Member Pictures above site root - php

Question

I am making a member's management database. I want to put all the members pictures above the site root so that they wont be able to be accessed via a url but I want to show the picture of the member on the member profile. I am using php. How can I do that?! Thanks!

Answer 1

You could create a php file that reads the file based on some input parameters, and at the same time decide on some conditions whether the visitor is allowed to view the file.
Something like this (simplified example):
<?php
// presuming this file is in the root of your site
// define some directory where the actual images are
$dir = realpath( dirname( __FILE__ ) . '/../profile-images' );
// presuming this file is called with something like
// image.php?profileImage=fireeyedboy.jpg
if( isset( $_GET[ 'profileImage' ] ) )
{
// strip all possible redundant paths
// you should probably sanitize even more (check valid extensions etc.)
$profileImage = basename( $_GET[ 'profileImage' ] );
if( $someConditionsThatVisitorIsAllowedToViewThisImageAreMet )
{
// presuming mime type jpeg for now
header( 'Content-Type: image/jpeg' );
readfile( $dir . '/' . $profileImage );
exit();
}
else
{
// conditions are not met, dish out HTTP/1.1 403 Forbidden header
header( 'HTTP/1.1 403 Forbidden', true );
exit();
}
}