error column 'picture' cannot be null - image

Question

My initial question was posted wrong so i'm reposting it. I am practicing with a tutorial on tutsplus by joost van veen and i added an image upload to the controller but every time i try to save a post i get an error from database saying column 'picture' cannot be null. I've checked other answers but nothing explains the problem. Any help would be appreciated.
MY CONTROLLER
public function edit($post_id = NULL) {
// Fetch all articles or set a new one
if ($post_id) {
$this->data['article'] = $this->article_m->get($post_id);
count($this->data['article']) || $this->data['errors'][] = 'article could not be found';
}
else {
$this->data['article'] = $this->article_m->get_new();
}
// Set up the form
$rules = $this->article_m->rules;
$this->form_validation->set_rules($rules);
if ($this->input->post('userSubmit')) {
//check if user uploads picture
if (!empty($_FILES['picture']['name'])) {
$config['upload_path'] = './uploads/';
$config['allowed_types'] = 'jpg|png|gif|jpeg';
$config['file_name'] = $_FILES['picture']['name'];
//load upload library and initialize configuration
$this->upload->initialize($config);
if ($this->upload->do_upload('picture')) {
$uploadData = $this->upload->data();
$picture = $uploadData['file_name'];
} else {
$picture = '';
}
} else {
$picture = '';
}
// prepare array of posts data
$data = $this->article_m->array_from_post(array(
'title',
'slug',
'content',
'category_id',
'picture',
'pubdate'
));
$insertPosts = $this->article_m->save($data, $post_id);
redirect('admin/article');
//storing insertion status message
if ($insertPosts) {
$this->session->set_flashdata('success_msg', 'Post has been added Successfully.');
} else {
$this->session->set_flashdata('error_msg', 'error occured while trying upload, please try again.');
}
}
// Load view
$this->data['subview'] = 'admin/article/edit';
$this->load->view('admin/components/page_head', $this->data);
$this->load->view('admin/_layout_main', $this->data);
$this->load->view('admin/components/page_tail');
}
MY_MODEL
public function array_from_post($fields) {
$data = array();
foreach ($fields as $field) {
$data[$field] = $this->input->post($field);
$data['category_id'] = $this->input->post('category');
}
return $data;
}
public function save($data, $id = NULL) {
// Set timestamps
if ($this->_timestamps == TRUE) {
$now = date('Y-m-d H:i:s');
$id || $data['created'] = $now;
$data['modified'] = $now;
}
// Insert
if ($id === NULL) {
!isset($data[$this->_primary_key]) || $data[$this->_primary_key] = NULL;
$this->db->set($data);
$this->db->insert($this->_table_name);
$id = $this->db->insert_id();
}
// Update
else {
$filter = $this->_primary_filter;
$id = $filter($id);
$this->db->set($data);
$this->db->where($this->_primary_key, $id);
$this->db->update($this->_table_name);
}
return $id;
}
RULES TO SET FORM VALIDATION
public $rules = array(
'pubdate' => array(
'field' => 'pubdate',
'label' => 'Publication date',
'rules' => 'trim|required|exact_length[10]'
),
'title' => array(
'field' => 'title',
'label' => 'Title',
'rules' => 'trim|required|max_length[100]'
),
'slug' => array(
'field' => 'slug',
'label' => 'Slug',
'rules' => 'trim|required|max_length[100]|url_title'
),
'content' => array(
'field' => 'content',
'label' => 'Content',
'rules' => 'trim|required'
),
'picture' => array(
'field' => 'picture',
'label' => 'Upload File',
'rules' => 'trim'
),
);
public function get_new() {
$article = new stdClass();
$article->title = '';
$article->category_id = '';
$article->slug = '';
$article->content = '';
$article->picture = '';
$article->pubdate = date('Y-m-d');
return $article;
}

Answer 1

I fixed the problem by creating a new method array_me() in the model and calling it in the controller.
NEW METHOD IN MY_MODEL
public function array_me($fields) {
$uploadData = $this->upload->data();
$picture = $uploadData['file_name'];
$data = array();
foreach ($fields as $field) {
$data[$field] = $this->input->post($field);
$data['category_id'] = $this->input->post('category');
$data['picture'] = $picture;
}
return $data;
}
EDITED CONTROLLER
public function edit($post_id = NULL) {
// Fetch all articles or set a new one
if ($post_id) {
$this->data['article'] = $this->article_m->get($post_id);
count($this->data['article']) || $this->data['errors'][] = 'article could not be found';
}
else {
$this->data['article'] = $this->article_m->get_new();
}
// Set up the form
$rules = $this->article_m->rules;
$this->form_validation->set_rules($rules);
if ($this->input->post('userSubmit')) {
//check if user uploads picture
if (!empty($_FILES['picture']['name'])) {
$config['upload_path'] = './uploads/';
$config['allowed_types'] = 'jpg|png|gif|jpeg';
$config['file_name'] = $_FILES['picture']['name'];
//load upload library and initialize configuration
$this->upload->initialize($config);
if ($this->upload->do_upload('picture')) {
$uploadData = $this->upload->data();
$picture = $uploadData['file_name'];
} else {
$picture = '';
}
} else {
$picture = '';
}
// prepare array of posts data
$data = $this->article_m->array_me(array(
'title',
'slug',
'content',
'category_id',
'picture',
'pubdate'
));
$insertPosts = $this->article_m->save($data, $post_id);
redirect('admin/article');
//storing insertion status message
if ($insertPosts) {
$this->session->set_flashdata('success_msg', 'Post has been added Successfully.');
} else {
$this->session->set_flashdata('error_msg', 'error occured while trying upload, please try again.');
}
}
// Load view
$this->data['subview'] = 'admin/article/edit';
$this->load->view('admin/components/page_head', $this->data);
$this->load->view('admin/_layout_main', $this->data);
$this->load->view('admin/components/page_tail');
}