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This is my very first message here and I apologize if the question has been asked before.

Also, sorry for my english, I'm french...

I'm building a Laravel app and in one of my forms, I give the user the possibility to upload a file but it's not required.

However, once it's uploaded, there's no way to delete it in my Edit or Upload route.

Let's say a user uplaods a file and changes their mind, how can they remove it?

Here's a screenshot of the form :

Upload file field

Here's my controller : 

public function update(Request $request, $id)
{
    $this->validate($request, [
        'title' => 'required|string',
        'timing' => 'required',
        'file' => 'file',
        'lesson_id' => 'required',
        'video' => 'required',
        'description' => 'required'
    ]);

    $lecture = Lecture::findOrFail($id);

    $lecture->title = $request['title'];
    $lecture->timing = $request['timing'];
    $lecture->lesson_id = $request['lesson_id'];
    $lecture->video = $request['video'];
    $lecture->description = $request['description'];

    // Fichier
    $file = $request->file('file');

    if ($request->hasFile('file')) {
        $fileName = $file->getClientOriginalName();
    $fileExtension = $file->getClientOriginalExtension();

    $destinationPath = public_path('chapitres-files');

    $file->move($destinationPath, $fileName);
    $lecture->file = 'chapitres-files/' . $fileName;
    }

So, can someone explain me what to do exactly in my controller, in my view file and also in my web.php?

Thank you very much!

Gastono

Gastono
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  • So if you are wanting to remove a file from the form before it is uploaded, you are going to need to use clientside code to do it. You may want to put the `javascript` flag on your question so it appears in the right feed. P.s. Your English is really good, no need to apologise ;) – Spholt May 04 '20 at 08:46
  • Are you removing from your `request array or from view`? – A.A Noman May 04 '20 at 08:46
  • I would suggest creating a new route and controller specifically for deleting the image rather than trying to add additional logic to delete it in your `update` method. – Rwd May 04 '20 at 08:49
  • Thanks guys. I would like to remove it from the view within my updat or edit page. @Rwd : so I can create a form in a form and have 2 controllers in the same page? Sorry, but I'm confused... Thanks anyway! – Gastono May 04 '20 at 08:52

1 Answers1

1

You have 2 main scenarios to cover:

  1. A user adds file to the form but the decides to remove it before upload
  2. A user has already uploaded a file and now wants to delete it

Scenario 1: Removing a file from a form object

I will point you at this question as a starting point as I am not a Javascript expert

How do I remove a file from the FileList

Scenario 2: Removing a file from storage

As mentioned in the comments, in this scenario you will want to remove the file as a seperate action rather than as part of your Edit / Update code.

This keeps your destructive actions seperate from your constructive actions

The way I would approach this is:

  1. Create an API Controller for your files (FileController) with a destroy method on it
  2. Create an API Route for your files (api/files/destroy/{file_id})
  3. Use javascript to fire an AJAX request to your API Route with the identifier for the file you want to delete

Note: I would suggest also adding an confirmation step to your "delete" button (like a modal or alert) to make the user confirm that they do indeed want to delete the file

Spholt
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