PHP upload files to remote server - php

Question

I am completely a novice in all this ...
I have created a Social Networking project in which there is a module which allows user to upload photos..
I have hosted this project in my college server
I access that server using bitvise client with my server credentials.
My problem is i don't know how to setup upload mechanism for remote server ... In my localhost i simply use
move_uploaded_file($_FILES['file']['tmp_name'],$target_file);
function but i don't know how to do this for remote server ...
I tried FTP by looking at some tutorials but that didn't worked for me.
In my project structure there is a directory
users/user_id (diff for all users)/photos
here i want to place the uploaded files....
A proper description with example and proper functioning might be very helpful for me.... Thank you
EDIT:
Below is my code.
Photos.php
<form class="input-group-btn" method="post" action="editPhotos.php"enctype="multipart/form-data" id="myForm">
<input type="file" name="file" id="imgInp">
<button type="submit" class="btn btn-primary" name="form-submit">Done</button>
</form>
editPhotos.php
if( isset($_POST['form-submit']) ){
$target_file = "users/".$email."/pictures/Photos/" . basename($_FILES["file"]["name"]);
$imageFileType = pathinfo($target_file,PATHINFO_EXTENSION);
move_uploaded_file($_FILES['file']['tmp_name'],$target_file);
$img =str_replace(" ", "",basename($_FILES["file"]["name"]));
rename($target_file, "users/".$email."/pictures/Photos/".$img);
header('Refresh: 1; url=Photos.php?user='.$email);
}

Answer 1

Small tutorial how to upload file.
For sure, you need correct encryption and file's type in your form (ommited other fields, to clear example):
form.html
< form action="upload.php" method="post" enctype="multipart/form-data">< /form>
< input name="test" type=file>
upload.php
In $_FILES you have all data of uploaded file. In given example, we have field named test.
Advice, to always first check error $_FILES['test']['error'] - the values you can find in here.
If this is correct, then prepare upload path. Some advices:
remember that if you use original filename ($_FILES['test']['name']), then is User upload second file, with same name, you will need overwrite file or ignore upload. Other way, is to save data to database and generate temporary name form him.
destination path(target_file) - regardless if upload folder is in the same catalog, you should always use global path, as good practice. You can use DIR for that.
don't use in path data, like email - is you have project, and want give opportunity to change email in configuration, what you will do with files? Better save user to Database and use his ID as key.
If you have path, then you simply need only use of move_uploaded_file, but remember to check result, as it not always will return true. You can have error, when you don't have permissions to destination folder (you'll need debug this).
I see that you, first upload file, then rename (then you should check, if rename was success). Don't extends this process, if it not necessary. Upload file for final path and name.
Example of code (I this rattle off)
if ($_SERVER['REQUEST_METHOD'] == 'POST') {
$email = filter_var($_POST['email'], FILTER_VALIDATE_EMAIL);
$fileName = basename($_FILES["file"]["name"]);
$fileName = str_replace(" ", "", $fileName);
$target_file = sprintf(__DIR__ . "/users/%s/pictures/Photos/%s", $email, $fileName);
if (move_uploaded_file($_FILES['file']['tmp_name'], $target_file)) {
// File was uploaded
header('Refresh: 1; url=Photos.php?user=' . $email);
} else {
// File was not uploaded;
throw new \Exception('File was not uploaded. Check warnings.');
}
}
Used other method to check, if this is POST
use method sprintf, for better code quality
checked effect of move_uploaded_file
use global path for destination file

Answer 2

Below code is risky in live environment, please use cautiously
Use a relative path to the uploads folder. For example, if your uploads folder is placed outside your current folder. Then
$PATH = '/absolute/example/path/to/uploads';//from config file
$target_file = "$PATH/file_name";
move_uploaded_file($_FILES['file']['tmp_name'],$target_file);
The above code will work both in local and remote server.
Other checks are below:
Check for errors while uploading file in server
To enable error handling use below code in your upload logic:
ini_set('display_errors', 1);
error_reporting(E_ALL);
Another important note is to make uploads folder writable otherwise file upload wont work.