Uploading image to database via form

[marciokoko]

Im sure this is a very simply question but Im no php expert. I barely know about forms and stuff.

I have a web service on a server that runs and allows login or registry of users. It only takes username and password fields. Oh and an email.

I need to add a picture for each user now. I know how to do that in mySQL, i just add a field, i guess it would be a blob...or should I just store the URL to a folder on the server instead?

Anyway, Im working from iOS. I need to send the image from iOS to php into the mySQL db. I assume this is possible, right?

Whats the best or recommended way to do this? Any online examples or tutorials?

[NogDog]

marciokoko;11006124 wrote:

....or should I just store the URL to a folder on the server instead?

I normally opt to store the actual file on the file system and store and data about the file in the database. 🙂

[marciokoko]

ok, Ill store the image in a folder and the name in the database...so far I have this php code:

<div align="center">

  <form action="user_add_save.php" method="post" name="form" id="form">
    <p><strong><font size="4" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Add User </font></strong><br />
        <a href="login.php"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Login</font></a></p>
    <table width="474" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="5">
    <tr>
      <td width="177"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Username</font></td>
      <td width="277"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">
        <input type = "text" value="<? echo$username; ?>" name="username" width="50" />
      </font></td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td bgcolor="ebebeb"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Password</font></td>
      <td bgcolor="ebebeb"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">
        <input type = "text" value="<? echo$password; ?>" name="password" width="50" />
      </font></td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Last Name </font></td>
      <td><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">
        <input type = "text" value="<? echo$lastname; ?>" name="lastname" width="50" />
      </font></td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td bgcolor="ebebeb"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">First name </font></td>
      <td bgcolor="ebebeb"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">
        <input type = "text" value="<? echo$firstname; ?>" name="firstname" width="50" />
      </font></td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Email</font></td>
      <td><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">
        <input type = "text" value="<? echo$email; ?>" name="email" width="50" autocomplete="OFF" />
      </font></td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td bgcolor="ebebeb"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Phone</font></td>
      <td bgcolor="ebebeb"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">
        <input type = "text" value="<? echo$phone; ?>" name="phone" width="50" autocomplete="OFF" />
      </font></td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Password Hint </font></td>
      <td><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">
        <input type = "text" value="<? echo$password_hint; ?>" name="password_hint" width="50" />
      </font></td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Image</font></td>
      <td><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">
        <input type = "file" value="<? echo$image; ?>" name="image" width="50" />
      </font></td>
    </tr>
  </table>
  <p><font size="1" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">
    <input type="submit" value="Save and Continue" name="submit2" />
  </font></p>
  </form>
  <p>
    <?

?>
  </p>
  <p>&nbsp;</p>
</div>

and for the user_add_save.php:

<?
include"master_inc.php";
//--------------------------------------------------------------------------RECEIVE LOCAL VARIABLES FROM FORM
$lastname = strip_tags(substr($_POST['lastname'],0,32));
$firstname = strip_tags(substr($_POST['firstname'],0,32));
$phone = strip_tags(substr($_POST['phone'],0,32));
$image = $_POST['image'];
$password_hint=$_REQUEST['password_hint'];
$noERROR=1;
$udidposted = 9;

//---------------------------------------------------------------------------CHECK IF USERNAME IS LONG ENOUGH
$username = strip_tags(substr($_POST['username'],0,32));
if(trim($username)!=='' && strlen(trim($username)) >= 4){
//---------------------------------------------------------------------------IF LONG ENOUGH THEN RUN A QUERY GETTING ALL DATA FROM THAT USER
$sql="SELECT * FROM users WHERE username='$username'";
$result=mysql_query($sql);
$count=mysql_num_rows($result);
//---------------------------------------------------------------------------IF $sql GOTTEN HAS ROW COUNT > 1 THEN USER ALREADY EXISTS----------------SET EXISTING USER 104 FLAG
if($count>0){
$username_already_in_use = 3141;
}
//---------------------------------------------------------------------------ELSE USERNAME IS TOO SHORT?!?!-------------------------------------------------------SET USER TOO SHORT 104 FLAG
}else{
$username_too_short = 3142;}

//---------------------------------------------------------------------------EMAIL FORMAT CHECK
$email_raw = $_REQUEST['email'];
if(eregi("^[_a-z0-9-]+(\.[_a-z0-9-]+)*@([a-z0-9-]{2,3})+(\.[a-z0-9-]+)*(\.[a-z]{2,3})$", $email_raw))
{ 
$email = $email_raw;
}else{
//---------------------------------------------------------------------------IF INVALID EMAIL THEN----------------------------------------------------------------------SET INVALID EMAIL 104 FLAG
$bad_email=3143;
} 

//email unique?
$sql="SELECT * FROM users WHERE email='$email'";
$result=mysql_query($sql);
$count=mysql_num_rows($result);
if($count>0){
//---------------------------------------------------------------------------IF SQL FOR EMAIL RETURNS A ROW THEN------------------------------------------------SET EMAIL 104 FLAG
$email_already_in_use=3144;
}

//Secure Password Format Checks
$pw_clean = strip_tags(substr($_POST['password'],0,32));
if (preg_match("/^.*(?=.{4,})(?=.*[0-9])(?=.*[a-z])(?=.*[A-Z]).*$/", $pw_clean, $matches)) {
}else{
//---------------------------------------------------------------------------IF PW NOT IN FORMAT THEN-----------------------------------------------------------------SET PW 104 FLAG
$pw_insecure = 3145;
}

//---------------------------------------------------------------------------IF ERROR FLAGS ARE SET THEN LOG HEADERS----------------------------
if($username_already_in_use==3141 OR $email_already_in_use==3144 OR $pw_insecure==3145 OR $bad_email==3143 OR $username_too_short==3142){
header(
"location:user_add_errors.php?pw_insecure=$pw_insecure&email_already_in_use=$email_already_in_use&username_already_in_use=$username_already_in_use&bad_email=$bad_email&username_too_short=$username_too_short"); 
die();
}
else {header("location:user_add_errors.php?noERROR=$noERROR");}

//End Error Checks________________________

//-------------------------------------------------------------------INSERT INTO SQL
//Encrypt Password
$encrypted_pw = md5($pw_clean);
$query = "INSERT INTO `users` (`username`,
`password`,
`lastname`,
`firstname`,
`email`,
`phone`,
`password_hint`,
`udid`,
`userCreated`,
`photo`)
VALUES
(
'$username',
'$encrypted_pw',
'$lastname',
'$firstname',
'$email',
'$phone',
'$password_hint',
'$udidposted',
now(),
'$image')"; 
// save the info to the database
$results = mysql_query( $query );

//-----------------------CODE FOR SAVING IMAGE STARTS
//This is the directory where images will be saved 
 $target = "images/"; 
 $target = $target . basename( $_FILES['photo']['name']); 

 //This gets all the other information from the form 
 $photo=($_FILES['photo']['name']); 

 //Writes the photo to the server 
 if(move_uploaded_file($_FILES['photo']['tmp_name'], $target)) 
 { 

 //Tells you if its all ok 
 echo "The file ". basename( $_FILES['uploadedfile']['name']). " has been uploaded, and your information has been added to the directory"; 
 } 
 else { 

 //Gives and error if its not 
 echo "Sorry, there was a problem uploading your file."; 
 } 
//-----------------------CODE FOR SAVING IMAGE ENDS

// print out the results
if( $results )
{
	if($username_too_short==3142){echo"ShortUser=".$username_too_short;}

if($username_already_in_use==3141){echo"UserTaken=".$username_already_in_use;}

if($email_already_in_use==3144){echo"EmailTaken=".$email_already_in_use;}

if($pw_insecure==3145){echo"ShortPass=".$pw_insecure;}

if($bad_email==3143){echo"BadEmail".$bad_email;}



//echo( "<font size='2' face='Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif'>Your changes have been made sucessfully. <br><br><a href='login.php'>Back to login</a></font> " );
}
else
{
die( "Trouble saving information to the database: " . mysql_error() );
}
//--------------------------------------AGAIN?! THIS IS FOR THE FIRST ENTRY I THINK
$sql="SELECT * FROM users";
$result=mysql_query($sql);
$count=mysql_num_rows($result);
if($count==1){

$query = "UPDATE `users` SET `permissions`='5' WHERE `email`='$email'"; 
//---------------------------------------SAVE the info to the database
$results = mysql_query( $query );
//---------------------------------------JUST PRINT CODE
if( $results )
{ echo( "ADMINCREATED" );
}
else
{
die( "ERRORSAVINGADMIN" . mysql_error() );
}

}
?>

[fb4php]

I am pretty sure that the safari browser for IOS does not support file uploads. You could set something up whereby the user emails a photo for use in their profile or investigate an alternative such as described here