Help with image retrieval

[Hejman]

ok so let's get the intros out here... I'm Nathan, a senior in high school. I attend a technology school, and in order to graduate, we have to complete a senior project. so we chose the following:

B.U.S.T.E.D. I have no clue what it stands for anymore, something stupid i'm sure. but the basic premise is thus: a student gets on a bus, scans their student ID, and they are listed as "riding" bus number... whatever the bus number is. That part works fine. But there is also an option to view student information. All student info is stored in a MySQL student_info table under the Busted database. What I need help with is being able to upload the student's picture, and have it pop up when the rest of their information is viewed, just like in the corner or something. everything else works, but i have no clue where to even start with this image thing. Please help!!! this is definately due February 7th.

[Atli]

Hey Hejman. Welcome to TSDN!

Two options spring to mind when facing such a problem.

First, the old fashion way.
For that, you basically upload the image onto the file system of you server and add it's location to a field in your database. Then, when you want it displayed, you simply add the location to a <img> tag or something similar.

Second, the slightly more modern way.
This requires you to upload the image directly into you MySQL database as a BLOB object. This is more complex than the old fashion way, and some would reason this adds overhead as well (tho I've never really tested that) but, it can prove useful when the file system is somewhat inaccessible.
Check out this thread for more info on this.

[Hejman]

Hey Hejman. Welcome to TSDN!

Two options spring to mind when facing such a problem.

First, the old fashion way.
For that, you basically upload the image onto the file system of you server and add it's location to a field in your database. Then, when you want it displayed, you simply add the location to a <img> tag or something similar.

Second, the slightly more modern way.
This requires you to upload the image directly into you MySQL database as a BLOB object. This is more complex than the old fashion way, and some would reason this adds overhead as well (tho I've never really tested that) but, it can prove useful when the file system is somewhat inaccessible.
Check out this thread for more info on this.

Thank You for your time... I should be able to handle the "old fashioned way" you mentioned... i can't believe I didn't think of that... however is there a php way to upload to that filesystem?

[Atli]

Uploading files is actually extremely simple once you get used to it.

Check out this page at php.net
The examples there should shed some light on this.

When doing something like this it can be very helpful to check out the output of the $_FILES array to see exactly what it is you have to work with:

print_r($_FILES);
 

Let us know if you run into any problems.

[Hejman]

Uploading files is actually extremely simple once you get used to it.

Check out this page at php.net
The examples there should shed some light on this.

When doing something like this it can be very helpful to check out the output of the $_FILES array to see exactly what it is you have to work with:

print_r($_FILES);
 

Let us know if you run into any problems.

not sure if this relates to anything you just said, but i tried the earlier mentioned MySQL method, and it parse errors right about here: maybe you can tell me what i did wrong?

<...code omitted...>
<h3><font color="#0000FF"><? echo "header('Content-type: image/jpeg');?>
<? $rs = mysql_fetch_array(mysql_query("SELECT image from images where s_name = '".$s_name."')); ?>
<? echo base64_decode($rs["image"])"; ?></font></h3>
<...code omitted...>
 

this is the error I get. line 49 starts with <? $rs =

Parse error: syntax error, unexpected T_STRING, expecting ',' or ';' in C:\xampp\htdocs\do_lookup_bc.php on line 49
 

[Atli]

The problem is actually in the line above the one you mention.
This is where the problem is:

<? echo "header('Content-type: image/jpeg');?>
 

It should be either of these two, depending on what you were trying to do:

# This one will set the content type of the response
#  to "image/jpeg", which would either cause the
#  browser to render the page incorrectly or
#  cause it to render the page as an image, which
#  would be very weird considering all the HTML
#  you have already added.
<?php header('Content-type: image/jpeg');?>
 
# This would echo the header() function into the HTML
#  as plain text, not executing it.
#  I doubt that is what you wanted.
<?php echo "header('Content-type: image/jpeg')";?>
 
# P.S.
# Note that I changed the <? ... ?> tags you used
# into <?php ... ?> which I recommend for 
# compatibility's sake. It's good practice to always
# use the full PHP tags like I did there.
 

In any case, I think you are trying to use the wrong method here.

As far as I can see, you are trying to echo an image into the HTML document, setting the content-type and printing the binary data retrieved from the database.

You would in fact print the binary data as plain text into the HTML source, which is not exactly pretty :)

If you want to retrieve the binary data as an image, that must be done on a different document. You must set the content type using the header function and print ONLY the image binary data.

[Hejman]

ya this is really getting confusing- i'm in way over my head here. so i tried using the filesystem method, and reading the php.net help file thing that someone linked to, and all i found that i have a slight clue how to use was the HTML form to upload the file. so if the action is 'do_upload.php' what should i put in that php file so it will actually store the image in C:\xampp\htdocs\imaging, using the student's name as a filename? or better yet is that even possible?

[Markus]

google is your friend ;)

Here's a greta tutorial for uploading the image!

And to add to that, you can simply change the name of the image by using something like this:
[php]
//... code snipped

$_user = "username"; // fetch the username?
$_path = "uploads/".$_user; //join the to.
move_uploaded_file($_FILES["file"]["tmp_name"],
$_path); //save uploaded file with specific name.
echo "Stored in: $_path";


//... code snipped
[/php]

[Atli]

Yea, Markus' code is pretty much all you need.

The move_uploaded_file function does pretty much all that needs to be done.
All you have to is figure out the path you want the file saved in.

This may help:

<?php
# If something goes wrong with the upload
# the $_FILES[x]['error'] element will contain
# an error code that can tell you what went wrong.
# If everything goes right, it will be set to 0.
 
# So, to make sure the upload was successful
if($_FILES['MyFile']['error'] != 0) {
 die("File upload failed");
}
 
# The $_FILES[x]['name'] element contains the original
# name of your uploaded file, so it can be used to
# create the new path.
$newPath = "uploads/". $_FILES['MyFile']['name'];
 
# The move_uploaded_files() function does the
# actual moving for you and returns a boolean value
# which indicates whether it was successful
 
# The $_FILES[x]['tmp_name'] element contains the temporary
# path your server uploaded your file into. The move function needs
# this value so it can move it to your new path.
if(move_uploaded_file($_FILES['MyFile']['tmp_name'], $newPath)) 
{
  # Everything has been moved successfully
  echo "Your file has been uploaded into '{$newPath}'";
}
else 
{
  # The move_uploaded_file function failed.
  # If this happens you most likely do not
  # have permission to write in the directory
  # you are trying to move your file into.
  echo "The file failed to be moved";
}
?>
 

[Hejman]

Yea, Markus' code is pretty much all you need.

The move_uploaded_file function does pretty much all that needs to be done.
All you have to is figure out the path you want the file saved in.

This may help:

<?php
# If something goes wrong with the upload
# the $_FILES[x]['error'] element will contain
# an error code that can tell you what went wrong.
# If everything goes right, it will be set to 0.
 
# So, to make sure the upload was successful
if($_FILES['MyFile']['error'] != 0) {
 die("File upload failed");
}
 
# The $_FILES[x]['name'] element contains the original
# name of your uploaded file, so it can be used to
# create the new path.
$newPath = "uploads/". $_FILES['MyFile']['name'];
 
# The move_uploaded_files() function does the
# actual moving for you and returns a boolean value
# which indicates whether it was successful
 
# The $_FILES[x]['tmp_name'] element contains the temporary
# path your server uploaded your file into. The move function needs
# this value so it can move it to your new path.
if(move_uploaded_file($_FILES['MyFile']['tmp_name'], $newPath)) 
{
  # Everything has been moved successfully
  echo "Your file has been uploaded into '{$newPath}'";
}
else 
{
  # The move_uploaded_file function failed.
  # If this happens you most likely do not
  # have permission to write in the directory
  # you are trying to move your file into.
  echo "The file failed to be moved";
}
?>
 

thank you for helping me get this done... this looks to be exactly what i need to finish the server-side of things... and now for what i really suck at:
I need to host xampp on one PC, as like a dedicated server but still running XP, and network 2 other computers through it as dumb terminals and running through a switch. having subnetted the network, i am able to ping the 2 to the server and the server to the 2. But when i type in the network address of the server, if the page loads at all, it asks for a login but never goes anywhere, and no evidence of xampp, apache, or my project are anywhere to be found. Help?

[Hejman]

ok so thank you all for getting me the grade for this project, however we did make it to showcase for state so now i need help more than ever. I need to make the following happen, but have no slight clue where to start:

login as the bus driver
set a cookie so the bus driver's bus number is always retrievable (until the browser closes)

there's more but i would be happy with this for now... anybody get what i'm trying to do, or better is there an easier way to do it i'm overlooking?

[Hejman]

ok nevermind. we lost at regionals. but thank you all for your help... and i hopefully will keep developing this project... if i can get over the fact that i just wasted like 5 months of my life programming this stuff for nothing. i don't know.