accessing images problem

[phamweb]

hello everyone,

i just started doing PHP and mySQL
i have a login system with shopping cart and all
am doing a control panel to upload new products and images for admin
i have no problem uploading images and the pages loaded correctly with images matched with product IDs and all as long as the upload image folder is under the public_html tree
for security reason i try to move the upload image folder out of the public_html and place it in the root dir, the uploading process is fine, however the page loaded w/o the pix (only pix holder, like a blank with small x space)

under public_html dir
my uploading code:
$upfile = "../catalog-images/".$userfile_name;
show product code:
if (@file_exists("../catalog-images/".$row["product_ID"].".jpg"))
---> OK

out of public_html dir
my uploading code:
$upfile = "$DOCUMENT_ROOT/../catalog-images/".$userfile_name;

show product code:
if (@file_exists("$DOCUMENT_ROOT/../catalog-images/".$row["product_ID"].".jpg"))

or
if (@file_exists("../../catalog-images/".$row["product_ID"].".jpg"))

then the pix can NOT be viewed????????????????????

can anyone give me some pointers for this problem?

[drew010]

the reason they arent showing up is because anything below the web root (public_html) cannot be viewed through the web browser. the reason is security (like you said you moved them there for security, what security would it be if people could view thigns under there from the browser).
if you are on apache. you can create an image directory like public_html/images/
make a file called .htaccess and place it in the images folder and inside .htaccess put
deny from all
on a line by itself and people wont be able to view the images from the browser.

[phamweb]

thanks, drew

now i understand

i was worry about the uploading of exe and script files but i guess it's unnecessary since it's for admin only and verification of jpg & gif

thank you very much for the .htaccess tip, too