[Resolved] PDF/PHP/MYSQL query

dst101

I have submitted a PDF to my database using BLOB method.

I would like to retrieve the PDF data in the form of a link to allow the user to open it up in a new window whether that be a PDF icon or a text link.

At the moment I am just getting some text: /var/tmp/phpKW4YrN which I know is not right.

Could someone point me in the right direction, or explain it to me.

Thanks, am a bit stumped on this one.

dst

dst101

I have been hunting around the web all day and haven't really found a decent example.

Please people help a thicko out.

Matt_Kindig

Do you have to have the PDF in your MySQL database? Because that could make your DB large and cumbersome if you have a lot of PDFs stored in it. What I've seen many people do is put the filename in the database and leave the PDF in some other server folder. Then the coding for the link is easy:

$pdf_link= ... from MySQL select statement
echo "<a href=\"$pdf_link\" target=\"_blank\">PDF text link</a>";

Obviously an <img> tag can be used in place of the text link.

dst101

Thanks for replying.

Well the case senario was this:

It is a news section, where the administrator for this section would upload a pdf and a description of the PDF to the database.

Then the viewer(s) to the news section would have a description of the pdf(s) and a link to the pdf(s).

This was my initial idea to do it this way.
Not to sure how to how to achieve it the other way (your way).
I see what you are saying, but I cannot get my head round how you would administer the upload sequence.

Thanks

Matt_Kindig

I assume that you are uploading the PDF and its data from an HTML form. PHP has a robust set of file upload tools that serve this purpose perfectly. The manual entry here describes them in detail.

The upload process would work like this.
1. User uploads file, fills in description, other relevant info on form.
2. When form is submitted, PHP moves uploaded PDF file to directory on your server, using the move_uploaded_file function.
3. PHP writes description, filename, other info to database using mysql_query function as before.

You add a step in #2, but it will keep your db size reasonable, and eliminate headaches like you've described above.

dst101

Thanks, I will give that a shot, certainly seems a lot more logical.

Cheers

dst101

Hello again,

I have been on holiday and just coming back to this problem of mine.

I have upload.php which returns a parse error and I can't figure it out, I have used my localhost and a server, both return parse errors.

I am using this example:
http://us2.php.net/features.file-upload

Any ideas why?

dst101

Alright I have this code:

<?php 
//My directory for moving the pdf's 
$dir = "/Users/Sites/websites/try2/pdfs/"; 

//MIME types to allow, Gif, jpeg, zip ::Edit this to your liking 
$types = array("image/gif","text/html","application/msword","application/octet-stream","application/vnd.ms-powerpoint","image/pjpeg","application/x-zip-compressed", "application/pdf"); 

//Check to determine if the submit button has been pressed 
if(isset($_POST['submit']))
{ 
	//Shorten Variables 
	$tmp_name = $_FILES['upload']['tmp_name']; 
	$new_name = $_FILES['upload']['name']; 

//Check MIME Type 
if (in_array($_FILES['upload']['type'], $types))
{ 
    //SPECIFY DETAILS FIRST SO YOU ONLY CHANGE THEM ONCE
	$username="myusername";
	$password="mypassword";
	$database="mydatabse";

	//START DATABASE CONNECTION
	mysql_connect('localhost',$username,$password);

	//SELECT DATABASE
	@mysql_select_db($database) or die( "Unable to select database");

	//START QUERY
	//ENTERING DATA INTO TABLE CALLED NEWS title, description and diretcory data
	$query = "INSERT INTO news VALUES ('','$title','$description','$name')";

	mysql_query($query);	

	//Move file from tmp dir to new location 
	move_uploaded_file($tmp_name,$dir . $new_name); 
    echo "{$_FILES['upload']['name']} was uploaded sucessfully!";  


}
else
{ 
    //Print Error Message 
    echo "<small>File <strong><em>{$_FILES['upload']['name']}</em></strong> Was Not Uploaded!</small><br />"; 
    //Debug 
   $name = $_FILES['upload']['name']; 
   $type = $_FILES['upload']['type']; 
   $size = $_FILES['upload']['size']; 
   $tmp = $_FILES['upload']['name']; 

   echo "Name: $name<br/ >Type: $type<br />Size: $size<br />Tmp: $tmp"; 

   mysql_close();
} 
} 
else
{ 
    echo 'Could Not Upload Files'; 
} 
?> 

<form action="<?php echo $_SERVER['PHP_SELF']; ?>" method="post" enctype="multipart/form-data"> 
Title: <br><input name='title' type='text' class='box2' size='50' maxlength='100'><br>
Description: <br><textarea name='description' class='box2' cols='50' rows='8'></textarea><br>
Upload file:<br><input type="file" name="upload"><br><br> 
<input type="submit" name="submit" value="Upload News Item"> 
</form>

This seems to work, moving the pdf document to the aquired folder, however when I check the database contents, I have a title, description but no filename to reference the pdf.

Anyone help me on this one?
I think I am nearly there.

Thanks

Matt_Kindig

You haven't set $name to a value. I think you mean to use $new_name here instead of $name.

$query = "INSERT INTO news VALUES ('','$title','$description','$name')";

EDIT: Also, you might want to check whether the file uploaded successfully before you write the filename to the database. You can determine whether the file successfully opened using the $FILES['somefile']['error'] element that's created upon uploading the file. You can easily check for errors like this:

if ($_FILES['upload']['error'] != 0) {
   // show error messages, prompt for retry upload?
} else {
   // successful upload
}

This would require you to change your if logic somewhat.

dst101

Many thanks, it now works.

Matt_Kindig

Be sure to mark your thread resolved if everything's fixed. Thanks, Matt