For one of my projects I had several pages where people could upload images or other files. Now knowing that OOP has as purpose to limit the code and make the same back-end code available for different functionalities. I created an upload helper file for CodeIgniter. This helper file should allow you to create your [...]

For one of my projects I had several pages where people could upload images or other files. Now knowing that OOP has as purpose to limit the code and make the same back-end code available for different functionalities. I created an upload helper file for CodeIgniter. This helper file should allow you to create your upload forms (well the back-end) much faster.

The code

Save this code into a file named upload_helper.php in the helpers folder and don’t forget to load the file when you use the helper.

<?php
if (!defined('BASEPATH')) exit('No direct script access allowed');

/*###################################################################################*/
	function multiple_upload($name = 'userfile', $upload_dir = 'sources/images/', $allowed_types = 'gif|jpg|jpeg|jpe|png', $size)
/*###################################################################################*/
	{
		$CI =& get_instance();

		$config['upload_path']   = realpath($upload_dir);
		$config['allowed_types'] = $allowed_types;
		$config['max_size']      = $size;
		$config['overwrite']     = FALSE;
		$config['encrypt_name']  = TRUE;

			$CI->upload->initialize($config);
			$errors = FALSE;

			if(!$CI->upload->do_upload($name)):
				$errors = TRUE;
			else:
				// Build a file array from all uploaded files
				$files = $CI->upload->data();
			endif;

			// There was errors, we have to delete the uploaded files
			if($errors):
				@unlink($files['full_path']);
				return false;
			else:
				return $files;
			endif;

    }//end of multiple_upload()

/*#################################################*/
	//modified version of jeffrey way's zip extract tutorial
	function upload_batch_images($name = 'userfile', $upload_dir = 'sources/images/', $allowed_types = 'gif|jpg|jpeg|jpe|png', $size)
/*#################################################*/
{
	$CI =& get_instance();
		$realpath = $upload_dir."images-".rand(1111111111,9999999999); //let's make it unique
		$config['upload_path']   = $realpath;
		$config['allowed_types'] = $allowed_types;
		$config['max_size']      = $size;
		$config['overwrite']     = FALSE;
		$config['encrypt_name']  = TRUE;

	$CI->upload->initialize($config);

	if(mkdir($realpath)):
		if($CI->upload->do_upload($name)):
			$files = $CI->upload->data();
			if(openZip($realpath."/".$files['file_name'], $realpath)):
				@unlink($files['full_path']);
				return $realpath;
			else:
				@unlink($files['full_path']);
				return false;
			endif;
		endif;
	else:
		return false;
	endif;

}

/*#################################################*/
	function openZip($file_to_open, $zip_target)
/*#################################################*/
{
	$zip = new ZipArchive();
	$x = $zip->open($file_to_open);
	if ($x === true):
		$zip->extractTo($zip_target);
		$zip->close();
		return true;
	else:
		return false;
	endif;
}

?>

Controller example code

//returns an array and store it into an variable
//requires 4 parameters, the name of the file input, the path where the file should be uploaded too, the allowed extentions, the max. file size
$s_thumb = multiple_upload('small_thumb', 'sources/images/', 'gif|jpg|jpeg|jpe|png', 1024);
echo $s_thumb->file_name; //display file name
/*
returns the following array, which is the basic array when a file is uploaded in CodeIgniter

Array
(
    [file_name]    => mypic.jpg
    [file_type]    => image/jpeg
    [file_path]    => /path/to/your/upload/
    [full_path]    => /path/to/your/upload/jpg.jpg
    [raw_name]     => mypic
    [orig_name]    => mypic.jpg
    [file_ext]     => .jpg
    [file_size]    => 22.2
    [is_image]     => 1
    [image_width]  => 800
    [image_height] => 600
    [image_type]   => jpeg
    [image_size_str] => width="800" height="200"
)

*/

//the following will upload a zip file and extract all the images or files within it, it returns only the path of the image folder
$batch_images = upload_batch_images('large_thumb', 'sources/images/', 'zip', 30720000);

If you like this upload helper share it with other people.