File/Photo Upload Fields

In CRUDs Editor, we have two field types for files - called File and Photo. The difference is pretty small - Photo field has additional validation parameters for image size.

For uploading files, we're using a very popular package called Laravel Medialibrary, you can view its official documentation here.

On the front-end, we're using Dropzone Javascript library, here's how it looks together:

You can read our in-depth tutorial: Multiple File Upload with Dropzone.js and Laravel MediaLibrary Package

As per Laravel Medialibrary functionality, the files are stored by default in storage/app/public folder, dividing every file in its own subfolder with ID number:

By default, storage/ internal folders are not available in the browser for public visitors, to change that - you need to run one important Artisan command:

php artisan storage:link

See more info in the official Laravel documentation: The Public Disk

If you want to change the location of where files are stored, change your parameters in config/filesystems.php file:

'disks' => [

    'local' => [
        'driver' => 'local',
        'root' => storage_path('app'),
    ],

    'public' => [
        'driver' => 'local',
        'root' => storage_path('app/public'),
        'url' => env('APP_URL').'/storage',
        'visibility' => 'public',
    ],

    's3' => [
        'driver' => 's3',
        'key' => env('AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID'),
        'secret' => env('AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY'),
        'region' => env('AWS_DEFAULT_REGION'),
        'bucket' => env('AWS_BUCKET'),
        'url' => env('AWS_URL'),
    ],

],

In the database, filenames for all CRUDs are stores in one DB table media - this is how Laravel Medialibrary works.

This table uses Polymorphic Relations to tie the media record to the CRUD Model it belongs to - see columns model_type and model_id.

Troubleshooting

We can't ensure that all file uploads settings will be correct on your web-server. So if something doesn't work on your web-server after download, check out this guide on our blog: Top 5 Questions/Answers About Spatie MediaLibrary - it answers these questions:

  • Where are my files stored?

  • Why are my files not shown? 404 error?

  • How to generate/customize thumbnails?

  • How to query Media relationships in Eloquent?

  • Why artisan migrate doesn’t work with MediaLibrary?

Another article related to potential file/photo problem:

Extra Customizations

If you want to save disk space, here's an article for you:

If you want to change the maximum file size to upload, there will be a few places for that setting.

In create.blade.php and edit.blade.php of your CRUD, at the bottom there's a Dropzone setting maxFilesize, which by default is 2 MB:

@section('scripts')
<script>
    Dropzone.options.photoDropzone = {
    url: '{{ route('admin.products.storeMedia') }}',
    maxFilesize: 2, // MB

Also, you will need to update Laravel, PHP, and web-server settings on the back-end. For this, please read the detailed article:

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