How to transpose my upload function into Helper in codeigniter? - codeigniter

Question

sorry i am just a beginner in codeigniter, but i want to create a generic uploading function. i was thinking if i can put my existing code into a Helper so that i will just call it whenever that i will upload a file. here is my controller function.
public function multiple_upload(){
if(!empty($_FILES['userfile']['name'])) {
$filesCount = count($_FILES['userfile']['name']);
for($i = 0; $i < $filesCount; $i++) {
$_FILES['userFile']['name'] = $_FILES['userfile']['name'][$i];
$_FILES['userFile']['type'] = $_FILES['userfile']['type'][$i];
$_FILES['userFile']['tmp_name'] = $_FILES['userfile']['tmp_name'][$i];
$_FILES['userFile']['error'] = $_FILES['userfile']['error'][$i];
$_FILES['userFile']['size'] = $_FILES['userfile']['size'][$i];
$config['upload_path'] = './upload/';
$config['allowed_types'] = 'pdf|doc|txt|jpg|png';
$this->load->library('upload', $config);
$this->upload->initialize($config);
if($this->upload->do_upload('userFile')){
$fileData = $this->upload->data();
$uploadData[$i]['file_name'] = $fileData['file_name'];
$uploadData[$i]['created'] = date("Y-m-d H:i:s");
$uploadData[$i]['modified'] = date("Y-m-d H:i:s");
}
}
}
}

Answer 1

Create a helper in application/helpers/upload_helper.php
add:
/**
* uploadMultiple
*
* #return array
*/
function uploadMultiple() {
$uploadData = [];
$ci = &get_instance(); // need this to resolve the app
if(!empty($_FILES['userfile']['name'])) {
$filesCount = count($_FILES['userfile']['name']);
for($i = 0; $i < $filesCount; $i++) {
$_FILES['userFile']['name'] = $_FILES['userfile']['name'][$i];
$_FILES['userFile']['type'] = $_FILES['userfile']['type'][$i];
$_FILES['userFile']['tmp_name'] = $_FILES['userfile']['tmp_name'][$i];
$_FILES['userFile']['error'] = $_FILES['userfile']['error'][$i];
$_FILES['userFile']['size'] = $_FILES['userfile']['size'][$i];
$config['upload_path'] = './upload/';
$config['allowed_types'] = 'pdf|doc|txt|jpg|png';
$ci->load->library('upload', $config);
$ci->upload->initialize($config);
if($ci->upload->do_upload('userFile')){
$fileData = $ci->upload->data();
$uploadData[$i]['file_name'] = $fileData['file_name'];
$uploadData[$i]['created'] = date("Y-m-d H:i:s");
$uploadData[$i]['modified'] = date("Y-m-d H:i:s");
} else {
// do something with the errors...
}
}
}
return $uploadData;
}
Notice get_instance(). In a helper, there is no such thing as $this or CI so we have to "import" the codeigniter instance.
Then load the helper via $this->load->helper('upload') and you can use uploadMultiple().
Note: I would highly recommend figuring out what to do with errors.