Insert multiple file names in database column - php

Question

I have this file uploading code which is working fine. The only issue I have is when i upload multiple files, it creates multiple rows in database for each file. For instance, if I upload 5 files, it will create 5 new rows with same message but with different file name. It's not binding all files in one message and not creating a single row for message with multiple files in database.
if(!empty($_FILES['files']['name'][0])){
$files = $_FILES['files'];
$uploaded = array();
$failed = array();
$allowed = array('jpg', 'jpeg','gif','png','txt', 'doc','docx', 'xls', 'xlsx', 'zip','rar','gz','7zip','ppt', 'pptx','rtf','pdf','svg','sav','csv');
foreach ($files['name'] as $position => $file_name) {
$file_temp = $files['tmp_name'][$position];
$file_size = $files['size'][$position];
$file_error = $files['error'][$position];
$file_ext = explode('.', $file_name);
$file_ext = strtolower(end($file_ext));
if(in_array($file_ext, $allowed)){
if($file_error === 0){
if($file_size <= 20000000){
$file_name_new = uniqid('', true) . '.' . $file_ext;
$file_destination = '../files/wcfiles/'.$file_name_new;
$file_destination = '../files/wcfiles/'.strtolower($file_name);
$file_db_path_array = array();
array_push($file_db_path_array, strtolower($file_name));
$file_db_path = 'msg_files/'. $file_db_path_array;
if(move_uploaded_file($file_temp, $file_destination)){
$uploaded[$position] = $file_destination;
} else {
$failed[$position] = "[{$file_name}] failed to upload";}
} else {
$failed[$position] = "[{$file_name}] is too large.";}
} else {
$failed[$position] = "[{$file_name}] errored with code {$file_error}";}
} else {
$failed[$position] = "[{$file_name}] file extension '{$file_ext}' is not allowed.";}
}
$ins_message = $conn->prepare("INSERT INTO conversation (msg_date, msg_id, msg_from, msg_to, msg_message, msg_files) VALUES (?,?,?,?,?,?)");
$ins_message->bind_param("ssssss", $msg_date, $msg_id, $msg_from, $msg_to, $msg_message, $file_db_path);
$ins_message->execute();
$ins_message->close();
File code
echo '<ul>';
foreach (explode(',', $msg_rows['msg_files']) as $file ) {
echo '<li><a href="../files/wcfiles/"'.$file.'>'.$file.'</a></li>';}
echo '</ul>';

Answer 1

I think the best approach here is to push the file path values into an array in your foreach loop. Then, after the loop, join each file path array element into a string with a comma in between each, to get your complete file paths string to insert into the database.
First instantiate an array, to hold the file path values, before the foreach loop.
$file_db_path_array = [];
foreach ($files['name'] as $position => $file_name) {
// ...
Next move your database insertion code to after your foreach loop closes:
} // end of foreach $files['name']
$ins_message = $conn->prepare("INSERT INTO conversation (msg_date, msg_id, msg_from, msg_to, msg_message, msg_files) VALUES (?,?,?,?,?,?)");
$ins_message->bind_param("ssssss", $msg_date, $msg_order_id, $msg_from, $msg_to, $msg_message, $file_db_path);
$ins_message->execute();
$ins_message->close();
Then replace the $file_db_path assignment line with:
array_push($file_db_path_array, 'msg_files/'.strtolower($file_name_new));
Finally, in the database insertion code, change $file_db_path to join(',', $file_db_path_array).
$ins_message->bind_param("ssssss", $msg_date, $msg_order_id, $msg_from, $msg_to, $msg_message, join(',', $file_db_path_array));
And here's the complete foreach loop and database insertion:
$file_db_path_array = [];
foreach ($files['name'] as $position => $file_name) {
$file_temp = $files['tmp_name'][$position];
$file_size = $files['size'][$position];
$file_error = $files['error'][$position];
$file_ext = explode('.', $file_name);
$file_ext = strtolower(end($file_ext));
if(in_array($file_ext, $allowed)){
if($file_error === 0){
if($file_size <= 20000000){
$file_name_new = uniqid('', true) . '.' . $file_ext;
$file_destination = '../files/wcfiles/'.$file_name_new;
array_push($file_db_path_array, 'msg_files/'.strtolower($file_name_new));
if(move_uploaded_file($file_temp, $file_destination)){
$uploaded[$position] = $file_destination;
} else {
$failed[$position] = "[{$file_name}] failed to upload";
}
} else {
$failed[$position] = "[{$file_name}] is too large.";
}
} else {
$failed[$position] = "[{$file_name}] errored with code {$file_error}";
}
} else {
$failed[$position] = "[{$file_name}] file extension '{$file_ext}' is not allowed.";
}
}
$file_db_path = join(',', $file_db_path_array);
$ins_message = $conn->prepare("INSERT INTO conversation (msg_date, msg_id, msg_from, msg_to, msg_message, msg_files) VALUES (?,?,?,?,?,?)");
$ins_message->bind_param("ssssss", $msg_date, $msg_order_id, $msg_from, $msg_to, $msg_message, $file_db_path);
$ins_message->execute();
$ins_message->close();
Later, when you want to display the list of files with each message, for each message, explode the file list, using comma, to get an array, then loop over the array to display each file.
// this is inside your messages display loop,
// assuming the files field is assigned to variable $files_string
echo '<ul>';
foreach ( explode(',', $files_string) as $file ) {
echo '<li>'.$file.'</li>';
}
echo '</ul>';