cakephp formhelper : getting current file from input file on edit - forms

Question

I have a form where images can be submitted, this isn't originally my code, I'm inheriting it and I'm trying to figure it out and fix the problem.
When editing the datas from this form, the input file is empty as opposed to the other inputs. So saving actually replaces the current file to "array" in database.
I would like to be able to keep the current one if it is unchanged ?
Form edit :
<h1>Edit</h1>
<?php
echo $this->Form->create($template,['enctype' => 'multipart/form-data']);
echo $this->Form->input('title');
echo $this->Form->input('works_id');
echo $this->Form->input('photo',['type' => 'file']);
echo $this->Form->input('text', ['rows' => '4']);
echo $this->Form->input('url');
echo $this->Form->button(__('Save'));
echo $this->Form->end();
?>
edit function from controller :
public function edit($id = null){
$template = $this->Templates->get($id);
if ($this->request->is(['post', 'put'])) {
$template = $this->Templates->patchEntity($template, $this->request->data,['associated' => ['Works']]);
if ($this->Templates->save($template)) {
$this->Flash->success(__('Your template has been updated.'));
return $this->redirect(['action' => 'index']);
}
$this->Flash->error(__('Unable to update your template.'));
}
$this->set('template', $template);
$works = $this->Templates->Works->find('list');
$this->set(compact('works'));
}
In my database it saves on two colomns :
file_dir and filename, so it confuses me even more on how to get the file in the edit form.
edit : adding TemplatesTable :
<?php
namespace App\Model\Table;
use Cake\ORM\Table;
use Cake\Validation\Validator;
class TemplatesTable extends Table
{
protected function _initializeSchema(\Cake\Database\Schema\Table $table){
$table->columnType('photo', 'proffer.file');
return $table;
}
public function initialize(array $config){
$this->addBehavior('Timestamp');
$this->addBehavior('Proffer.Proffer', [
'photo' => [
'root' => WWW_ROOT.'files',
'dir' => 'photo_dir',
'thumbnailSizes' => [
'square' => ['w' => 200, 'h' => 200],
'portrait' => ['w' => 100, 'h' => 300, 'crop' => true],
],
'thumbnailMethod' => 'gd' // Options are Imagick, Gd or Gmagick
]
]);
$this->belongsTo(
'Works',
[
'foreignKey' => 'work_id',
]
);
}
public function validationDefault(Validator $validator){
$validator
->notEmpty('work_id')
->notEmpty('title');
return $validator;
}
}

Answer 1

According to the docs, the Proffer behavior can handle empty uploads out of the box, and you just have to configure the validation rules for the field accordingly to allow it to be empty on update:
If you want your users to submit a file when creating a record, but
not when updating it, you can configure this using the basic Cake
rules.
$validator
->requirePresence('image', 'create')
->allowEmpty('image', 'update');
So now your users do not need to upload a file every time they update
a record.
https://github.com/davidyell/CakePHP3-Proffer/blob/0.8.2/docs/validation.md
https://github.com/davidyell/CakePHP3-Proffer/blob/0.8.2/src/Model/Behavior/ProfferBehavior.php#L56
So in your case that would be:
->requirePresence('photo', 'create')
->allowEmpty('photo', 'update')