Images from Dropzone are lost after error on Validation with Laravel - php

Question

So, i have this particular issue.
I have made a form with dropzone included, and the images are uploaded via AJAX, and everything is working from that point of view (selected images are stored, and can be deleted from the box).
So the problem is the following:
When i submit the form, and some validation error happens, the images i have uploaded are already on the server, but dont display on the dropzone form, i have to reupload them again, but then i just fill my storage with unwated data, and the images that were uploaded earlier before the validation cannot be accessed or deleted by any methods later on, so its basically junk data.
Is there any way to prevent this from happening? I would LOVE to show the already uploaded images after validation error (or refresh for example). If there cant be any solution for this, suggest me different approach.
Thanks.

Answer 1

I managed to get a working solution.
My thinking was following: If there are images posted, then using the $validator->fails() method i am deleting the images from the server.
Here is the complete code, if someone needs it:
// Validating the request
public function validate(Request $request){
$rules = []; //define your rules
$messages = []; //define your rules
// We make new validator with request data, rules and messages
$validator = Validator::make($request->all(), $rules, $messages);
// Deleting images if the validator fails
if($validator->fails()){
if(isset($request->images)){
foreach($request->images as $image){
// unlink your image here
}
}
return Redirect::back()->withInput()->withErrors($validator);
}
}
Then in the method store/edit (or custom method) just call:
public function store(Request $request){
// If it fails, return the redirect we defined.
if($this->validate($request)){
return $this->validate($request);
}
}
You can also define the validator directly in the store method, but since i use it few times in my Controller, i made a separate method just for it. We must return its value if we like to redirect back with the errors.
Cheers.