Preloading image in edit form - php

Question

I have edit form which is populated from database when I go to update page. Everything works fine except the image part. If I don't submit new image it deletes old one too.
This is my controller
public function update( ItemRequest $request){
$item = Item::find( $request['id'] );
$filename=null;
$image = $request->file('image');
if($request->hasFile('image'))
{
if($image->isValid()){
$extension = $image->getClientOriginalExtension();
$uploadPath = public_path(). '/uploads';
$filename = rand(111,999). '.'. $extension;
$image->move($uploadPath, $filename);
}
}
$item->title = $request['title'];
$item->category_id = $request['category_id'];
$item->price = $request['price'];
$item->description = $request['description'];
$item->image = $filename? $filename: $item->image;
$item->image = $filename;
if($item->save()){
if(!is_null($filename)){
$item_image = new Item_Images;
$item_image->image = $filename;
$item_image->item_id = $item->id;
$item_image->published = 1;
$item_image->save();
}
$request->session()->flash('alert-success','Item updated successfully.');
} else
$request->session()->flash('alert-error','Can not update item now. Plese tyr again!!.');
return redirect()->route('products');
}
And the corresponded fields for image on the form
#if( $item['image'] )
<div class="form-group">
{!! Form::label('inputImage', 'Existing Image', array('class'=> 'col-sm-2 control-label')) !!}
<div class="col-sm-10">
<img src="{!!asset('/uploads/'. $item['image'] )!!}" />
</div>
</div>
#endif
<div class="form-group">
{!! Form::label('inputImage', 'Image', array('class'=> 'col-sm-2 control-label')) !!}
<div class="col-sm-10">
{!! Form::file('image', ['class'=>'form-control', 'id'=>'inputImage']) !!}
</div>
</div>
First I check if there is image in database and if there is it is shown on the page. There there is the file field.
So is it possible to load as a value the current image in file field of form? Or this must be done in controller logic somehow?

Answer 1

Remove this line to fix the problem:
$item->image = $filename;
By doing this, you'll set image as null if no image was uploaded.