Storing the changed filename into mysql field

Question

I have a form wherein users can upload images and these images are being saved on a particular folder in the server. At the same time the filename of the photo is being stored in a particular field in a MySQL table.

I tried changing the filename by adding a timestamp (and it works) however this new filename is not the filename being stored on the MySQL field meaning it stores the original photo filename from the user.

Is there a way that the new filename will be the one stored on MySQL table.

Below is the code I am using:

enter code here

//This is the directory where images will be saved 
 $target = "pics/"; 
 $target = $target. basename( $_FILES['photo']['name']); 
 
 
 //This gets all the other information from the form 
 $name=$_POST['name']; 
 $email=$_POST['email']; 
 $phone=$_POST['phone']; 
 $pic=($_FILES['photo']['name']); 
 
 // Connects to your Database 
 mysql_connect("localhost", "username", "password") or die(mysql_error()) ; 
 mysql_select_db("test") or die(mysql_error()) ; 
 
 //Writes the information to the database 
 mysql_query("INSERT INTO `employees` VALUES ('$name', '$email', '$phone', '$pic')") ; 
 
 //Writes the photo to the server 
 if(move_uploaded_file($_FILES['photo']['tmp_name'], $target)) 
 { 
 
 //Tells you if its all ok 
 echo "The file ". basename( $_FILES['uploadedfile']['name']). " has been uploaded, and your information has been added to the directory"; 
 } 
 else { 
 
 //Gives and error if its not 
 echo "Sorry, there was a problem uploading your file."; 
 } 
 ?> 

I want the file to be renamed into something unique and I want that unique filename be stored on the photo field of my SQL table.

Answer 1

Before inserting, save the new filename into a variable, then change the name, and insert the new name into the database finally.

Or, If you want to change the name after you've done the insert, run an UPDATE query on the table, where you update the filename: UPDATE table SET filename = 'new_filename' WHERE filename = 'old_filename"

Answer 2

You'd have to make a system for this, since the server can't decide to make a mysql-query each time you change the name of a file.

You'd have to have some kind of admin where you present all your files in a directory, and do a command which changes both the filename and the mysql-row.

Answer 3

Heres some code I just wrote which does a count on how many files are currently in the system and increments it by one thus making it a unique file_name, if every file is for example "user_1.jpg" and so on.

    // Connects to your Database 
 mysql_connect("localhost", "username", "password") or die(mysql_error()) ; 
 mysql_select_db("database") or die(mysql_error()) ; 

 //handle the form information
$name=$_POST['name']; 
$email=$_POST['email']; 
$phone=$_POST['phone'];

 //handle our file
$photo = $_FILES['photo']['tmp_name'];
//set where the file is ment to go
$target = "pics/"; 
//get the base name of the file
$filename = basename($photo);
//get the extension of the requested file
$extension = substr($filename, strrpos($filename, '.') + 1);
//count the length of items in the string
$stringLength = strlen(basename($photo));
//Get the file path of the photo minus the name of the photo
$filePath = substr($photo, 0, - $stringLength);
//set the inital name of the file
 $PhotoName = "username.jpg";
//set the full path and name of the file to be uploaded
$checkThisFile = $target . $PhotoName;

//count how many files are in the folder and increment it by 1 in the while loop
$filecount = count(glob($target. "*.jpg"));

//while the file can be found in the system
while(file_exists($checkThisFile)){

    //increment the count till the file is unquie
    $filecount++;
    //change the name of the file
    $PhotoName = "username_$filecount.jpg";
    //set the target and name of the file to be uploaded to keep testing it through our loop
    $checkThisFile = $target . $PhotoName;

    //if the file is not in the system then
    if(!file_exists($checkThisFile)) {

        //break the while loop
        break;

    } //end if condition

} //end while loop

    //rename the photo file from the temporary name to the full name of the file
    if($renamedFile = rename("$photo", "$checkThisFile")) {
        //print a success tha our file was renamed
        echo "<br/>the file was renamed";
        //check if our renamed file exists
        if(!empty($renamedFile)) {
            //print a success that our file is there
            echo "<br/>The renamed file exists!";
            //move the uploaded file!
            if(move_uploaded_file($renamedFile, $target)) {
                //print there was an error with the transfer
                echo "cannot move files!";
            } //end he if condition
            else {
                //write to the database
                $MyDatabaseQuery = "INSERT INTO employees VALUES ('','$name', '$email', '$phone', '$PhotoName')";
                //run the query
                @mysql_query($MyDatabaseQuery);
            } //end else condition
        } //end if condition
    } //end if condition

The point of the code is too keep running through the loop till the file is not in the system and then rename the temporary file and upload it then store only the name of the file+extension in the database with any other records you want to store. I hope this helped.

Here is the MySQL Create TABLE Script too

    CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS `employees` (
  `id` int(11) NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
  `name` text NOT NULL,
  `email` text NOT NULL,
  `phone` text NOT NULL,
  `picture` text NOT NULL,
  PRIMARY KEY (`id`)
) ENGINE=MyISAM DEFAULT CHARSET=latin1 AUTO_INCREMENT=1 ;