Laravel 5 - Handling form data which include multiple file uploads - forms

Question

I am trying to work out the best way to do something. I have a form with a lot of fields, including a file input which allows multiple files to be uploaded.
All of this is linked to the model/form ReportingDoc
{!! Form::model(new App\ReportingDoc, [
'class'=>'form-horizontal',
'route' => ['projects.reportingDoc.store', $project->id],
'files' => true
]) !!}
<div class="form-group">
{!! Form::label('workType', 'Work Type:', array('class' => 'col-sm-5 control-label blue')) !!}
<div class="col-sm-7">
<select class="workType" name="workType">
<option value="recurring">Recurring</option>
<option value="adHoc">Ad-hoc</option>
</select>
</div>
</div>
//Lots of other inputs
<div class="form-group">
{!! Form::label('filePath', 'Supporting Documents:', array('class' => 'col-md-5 control-label green')) !!}
<div class="col-md-7">
{!! Form::file('filePath[]', array('multiple'=>true)) !!}
</div>
</div>
<div class="form-group">
{!! Form::submit('Save Data', ['class' => 'btn btn-primary']) !!}
</div>
{!! Form::close() !!}
The model looks like the following:
class ReportingDoc extends Model
{
protected $table = 'reporting_doc';
protected $guarded = [];
public function project()
{
return $this->belongsTo('App\Project', 'projectId');
}
}
So the model belongs to a Project. At the moment, the migration looks like the following:
public function up()
{
Schema::create('reporting_doc', function(Blueprint $table)
{
$table->increments('id');
$table->String('workType')->default('');
//all my other inputs
$table->String('filePath')->default('');
$table->timestamps();
});
Schema::table('reporting_doc', function (Blueprint $table) {
$table->integer('projectId')->unsigned()->default(0);
$table->foreign('projectId')->references('id')->on('projects')->onDelete('cascade');
});
}
In the controller for this route, I have my store method. At the moment it looks like the following:
public function store(Request $request, Project $project)
{
$workType = Input::get('workType');
//Other inputs
$projectId = $project->id;
$reportingDoc = new ReportingDoc();
$reportingDoc->workType = $workType;
//Other inputs
$reportingDoc->projectId = $projectId;
$dsReportingDoc->save();
return Redirect::route('projects.reportingDoc.create', $project->id)
->with('message', 'Files uploaded.');
/* Old part
$files = Input::file('filePath');
$file_count = count($files);
$uploadcount = 0;
if(isset($files)) {
foreach($files as $file) {
$destinationPath = public_path() .'/uploads/';
$filename = $file->getClientOriginalName();
$upload_success = $file->move($destinationPath, $filename);
$uploadcount ++;
}
}
if($uploadcount == $file_count){
Session::flash('success', 'Upload successfully');
return Redirect::route('projects.reportingDoc.create', $project->id)
->with('message', 'Files uploaded.');
}
else {
return Redirect::route('projects.reportingDoc.create', $project->id)
->with('message', 'Something went wrong - Please try again.');
}
*/
}
As you can see, I have commented out the file part for now. What I was going to do was get the paths for all the uploaded files, and serialize them into
one field in the database - filePath.
However, to me this seems very messy. I would imagine it is best to have something like an uploads table which is linked to this model. I can then create an uploads object for each file that is uploaded.
One thing I am confused about is the form, and it being linked to my ReportingDoc Model. With this new approach, would I need to link it somehow to both models? ReportingDoc and Uploads?
Really, I am just looking for advice and guidance on the best way to achieve what I am after.
Many thanks

Answer 1

You are already almost done. The best way to do what you're trying to achieve is to create a ReportingDocUpload model which belongs to ReportingDoc, then remove the filePath field from Reporting Doc.
Your model should look like: class ReportingDocUpload { ... protected $fillable = ['filepath', 'reportingdoc_id']; ... }
Then to save your files, do this:
if($file_count) {
foreach($files as $file) {
$destinationPath = public_path() .'/uploads/';
$filename = $file->getClientOriginalName();
$upload_success = $file->move($destinationPath, $filename);
$rUpload = ReportingDocUpload::create(['filepath' => $filename, 'reportingdoc_id' => $reportingDoc->id]);
$uploadcount ++;
}
}
Don't forget to delete files from disk when the entry is deleted...
public static function boot()
{
parent::boot();
//delete associated file
static::deleting(function($docUpload){
try{
$filepath = public_path('uploads/').$docUpload->filepath;
if(file_exists($filepath))
{
unlink($filepath);
}
}
catch(\Exception $e)
{
//some error while deleteing
\Log::info('Error deleting: '.$filepath);
\Log::debug($e);
}
});
}
Cheers..