How to do a ASP.NET MVC Ajax form post with multipart/form-data?

I mixed Brad Larson answer with Amirhossein Mehrvarzi, because Brad answer wasn't providing any way to handle the response and Amirhossein was causing 2 postbacks.
I just added ($('#formBacklink').valid()) to call model validation before send.

window.addEventListener("submit", function (e) {
if ($('#formBacklink').valid()) {
var form = e.target;
if (form.getAttribute("enctype") === "multipart/form-data") {
if (form.dataset.ajax) {
e.preventDefault();
e.stopImmediatePropagation();

var dataString;
event.preventDefault();
var action = $("#formBacklink").attr("action");
if ($("#formBacklink").attr("enctype") == "multipart/form-data") {
//this only works in some browsers.
//purpose? to submit files over ajax. because screw iframes.
//also, we need to call .get(0) on the jQuery element to turn it into a regular DOM element so that FormData can use it.
dataString = new FormData($("#formBacklink").get(0));
contentType = false;
processData = false;
} else {
// regular form, do your own thing if you need it
}
$.ajax({
type: "POST",
url: action,
data: dataString,
dataType: "json", //change to your own, else read my note above on enabling the JsonValueProviderFactory in MVC
contentType: contentType,
processData: processData,
success: function (data) {
//BTW, data is one of the worst names you can make for a variable
//handleSuccessFunctionHERE(data);
},
error: function (jqXHR, textStatus, errorThrown) {
//do your own thing
}
});
}
}
}
}, true);

If you need to use the `OnSuccess` AjaxOption and/or use `Request.IsAjaxRequest()` in the controller to check the request type i.e.

@using (Ajax.BeginForm("FileUploader", null, new AjaxOptions { HttpMethod = "POST", UpdateTargetId = "elementToUpdate", OnSuccess = "mySuccessFuntion(returnedData)", OnFailure = "myFailureFuntion(returnedData)"}, new { enctype = "multipart/form-data" }))

Then you can use the following code (I've modified @James 'Fluffy' Burton's answer). This will also convert the response text to JSON object if it can (you can omit this if you want).

<script>
if(typeof window.FormData === 'undefined') {
alert("This browser doesn't support HTML5 file uploads!");
}
window.addEventListener("submit", function (e) {
var form = e.target;
if (form.getAttribute("enctype") === "multipart/form-data") {
if (form.dataset.ajax) {
e.preventDefault();
e.stopImmediatePropagation();
var xhr = new XMLHttpRequest();
xhr.open(form.method, form.action);
xhr.setRequestHeader("x-Requested-With", "XMLHttpRequest"); // this allows 'Request.IsAjaxRequest()' to work in the controller code
xhr.onreadystatechange = function () {
if (xhr.readyState === XMLHttpRequest.DONE && xhr.status === 200) {
var returnedData; //this variable needs to be named the same as the parameter in the function call specified for the AjaxOptions.OnSuccess
try {
returnedData = JSON.parse(xhr.responseText); //I also want my returned data to be parsed if it is a JSON object
}catch(e){
returnedData = xhr.responseText;
}
if (form.dataset.ajaxSuccess) {
eval(form.dataset.ajaxSuccess); //converts function text to real function and executes (not very safe though)
}
else if (form.dataset.ajaxFailure) {
eval(form.dataset.ajaxFailure);
}
if (form.dataset.ajaxUpdate) {
var updateTarget = document.querySelector(form.dataset.ajaxUpdate);
if (updateTarget) {
updateTarget.innerHTML = data;
}
}
}
};
xhr.send(new FormData(form));
}
}
}, true);
</script>

N.B. I use the javascript function `eval()` to convert the string in to a function... if anyone has a better solution please comment.
I also use JQuery `JSON.parse()` so this isn't a vanilla javascript solution but it isn't required for the script to function so it could be removed.

You can use this code instead of eval

var body = "function(a){ " + form.dataset.ajaxSuccess + "(a) }";
var wrap = s => "{ return " + body + " };"
var func = new Function(wrap(body));
func.call(null).call(null, returnedData);