[Resolved] how does file uploads work and why does it not want to work?

[phpjaco]

hello

was curious about how file upload works because it seems i just cant get this right? you say "enctype=multipart/form-data" on your form and file under type, you submit your form and the files are stored on a temp place on the users computer right (typically c:/temp ??) and from here when you say copy ("$file", "path to ???") it copies it to the server destination.

the destination path seems to be where i get stuck because do i type c:/apache/.... etc. or http://localhost..... or what? also this site will go live at some point and will no longer be hosted by me, how will the path change then to something like : http://www.mysite.com/images or something else??

please help.

😕

[devinemke]

Originally posted by phpjaco
you submit your form and the files are stored on a temp place on the users computer right (typically c:/temp ??)

no, not a temp place on the user's computer, the file is uploaded to a temp place on the server. once it's up on the server you can use any of PHP's filesystem functions to move/copy/delete whatever.

store the upload path in a variable that is condtionally set depending on whether you are running the script locally on your machine or on your live web host:

if ($_SERVER['HTTP_HOST'] == 'localhost')
{
$upload_path = 'C:\\Apache\\upload\\';
}
else
{
$upload_path = /path/to/servers/upload';
}

[drew010]

the temp location will also be available in the variable
$_FILES['userfile']['tmp_name']
where "userfile" is the field name of the upload dialog on your form. e.g. <input type="file" name="userfile">

you can then do something like
move_uploaded_file($FILES['userfile']['tmp_name'], "/path/to/yoursite/folder/" . $FILES['userfile']['name']);

the indices available from the upload are tmp_name, (the temp location of the file on the server), name (the filename from the user's computer), type (the mime type of the file), size (the size in bytes), and error (the error code [if any]).

see handling file uploads for more info

[phpjaco]

was working fine this week on my local server at work, but ever since i have moved it to the live site i cant seem to get the valid path??

i used something simple on my own webserver like :

copy ("$pdf", "c:\Program files\Apache Group\Apache\htdocs\client_file\submitted_articles\$pdf_name") or die("ummm...problemmo");

this worked fine but live I just cant seem to get the right path:

i have used :
a.relative paths

/images-for-article/$file_name
\images-for-aticles\$file_name

b. absolute paths
[url]http://domain\images-for-articles\[/url]$file_name;
[url]http://domain\images-for-articles[/url]$file_name;

dont know what else to try

if i do find a path it usually gives me:
Unable to create '\images-for-articles\clock.jpg': Permission denied in /home/wwwusers/dev.mediatenor.co.za/test2.php on line 3

have now even tried this :
<?php
if ($image_name != null) {
if (move_uploaded_file($FILES['image']['tmp_name']
, $FILES['image']['name'])) {
$msg = "success";
} else $msg = "failure";

}

?>
took the path out dileberately to see if it will move the file into the main domain.

just gives me a failure, what am i doing wrong?

[litebearer]

Here is a script I use.

It stores the pictures in a folder called pics

Creates a thumbnail and stores that in a folder called thumbs

then stores the info in a database.

Just make the appropriate changes

<?php

$file_dir = "/home/litebear/public_html/effie/gallery/pics";

foreach($_FILES as $file_name => $file_array) {
    $var1 = $file_array['tmp_name'];
    $var2 = $file_array['name'];
    $var3 = $file_dir . "/" . $file_array[name];
	if (is_uploaded_file($file_array['tmp_name'])) {
		move_uploaded_file($file_array['tmp_name'],
			"$file_dir/$file_array[name]") or die ("could not copy");
	}
}

$comments = trim($_POST['comments']);

###################
#
# Define the thumbnail 
# creation function
#
###################

function thumbnail($image_path,$thumb_path,$image_name,$thumb_width) 
{ 
$src_img = imagecreatefromjpeg("$image_path/$image_name"); 
$origw=imagesx($src_img); 
$origh=imagesy($src_img); 
$new_w = $thumb_width; 
$diff=$origw/$new_w;
$percent_diff = $new_w/$origw;
$new_h = $origh * $percent_diff;

$job = 3;
if ($origw > $origh) { 
  $job = 1;
}
if ($origw < $origh) {
  $job = 2;
}

SWITCH ($job) {
   case 1:
      $new_w = 100;
      $new_h  = $origh * (100/$origw);
   break;

  case 2:
      $new_h = 100;
      $new_w  = $origw * (100/$origh);
  break;

  case 3:
      $new_w = 100;
      $new_h  = 100;
  break;

}

$dst_img = imagecreate($new_w,$new_h); 
imagecopyresized($dst_img,$src_img,0,0,0,0,$new_w,$new_h,imagesx($src_img),imagesy($src_img)); 

imagejpeg($dst_img, "$thumb_path/$image_name",85); 
return true; 
} 

##################
#
# end of thumbnail function
#
##################


#####################
#
# set the max width for the thumbnail
# and create the thumbnail
#
#####################

$what_width = 100;
$file_dir2 = "/home/litebear/public_html/effie/gallery/thumbs";

thumbnail($file_dir,$file_dir2,$var2,$what_width);


###################
#
# Calculate the upload date 
#
###################

$ts = time(); //gets current server date as a timestamp
$tsgmt = gmmktime(); //gets timestamp for GMT

// date dst starts in the US
$start_dst = "20040404";
// date dst ends in the US
$end_dst = "20041031";

// set local offset from gmt
$est_off_set = 18000;  // offset for Eastern Standard Time

// set local timestamps
$ts_est = $tsgmt - $est_off_set;

// adjust time stamps for DST

$est_date = date("Ymd", $ts_est);
if ($est_date >= $start_dst && $est_date <= $end_dst) { $ts_est = $ts_est + 3600; }

##################
#
# end date calc
#
###################



$fullpic = $var2;
$thumbpic = $var2;
$uploaddate = $est_date;

include ('db.php');
$sql = "INSERT INTO our_fam_gallery (comments, fullpic, thumbpic, uploaddate) VALUES ('$comments', '$fullpic', '$thumbpic', '$uploaddate')";
$result = mysql_query($sql);

?>
Your picture <B><I> <? echo $var2; ?></b></i> has been uploaded <br>and a thumbnail created.<br>
<IMG SRC = "<?PHP echo "./thumbs/" . $thumbpic; ?>"><br>
the comments were: <br>
<B><?PHP echo $comments; ?></b><br><br>
The load date is: <B><?PHP echo $uploaddate; ?></b><br><br>
You may upload another picture by clicking the <b>Add</b> button below, <br>
or peruse the gallery by clicking the <B>View</b> button, <br>
or you may choose any of the menu items from your left.
<?PHP
?>

Lite...

BTW for non-windows systems (most likely your host) use the forward slash "/" to define urls, not the "\"

[phpjaco]

after many painstaking conversations with isps n many tries i finally realized that the problem is actually the rights assigned to the folders. all rights are reserved for the ftp client (the owner of the website) and the public has no rights therefore when a person browse to the file and uploads it he/she gets a "permission denied"

the solution has something to do with changing the rights of the folders but i have no idea how to do this, i have tried to do
mkdir($dir, 0777) or chmod($dir, 0755)

how do i log in as the owner of the website (from php) and change the rights on those folders?

PLEASE HELP??

[Norman_Graham]

Hi Jaco

In my ftp-client, I can right-click on the folders and files once I've uploaded them and change the chmod settings.

HTH

Norm

[phpjaco]

the problem was that i was using a very old ftp program and on that program you cant change the properties of the folders.

i use ipswitch ftp explorer now and that has the ability to change the properties of the folders on unix servers.