file upload

Jonnyfive

Hello everyone this is my first post here but i am not new. I want to say thanks for all the help you've given me thus far by my just reading all of your questions and answers. Now it's my turn to contribute a ? I am trying to figure out how to include a file upload function in a database driven website. Basically, i need the user to be able to click on a button and have them select their picture and be able to upload it to the server. Can anyone point me in the right direction as to where i might could read up on this.

Thanks

mikeatrpi

one.html

<form method="post" enctype="multipart/form-data" action="two.php">
<input type="hidden" name="PHPSESSID" value=<?php echo $PHPSESSID;?>>
<br><input type="file" name="fileimage">
<br><input type="submit" value="Upload"></form>

two.php

//check file type to be an image
$imgsz = getimagesize($fileimage);
if(!$imgsz[2]) {
	echo "ERROR: Only image files are accepted; JPG and GIF are suggested";
	exit;
}
//check file size.  $MAX_IMAGE_SIZE is in bytes; set in config.php
if(filesize($fileimage) > $MAX_IMAGE_SIZE) {
	echo "ERROR: Files must be smaller than $MAX_IMAGE_SIZE";
	exit;
}
$ques = "../uploads/";
if ($aux=@opendir($ques))
{
	closedir($aux);
} 
else {
	mkdir($ques, 0775);
}
copy($fileimage_name,"../uploads/$fileimage_name");

I stripped this out of some code I use. It should get you started. Files will be stored on the server. You can also store the file in the database using BLOB (Binary Large OBject) datatypes. I don't have any code for that and don't recommend it unless you've got a real good reason to store files in a database. By the way, I used to live in Round Rock (and Austin too).

JMJimmy

There's nothing wrong with putting images into a database - it's done all the time. Search the articles on phpbuilder there's a good article about storing images in a database.

mikeatrpi

Nothing wrong with it, but there's no benefit either. Why bother storing binary data in the database if you have to process it on input and process it on output?

JMJimmy

It's processed either way, be it file or database - the benefit comes in not having to provide write access to your file system when storing them in the db.

mikeatrpi

Originally posted by JMJimmy
the benefit comes in not having to provide write access to your file system

Good point; I never thought of it that way. However, there is database overhead to be dealt with, especially when storing larger files or if the database server is a separate machine. But thank you, eliminating write access is a good point to consider.

Jonnyfive

Thanks very much for the quick response. I will need the images to be stored on the database. Are there any obvious security risks involved with this, or anything else i should look into as far as that goes?

And where do you live now if you used to live in Texas?

mikeatrpi

New York. I hope eventually to come back to Texas.