</body>
</html>

Cancel upload

The uploader component allows you to cancel the uploading file. This can be achieved by clicking the cancel icon or using the cancel method. The canceling event will be fired whenever the file upload request is canceled. While canceling the upload request, the partially uploaded file is removed from the server.

When the request fails, the pause icon is changed to retry icon. By clicking the retry icon, sends the failed chunk request again to the server and upload started from where it is failed. You can retry the canceled upload request again using retry UI or retry methods. But, if you retry this, the file upload action again starts from initial.

The following example explains about chunk upload with cancel support.

Source

Preview

app.ts

index.html

import { Uploader } from '@syncfusion/ej2-inputs';

// initialize Uploader component
let uploadObject: Uploader = new Uploader({
asyncSettings: {
    saveUrl: 'https://ej2.syncfusion.com/services/api/uploadbox/Save',
    removeUrl: 'https://ej2.syncfusion.com/services/api/uploadbox/Remove',
    // set chunk size for enable the chunk upload
    chunkSize: 102400
}
});

// render initialized Uploader
uploadObject.appendTo('#fileupload');

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">

<head>
            
    <title>Essential JS 2 Uploader</title>
    <meta charset="utf-8" />
    <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0" />
    <meta name="description" content="Essential JS 2 Uploader Component" />
    <meta name="author" content="Syncfusion" />
    <link href="index.css" rel="stylesheet" />
    <link href="//cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/21.2.3/ej2-base/styles/material.css" rel="stylesheet" />
    <link href="//cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/21.2.3/ej2-inputs/styles/material.css" rel="stylesheet" />
    <link href="//cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/21.2.3/ej2-popups/styles/material.css" rel="stylesheet" />
    <link href="//cdn.syncfusion.com/ej2/21.2.3/ej2-buttons/styles/material.css" rel="stylesheet" />
    <script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/systemjs/0.19.38/system.js"></script>
    <script src="systemjs.config.js"></script>
</head>
<body>
    <div id='loader'>Loading....</div>
        <div id='container' class="fileupload">
            <input type="file" id="fileupload" name="UploadFiles"/>
        </div>
    </div>
</body>
</html>

The retry action has different working behavior for chunk upload and default upload.

Chunk upload - Retries to upload the failed request where it is failed previously.
Default upload - Retries to upload the failed file again from initial.

Server-Side configurations

The server-side implementation entirely depends on the application requirements and logic. The following code snippet provides the server-side logic to handle the chunk upload using the uploader components.

// Server configuration for upload a file.
public void Save()
{
try
{
    if (HttpContext.Current.Request.Files.AllKeys.Length > 0)
    {
        var httpPostedChunkFile = HttpContext.Current.Request.Files["chunkFile"];
        if (httpPostedChunkFile != null)
        {
            var saveFile = HttpContext.Current.Server.MapPath("UploadingFiles");
            // Save the chunk file in temporery location with .part extension
            var SaveFilePath = Path.Combine(saveFile, httpPostedChunkFile.FileName + ".part");
            var chunkIndex = HttpContext.Current.Request.Form["chunkIndex"];
            if (chunkIndex == "0")
            {
                httpPostedChunkFile.SaveAs(SaveFilePath);
            }
            else
            {
                // Merge the current chunk file with previous uploaded chunk files
                MergeChunkFile(SaveFilePath, httpPostedChunkFile.InputStream);
                var totalChunk = HttpContext.Current.Request.Form["totalChunk"];
                if (Convert.ToInt32(chunkIndex) == (Convert.ToInt32(totalChunk) - 1))
                {
                    var savedFile = HttpContext.Current.Server.MapPath("UploadedFiles");
                    var originalFilePath = Path.Combine(savedFile, httpPostedChunkFile.FileName);
                    // After all the chunk files completely uploaded, remove the .part extension and move this file into save location
                    System.IO.File.Move(SaveFilePath, originalFilePath);
                }
            }
            HttpResponse ChunkResponse = HttpContext.Current.Response;
            ChunkResponse.Clear();
            ChunkResponse.ContentType = "application/json; charset=utf-8";
            ChunkResponse.StatusDescription = "File uploaded succesfully";
            ChunkResponse.End();
        }
        var httpPostedFile = HttpContext.Current.Request.Files["UploadFiles"];

        if (httpPostedFile != null)
        {
            var fileSave = HttpContext.Current.Server.MapPath("UploadedFiles");
            var fileSavePath = Path.Combine(fileSave, httpPostedFile.FileName);
            if (!File.Exists(fileSavePath))
            {
                httpPostedFile.SaveAs(fileSavePath);
                HttpResponse Response = HttpContext.Current.Response;
                Response.Clear();
                Response.ContentType = "application/json; charset=utf-8";
                Response.StatusDescription = "File uploaded succesfully";
                Response.End();
            }
            else
            {
                HttpResponse Response = HttpContext.Current.Response;
                Response.Clear();
                Response.Status = "400 File already exists";
                Response.StatusCode = 400;
                Response.StatusDescription = "File already exists";
                Response.End();
            }
        }
    }
}
catch (Exception e)
{
    HttpResponse Response = HttpContext.Current.Response;
    Response.Clear();
    Response.ContentType = "application/json; charset=utf-8";
    Response.StatusCode = 400;
    Response.Status = "400 No Content";
    Response.StatusDescription = e.Message;
    Response.End();
}
}
// Server configuration for remove a uploaded file
public void Remove()
{
try
{
    var fileSave = "";
    if (HttpContext.Current.Request.Form["cancelUploading"] != null)
    {
        fileSave = HttpContext.Current.Server.MapPath("UploadingFiles");
    } else
    {
        fileSave = HttpContext.Current.Server.MapPath("UploadedFiles");
    }
    var fileName = HttpContext.Current.Request.Files["UploadFiles"].FileName;
    var fileSavePath = Path.Combine(fileSave, fileName);
    if (File.Exists(fileSavePath))
    {
        File.Delete(fileSavePath);
    }
}
catch (Exception e)
{
    HttpResponse Response = HttpContext.Current.Response;
    Response.Clear();
    Response.Status = "404 File not found";
    Response.StatusCode = 404;
    Response.StatusDescription = "File not found";
    Response.End();
}
}
// Merge the current chunk file with previous uploaded chunk files
public void MergeChunkFile(string fullPath, Stream chunkContent)
{
try
{
    using (FileStream stream = new FileStream(fullPath, FileMode.Append, FileAccess.Write, FileShare.ReadWrite))
    {
        using (chunkContent)
        {
            chunkContent.CopyTo(stream);
        }
    }
}
catch (IOException ex)
{
    throw ex;
}
}

You can also explore JavaScript File Upload feature tour page for its groundbreaking features. You can also explore our JavaScript File Upload example to understand how to browse the files which you want to upload to the server.

Contents

Additional configurations
Resumable upload
Cancel upload
Server-Side configurations

Contents

Additional configurations
Resumable upload
Cancel upload
Server-Side configurations

Please provide additional information

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