Uploading Multiple Files To Server From Form

Question

I have a form from which I gather quite a bit of information and am then required to upload Multiple Files.

All other aspects of the form are now working perfectly thanks to Devi on this forum. And to try and focus on only the one problem I now have I have decided to start the new thread: The previous / old thread can be viewed Insert into one Table, while updating another & File Upload

My problem now is to actually get the files to upload. My form is working in two parts. Part one is the basic HTML layout which then has the method pointing to the PHP file which handles the writing of info to the database tables.

The form has the following code for each file upload (There are 4 uploads, each for a different file reference, ie. License Document, Renewal Document, Identity Document, Other Documents):

<div class="form-group">
    <label>Permit Renewal :</label>
    <div class="input-group">
        <label>
        <input type="radio" class="minimal" value="0" <?php echo ($permit_renewal=='No')?'checked':'' ?> name="permit_renewal">
        No
        </label>

        <label>
        <input type="radio" class="minimal" value="1" <?php echo ($permit_renewal=='Yes')?'checked':'' ?> name="permit_renewal">
        Yes
        </label>
    </div>
</div>  
<div class="box-body">
<div class="form-group">    
    <div class="form-group">
        <label for="scanned_permit_renewal">Attach File</label>
        <input type="file" id="scanned_permit_renewal" name="scanned_permit_renewal">
        <p class="help-block">Select a file to link to this outlet, the file name must be prefixed with the Outlet. E.g. 102987 - License 2016</p>
    </div>                  
</div><!-- /.form-group -->

And the relevant processing part is

if (isset($_FILES["file"]["name"])) {
    foreach($_FILES['file']['tmp_name'] as $key => $tmp_name){
        $file_name = $key.$_FILES['file']['name'][$key];
        $file_size =$_FILES['file']['size'][$key];
        $file_tmp =$_FILES['file']['tmp_name'][$key];
        $file_type=$_FILES['file']['type'][$key];  
        $new_file = $_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT'] . "/uploads/" . date("Ymd_his") . "_" . $file_name;
        //echo $new_file;
        move_uploaded_file($file_tmp,$new_file);
    }
}   
if($res1){
    echo "Records added / updated successfully.";
}

header("refresh:2;url=../outlet_capture.php"); 
// close connection
$link->close();

I have also confirmed my rot directory and ensured that there is an /uploads/ folder present.

JFYI, this site is not a forum and question asking to fix your code are off topic. — Your Common Sense, Jan 17 '17 at 08:01

Salketer · Answer 1 · 2017-01-17T08:12:59.017

You have done everything right, you are simply not pointing to the right input names...

$_FILES['file'] does not exist. You should use $_FILES['scanned_permit_renewal'] instead just like when you access $_POST, the key is the name of the form field.

Actually, you are looping through the $_FILES['file'] as if you had put many inputs with the name file[*something*]. If you question is complete, you should simply be using

if (isset($_FILES["scanned_permit_renewal"])) {
    $file_name = $_FILES['scanned_permit_renewal']['name'];
    $file_size =$_FILES['scanned_permit_renewal']['size'];
    $file_tmp =$_FILES['scanned_permit_renewal']['tmp_name'];
    $file_type=$_FILES['scanned_permit_renewal']['type'];  
    $new_file = $_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT'] . "/uploads/" . date("Ymd_his") . "_" . $file_name;
    //echo $new_file;
    move_uploaded_file($file_tmp,$new_file);
}

To answer your comment, an efficient way of doing it could be 2 ways. First, which will require no PHP changes, rename your input fields to file[scanned_permit_renewal] this will let you use the foreach as you seem to intend.

Another way could be to use an array of possible inputs:

$file_inputs = array('scanned_permit_renewal','my','other','documents');
foreach($file_inputs as $input_name){
    if (isset($_FILES[$input_name])) {
        $file_name = $input_name.$_FILES[$input_name]['name'];
        $file_size =$_FILES[$input_name]['size'];
        $file_tmp =$_FILES[$input_name]['tmp_name'];
        $file_type=$_FILES[$input_name]['type'];  
        $new_file = $_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT'] . "/uploads/" . date("Ymd_his") . "_" . $file_name;
        //echo $new_file;
        move_uploaded_file($file_tmp,$new_file);
    }
}

A third way could be to just loop through the $_FILES array. But I wouldn't do that, as there could be anything there. You'll prefer to filter on your wanted files.

So for each file I want to add I would need to add the section of code that says if (isset($_FILES["file"]["name"])) { foreach($_FILES['file']['tmp_name'] as $key => $tmp_name) etc...? Would / or is there not an easier / more efficient way of doing this? — Leon Claassen, Jan 17 '17 at 08:05
Okay, option two looks that would work best for me, as I need to write the the field value to 4 separate columns in my database table so that I can later reference to the file name to display it. My first attempt at using the array of inputs did not work, so let me try working through it. — Leon Claassen, Jan 17 '17 at 08:28
You might prefer not using the original file name as there might be name clashes... I'd rather use the ID of the mysql row related to the files, and append the file type. This way you do not need to store your file names in the database, and if two different people use the same filename, they won't overwrite each others, which could become very harmful. — Salketer, Jan 17 '17 at 08:49
Or if you want to keep the filenames intact, put them in a folder named with the row ID or something unique. — Salketer, Jan 17 '17 at 08:49
I actually didn't think of the name clashes to be honest. My current insert query for my file names creates one line per "submit". So each file type has it's own column in the table. — Leon Claassen, Jan 17 '17 at 08:56

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Jan 17 '17 at 08:09

If don't see the definition, but it MUST have the enctype like

The $_FILES variable works with the name of the field in the form. On your example it should be scanned_permit_renewal. And for access it from the PHP when the form was sent you should use $_FILES['scanned_permit_renewal'].

You uses on the foreach

foreach($_FILES['file']['tmp_name'] as $key => $tmp_name)

Which seems to be the problem.

IMHO you should use this:

foreach($_FILES as $fieldNameInTheForm => $file)
{
    $file_name = $fieldNameInTheForm .$file['name'];
    $file_size =$file['size'];
    $file_tmp =$file['tmp_name'];
    $file_type=$file['type'];  
    $new_file = $_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT'] . "/uploads/" . date("Ymd_his") . "_" . $file_name;
    //echo $new_file;
    move_uploaded_file($file_tmp,$new_file);
}

mith · Answer 3 · 2017-01-17T10:04:42.380

For uploading multiple files, input field should be:

<input type="file" id="scanned_permit_renewal" name="scanned_permit_renewal[]" multiple="multiple">

processing part:

if (count($_FILES["scanned_permit_renewal"]["name"]) > 0) {
foreach($_FILES['scanned_permit_renewal']['tmp_name'] as $key => $tmp_name)
{
    $file_name = $key.$_FILES['scanned_permit_renewal']['name'][$key];
    $file_size =$_FILES['scanned_permit_renewal']['size'][$key];
    $file_tmp =$_FILES['scanned_permit_renewal']['tmp_name'][$key];
    $file_type=$_FILES['scanned_permit_renewal']['type'][$key];
    $file_to_save = date("Ymd_his") . "_" . $file_name;
    $new_file = $_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT'] . "/uploads/" .$file_to_save;
    //echo $new_file;
    if(move_uploaded_file($file_tmp,$new_file)){
        // update database

        $query = "UPDATE `table` SET `field_name` = '".$file_to_save."' WHERE ..... "; 
    }
}
}

This would be the ideal way for me, my only concern here is that I want to also write the file name to a specific column in my table, one column for scanned permit, then identity document, etc. So that I can use the reference in the database to pull up the particular file and display it. — Leon Claassen, Jan 17 '17 at 08:26

Uploading Multiple Files To Server From Form

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