Laravel, getting uploaded file's url

Question

I'm currently working on a Laravel 5.5 project, where I want to upload files, and then, I want to get their url back of the file (I have to use it client side).

now my code looks like this:

public function pdfUploader(Request $request)
{
  Log::debug('pdfUploader is called. ' . $request);
  if ($request->hasFile('file') && $request->file('file')->isValid()) {
    $extension = $request->file->extension();
    $fileName = 'tmp' . round(microtime(true) * 1000) . '.' . $extension;
    $path = $request->file->storeAs('temp', $fileName);
    return ['status' => 'OK', 'path' => URL::asset($path)];
  }
  return ['status' => 'NOT_SAVED'];
}

It works fine, I got back the OK status, and the path, but when I want to use the path, I got HTTP 404. I checked, the file is uploaded fine..

My thought is, I should register the new url in the routes. If I have to, how can I do it dynamically, and if its not necessary what is wrong with my function?

Thx the answers in advance.

Answer 1

By default laravel store all uploaded files into storage directory, for example if you call $request->file->storeAs('temp', 'file.txt'); laravel will create temp folder in storage/app/ and put your file there:

$request->file->storeAs('temp', 'file.txt'); => storage/app/temp/file.txt
$request->file->storeAs('public', 'file.txt'); => storage/app/public/file.txt

However, if you want to make your uploaded files accessible from the web, there are 2 ways to do that:

Move your uploaded file into the public directory

$request->file->move(public_path('temp'), $fileName); // => public/temp/file.txt
URL::asset('temp/'.$fileName); // http://example.com/temp/file.txt

NOTE: make sure that your web server has permissions to write to the public directory

Create a symbolic link from storage directory to public directory

php artisan storage:link

This command will create a symbolic link from public/storage to storage/app/public, in this case we can store our files into storage/app/public and make them accessible from the web via symlinks:

$request->file->storeAs('public', $fileName); // => storage/app/public/file.txt
URL::asset('storage/'.$fileName); // => http://example.com/stoage/file.txt