Uploading a file

[browny]

global $userfile, $userfile_name, $userfile_size, $userfile_type, $archive_dir, $WINDIR;

	if (isset($WINDIR)) $userfile = str_replace("\\\\","\\", $userfile);

	$filename = basename($userfile_name);

	if($userfile_size <= 0) dir ("$filename is empty.");

	if (!@copy($userfile, "$archive_dir/$filename")) die ("Can't copy $userfile_name to $filename.");

	if(!isset($WINDIR) && !@unlink($userfile)) die ("Can't delete the file $userfile_name.");

	echo "$filename has been successfully uploaded.<br>";
	echo "Filesize: " . number_format($userfile_size) . "<br>";
	echo "Filetype: $userfile_type<br>";

Ok that is my code which I took straight from a book and it doesn't work. my target platform is Apache running on FreeBSD so I can get rid of the windows stuff i think but thats not my problem.
When I upload a file I trip the error Can't copy $userfile_name to $filename.
does teh dir photos need special permissions or is the error in the code. I have already found one in there?

[onyx]

That would suggest to me that it is a permissions problem or that you are running PHP in safe mode.

If you are running PHP in safe mode then you will be unable to copy files and hence if this is what you will require then you should change PHP to run in nonsafe mode.

Also the directory where the copying is taking place and the file to be copied require the correct permissions. In general this means that you require the file and directory to be accessable to read and write to by the webserver. (It isn't safe to just allow all to write to the directory etc.)

[BulldogGC]

copy($_FILES['FORM NAME']['tmp_name'],"PATH TO UPLOAD TO".$_FILES['FORM NAME']['name']);

Thats too complicated if you're just looking for a simple upload.

The code above will work fine.
You can add some code to check to make sure the file doesnt already exist.

Also make sure in the <form> tag you have an enctype set.

[browny]

Thanks, due to the code provided for me I have leanr't that php is running in safe mode, but since its not my webserver, I'll have to ask the ISP if they can turn it off. If they won't (which I understand why), is there a way of uploading the file straight to the target dir instead of copying it from a tmp dir.

[onyx]

Not really as when PHP is running in safemode you will be unable to write files at all. In that situation I tend to get around it by writing things to a database and at necessary intervals have a cron job to take the database entries and write them to their necessary files.

[browny]

I've never used cron before but I know of it. If my ISP doesn't turn safe mode off, will I be able to upload the files to another server (not running in safe mode) then ask cron to copy them to the proper server?

[onyx]

For safety reasons you will not be able to upload the files to another server unless you write a script on a machine that is not running in safemode and execute it on there.

What I was meaning is that you initially put the data you are gathering by the users into a database. Now if this data is quite large then it is possible to purge it and put it into the files you are intending.

Cron is basically a program which allows you to schedule events. So in this case you could write a cron script to run another script which would take entries from the database and write them to files. Because this script will be running on the machine itself then there shouldn't be any problems if the directories you are trying to write the files to are of a permission level that would allow you to write to them.

If the server is a windows machine then I am unsure what would be available in order to schedule a script to run. In the past I have used autosys but I am sure there are free alternatives available.

[browny]

The server is running FreeBSD and does have cron. I am unable to use the db to store the data because I am trying to upload .jpg's.

[browny]

I have recieved an email back from my ISP and they said that they would be willing to remove some of the safe mode settings but that the command move_uploaded_file() should work fine. I have tried this and got no errors, but the files didn't get uploaded either. How do I use this command?

[onyx]

You can actually upload jpegs to a database but it can be error prone.

As for the function you describe then it is a case of reading the manual:

http://uk2.php.net/manual/en/function.move-uploaded-file.php

[browny]

Oh yes its me, again!!!!!!!!!!1

I had a little look in the manual and still can't figure it out. This is the code.

if (!isset($up))
		{
		echo
			("
			<form method=\"post\" name=\"upload\" enctype=\"multipart/form-data\" action=\"$PHP_SELF?up=1\">
			<input type=\"hidden\" name=\"action\" value=\"upload\">
			Upload file!
			<input type=\"file\" name=\"userfile\">
			<input type=\"submit\" name=\"submit\" value=\"upload\">
			</form>
			");
		}
	else
		{
		move_uploaded_file('$userfile',"/photos/");
		}

The form bit works fine, and the upload bit looks too simple.

How error prone is uploading jpegs to mysql?

[Jaxeed]

In the HTML form:

<form action="upload.php" enctype="multipart/form-data" method="POST">
<input type="hidden" name="MAX_FILE_SIZE" value="whateverbytesizeyoulikeasalimit">
File to Upload: <input type="file" name="fileupload"><br><br>
<input type="submit" value="upload">
</form>

In the PHP file named upload.php:

<?php
$file_dir = "/pathtowhereyouwantthefiletobesaved/";

foreach($_FILE as $file_name => $file_array) {
print "path: ".$file_array['tmp_name']. "<br>\n";
print "name: ".$file_array['name']. "<br>\n";
print "type: ".$file_array['type']. "<br>\n";
print "size: ".$file_array['size']. "<br>\n";

if (is_uploaded_file($file_array['tmp_name'])) {
move_uploaded_file($file_array['tmp_name'], "$file_dir/$file_array[name]") or die ("Couldn't copy");
print "file was moved! <br><br>";
}
}
?>

I had one other code that worked in similar ways, just more particular on what file types was accepted etc. Cant find it now though. Even though this doesnt save the file to no database or anything like that, I hope it can help you at least move the files over to the server. 🙂 good luck

🙂

[browny]

Right, thats it I give up, after loads of attempts, reading through the php manual and looking in various books it just won't work. I can get a file to the tmp dir but not from there.
So how do I upload a .jpg to a MySQL DB, I've already looked in the manual, and can't find anything.

[dmesser]

I ran into something like this. I think I found that I had to copy from the tmp directory to a directory that had r/w privs for the user that was running apache (or was it php). Anyway, it's probably the www user that needs the privileges.

Hope that helps, or at least gives you somewhere else to look.

[browny]

I've given R/W rights to both the owner and group, should I give them to public aswell?

[dmesser]

Make the rights as loose as possible for troubleshooting. If it still doesn't work, change user/group. When (if) you hit a winning combination it will probably be obvious how you need to tighten things up again. If it's a rights problem, you should find it this way.