3 Helpful Tips For Doing Laravel File Upload Features

Everyone has had a file get stuck during the upload process. This is because, although a smooth file sharing process is key to improving a website’s user experience and allowing users to collaborate and communicate seamlessly, it is often neglected. Laravel file upload, however, helps put an end to this. It is a PHP framework for uploading files, images, and videos. Whether you are a newbie or expert at PHP, using the Filestack PHP SDK, you can add Laravel File Upload with a few lines of code. 

Laravel is a robust, open-source MVC PHP framework. It has a simple and elegant toolkit for creating full-featured web applications. It also includes the basic features of PHP frameworks such as Codelgniter and Yii, in addition to other programming languages like Ruby on Rails. Simply put, it offers a rich set of functionalities.

If you are looking for the best way to implement Laravel file upload, here are three important tips to guide you. Also, consider reading this helpful Laravel file upload example or learning about why success is easy for Laravel file uploads.

Filestack has a dedicated guide for using Laravel file uploads from multiple sources. These include Facebook, Twitter, Google Drive, and Webcam, as well as many more. For basic file upload functionality, Filestack is the best solution. This is because after you upload a file, Filestack automatically generates a CDN URL you can use in your application. You can also use the PHP SDK to leverage Filestack file upload functionality. Because of these features, Filestack is now a popular and well loved Laravel file manager.

Before diving into the Laravel file upload tricks, however, let’s also look at some file upload application basics.

Why use a third-party PHP uploader like Filestack over building one yourself?

Independently dealing with scaling, security, and maintenance is risky. In order to help you mitigate the risks, Filestack scales easily. It also builds in security and time-saving maintenance features. As a result, using the Filestack file uploading system, you don’t need to worry. This means that you can focus on developing rather than maintaining your applications.

Moreover, with Filestack, you can get started for free. The Filestack free plan handles up to 100 monthly uploads with 1GB storage and 1GB bandwidth.

Filestack has all the essential features a PHP file upload system needs

Filestack has invested heavily in worldwide presence & network technology to facilitate fast, reliable uploads. In other words, they have created a CDN for uploads. 

With Filestack, you get the same technology used by other internet giants without having to maintain it. The system is also100x more reliable and 4x faster on mobile. 

Next, Intelligent IngestioTM automatically and continuously responds to changing network conditions. It does this by dynamically adjusting package sizes to guarantee 99.999% upload success.

Another key feature of Filestack is that its network can execute complex file transformations as files upload and are in transit.

Security and Data Protection are vital for us at Filestack. Filestack ensures its infrastructure is secured and that your data is kept safe.

Finally, Filestack’s adapted domain whitelists prevent the file picker from being embedded on unapproved websites. As a result, you can protect an account against attacks or abuse, or configure it to authenticate every request with security policies.

Filestack saves your users time

• Attractive and easy-to-use file uploading features make your website more user-friendly.
• The chunking of large files ensures fast uploads regardless of file size.
• Previews let users confirm they are uploading the right file.
• A responsive interface makes file uploading in Laravel apps (among other frameworks) convenient across all devices.
• Users can select and upload several files at a time.
• In-browser image editing and previews make upload preparation easy.

Now, let’s get to the 3 helpful Laravel file upload tips:

Tips 1: Use the official PHP SDK for Filestack API and content management system

Using the PHP SDK Filestack API and content management system, you can efficiently create robust file uploading applications and transform any web or mobile application.

Prerequisites for Filestack’s PHP SDK:

Firstly, you must ensure that you have Composer installed on your system. In order to do this, you can run the following on a Mac or *NIX system.

hp -r "copy('https://getcomposer.org/installer', 'composer-setup.php');"
php -r "if (hash_file('sha384', 'composer-setup.php') === '93b54496392c062774670ac18b134c3b3a95e5a5e5c8f1a9f115f203b75bf9a129d5daa8ba6a13e2cc8a1da0806388a8') { echo 'Installer verified'; } else { echo 'Installer corrupt'; unlink('composer-setup.php'); } echo PHP_EOL;"
php composer-setup.php
php -r "unlink('composer-setup.php');"

Be sure that you move Composer to a system-wide location:

mv composer.phar /usr/local/bin/composer

Windows users can use WSL. If you want a native Windows version of Composer, then you can find one here: https://getcomposer.org/doc/00-intro.md#installation-windows

As the source of truth for that Composer stuff, go here. 

Filestacks PHP SDK

You can install into your preferred directory:

$ composer require --prefer-dist filestack/filestack-php

Don’t type the dollar sign!

Code

Using the PHP SDK

If you are in a framework like ZEND, Laravel, or Codelgniter, you have to write this up in that framework’s tooling. If you’re just creating a one-off file, then you can try this out. Here is the minimum Composer requires for Filestack’s PHP package

<?php
require_once 'vendor/autoload.php';

use Filestack\FilestackClient;
use Filestack\Filelink;
use Filestack\FilestackException;

Save that in a file named upload-url.php.Magic time.

Upload a file by URL

Now let’s try it out.

$filelink = null;
$fileurl = 'https://c1.staticflickr.com/4/3258/2673143903_db2690e28f_b.jpg';

$client = new FilestackClient('MyAPIKEYwasHereBeforeIBlogged');

try {
   $filelink = $client->uploadUrl($fileurl);
   var_dump($filelink);
} catch (FilestackException $e) {
   echo $e->getMessage();
   echo $e->getCode();
}

Run this as a readable test by piping the output to less:

$ php upload-url.php | less

Now you can scroll through the output. That’s it!

Tips 2: Uploading File via Intelligent Ingestion:

The Intelligent Ingestion Feature is an exciting feature that allows users to upload in chunks, not as a whole. It enables a more stable upload flow. This ensures the file being uploaded will eventually be complete without any issue, regardless of network latency or timeout errors.

However, the upload process may be slower for large files as the errors are retried.

Finally, this Intelligent Ingestion feature needs to be turned to use the API key to be used. In order to turn on this feature, please contact Filestack at support@filestack.com.

CODE

Using the Intelligent Ingestion Feature:

<?php
/**
 * Upload File via Intelligent Ingestion Examples
 *
 * The Intelligent Ingestion feature allows users to upload a file in chunks.
 * This creates a more stable upload flow that ensures the
 * file being uploaded completes successfully, regardless of
 * network latency or timeout errors.
 *
 * However, the upload process may be slower than the normal upload flow for
 * large files, as errors are retried using the exponential backoff
 * retry strategy.
 *
 * Lastly, this feature has to be turned on for the apikey being used.  To turn
 * on this feature please contact Filestack at support@filestack.com.
 *
 */

use Filestack\FilestackClient;
use Filestack\Filelink;
use Filestack\FilestackException;

$test_api_key = 'YOUR_FILESTACK_API_KEY';
$test_filepath = __DIR__ . '/../tests/testfiles/some-big-video-file.mp4';

$client = new FilestackClient($test_api_key);

// upload a file
$filelink = null;

try {
    $filelink = $client->upload($test_filepath, ['intelligent' => true]);
    var_dump($filelink);
} catch (FilestackException $e) {
    echo $e->getMessage();
    echo $e->getCode();
}

// get metadata of file
$fields = [];
$metadata = $client->getMetaData($filelink->handle, $fields);
# or
$metadata = $client->getMetaData($filelink->url(), $fields);
var_dump($metadata);

You can get more from our Github:https://github.com/filestack/filestack-php/blob/master/examples/intelligent-ingestion.php

That’s it!

Tips 3: One command file uploading with Filestack SDK:

 If you want to use PHP (Laravel) file upload, then you have to follow many specific steps.

Simple steps to file uploading in the Laravel 9 app: you have to follow the following steps, which are lengthy.

1. Install Laravel 9 Application
2. Configure Database Details
3. Create File Model & Migration
4. Create API File Upload Routes
5. CreateAPI File Upload Controller
6. Start Development Server
7. Run App On PostMan
   

There are other supporting lines of code but only one command. It is:

 $filelink = $client->upload($test_filepath);

Using this command, you can upload files.

Code

<?php
use Filestack\FilestackClient;
use Filestack\Filelink;
use Filestack\FilestackException;

$test_api_key = 'YOUR_FILESTACK_API_KEY';
$test_filepath = __DIR__ . '/../tests/testfiles/calvinandhobbes.jpg';

# Filestack client examples
$client = new FilestackClient($test_api_key);

// upload a file
$filelink = null;

try {
    $filelink = $client->upload($test_filepath);
    var_dump($filelink);
} catch (FilestackException $e) {
    echo $e->getMessage();
    echo $e->getCode();
}

// get metadata of file
$fields = [];
$metadata = $client->getMetaData($filelink->handle, $fields);
# or
$metadata = $client->getMetaData($filelink->url(), $fields);
var_dump($metadata);

// get content of a file
$content = $client->getContent($filelink->handle);
# or
$content = $client->getContent($filelink->url());

// save file to local drive
$filepath = __DIR__ . '/../tests/testfiles/' . $metadata['filename'];
file_put_contents($filepath, $content);

// download a file
$destination = __DIR__ . '/../tests/testfiles/my-custom-filename.jpg';
$result = $client->download($filelink->handle, $destination);
# or
$result = $client->download($filelink->url(), $destination);
var_dump($result);

/* overwrite() and delete() require security settings turned on */

You can get more from our Github: https://github.com/filestack/filestack-php/blob/master/examples/client-no-security.php

That’s it!

Alright? Hope those tips have inspired you to build your own Laravel file upload application. You can even consider adding a Laravel multiple file upload functionality, which is an easy task with Filestack.

Ready to get started building amazing Laravel File Upload applications using Filestack?

Sign up for free at Filestack to upload, transform and deliver content easily!