Rails 4 - saving images in database

Question

Hello dear Programmers,

I'm trying to develop a web application with the ebook "Praxiswissen - Ruby on Rails". My problem is that I want to save Images through a form to my project directory. The database just saves the name of the pictures with the saving time:

def unique_and_proper_filename(filename)
    Time.now.to_i.to_s + '_' + File.basename(filename)
end 

My problem is that my pictures dont get saved after submitting my form. I dont get some exceptions, thats why I dont know where my issue is.

Controller:

class PostsController < ApplicationController

  require 'will_paginate'

  def new
     @post = Post.new
  end

  # information about saving the picture
  def create
     @post = Post.new(params[:post].permit(:title, :description, :date, :image_file, :thumbnail_file))

     # Form isn't correctly filled message
     if [email protected]?
        flash.now[:notice] = "Bitte f&uuml;llen Sie alle Felder aus und &uuml;berpr&uuml;fen Sie Ihre Angaben."
        render(:action => :new)

     # Files weren't saved message
     elsif [email protected]_files
        flash.now[:notice] = "Es trat ein Fehler beim Hochladen der Dateien auf."
        render(:action => :new)

     # Files saved correctly message
     else
        @post.save
        flash[:notice] = "Dateien wurden hochgeladen und die Daten wurden gespeichert."
        redirect_to(:action => :list)
     end
  end

  # list action for listing my pictures
  def list
    @posts = Post.paginate(:page => params[:page], :order => "date DESC", :per_page => 15)
    @post_pages = Post.paginate(:page => params[:page], :order => "date DESC", :per_page => 15)
  end

end

HTML Form:

<h2>Neues Foto anlegen</h2>
<%= form_tag({:action => :create}, :multipart => true) %>
<h3>Bilddaten</h3>
<p>
    Titel<br/>
    <%= text_field(:post, :title) %>
</p>
<p>
    Beschreibungen<br/>
    <%= text_field(:post, :description) %>
</p>    
<p>
    Datum und Uhrzeit<br/>  
    <%= datetime_select(:post, :date, :order => [:day, :month, :year, :hour]) %>
</p>
<p>
    <h3>Datei-Upload</h3>   
    <p>
        Bilddatei:<br/>
        <%= file_field(:post, :image_file) %>
    </p>    
    <p>
        Thumbnail:<br/>
        <%= file_field(:post, :thumbnail_file) %>
    </p>
    <%= submit_tag("Speichern") %>
</p>
</form>

Model:

class Post < ActiveRecord::Base

  validates_presence_of(:title, :description, :date, :image, :thumbnail)
  I18n.enforce_available_locales = false

  def image_file= (fileobj)
    if fileobj.size > 0
      @image_file = fileobj
      self.image = unique_and_proper_filename(fileobj.original_filename)
    end
  end

  def thumbnail_file= (fileobj)
    if fileobj.size > 0
      @thumbnail_file = fileobj
      self.thumbnail = unique_and_proper_filename(fileobj.original_filename)
    end
  end 

  def save_files

    # Bilddatei save
    if !save_uploaded_file(@image_file, IMAGE_DIR, self.image)
      return false
    end

    # Thumbnail save
    if !save_uploaded_file(@thumbnail_file, THUMBNAIL_DIR, self.thumbnail)
      return false
    end

  end

  private 
  def unique_and_proper_filename(filename)
    Time.now.to_i.to_s + "_" + File.basename(filename)
  end

  private 
  def save_uploaded_file(fileobj, filepath, filename)

    # Complete Path
    complete_path = Rails.root + "/public/" + filepath

    # if neccessary, create directory
    FileUtils.mkdir_p(complete_path) unless File.exists?(complete_path)

    # save data
    begin
      f = File.open(complete_path + "/" + filename, "wb")
      f.write(fileobj.read)
    rescue 
      return false
    ensure
      f.close unless f.nil?
    end

  end

end

I'm only getting the message that there went something wrong with saving the files when i fill the form correctly but it should return a message that says that my file were saved.

I'm sorry for that massive length of my question but I really dont know where my issue is... If there's a need for more information or code, I will add it as fast as I can.

Thank you very much in advance!

Answer 1

Update 17/02/22:

Paperclip has since been deprecated, it is recommended you use Rails' own Active Storage.

Original Answer:

I'm sorry but I'll only be able to recommend what we use:

---

Paperclip

I appreciate you're using a tutorial, but I'd highly recommend using the Paperclip gem for this

This handles ALL the heavy lifting for you:

#GemFile
gem "paperclip", "~> 4.1.1"

---

Model

#app/models/post.rb
Class Post < ActiveRecord::Base
    has_attached_file :image
end

#migration
add_attachment :posts, :image

---

Controller

#app/controllers/posts_controller.rb
def new
    @post = Post.new
end

def create
    @post = Post.new(post_params)
end

private

def post_params
     params.require(:post).permit(:image, :other, :params)
end

---

View

#app/views/posts/new.html.erb
<%= form_for @post do |f| %>
    <%= f.file_field :image %>
<% end %>

Answer 2

I'm lucky to tell that I found my issue. My save_files method in my Post model doesn't returned true..

I post this answer because maybe someone could use this question as an answer for his own problem. Here's where I added my return true :

def save_files

    # Bilddatei save
    if !save_uploaded_file(@image_file, IMAGE_DIR, self.image)
      return false
    end

    # Thumbnail save
    if !save_uploaded_file(@thumbnail_file, THUMBNAIL_DIR, self.thumbnail)
      return false
    end

    return true   # <--------- Need to be added!

end