Laravel 8: How to Display and Download Files
This article is related to my previous article on uploading files with Dropzone. This article will therefore assume you have the migration files, controllers and models discussed in that article. Today we’ll take a look at how to set your website up so that files can be downloaded. Let’s do this!!!
Case Scenario
Let’s assume we have a database table called students with columns id, name, gender, picture_path, created_at and updated_at. The picture_path column holds paths to files uploaded using the store() method. Here is an example of a path stored in the picture_path column:
files/A0wjnHie4xlNR1o6qxHihU259yblArpIToGIEps8.pngThe path was generated with this line:
$request->file('file')->store('files');For more information, view the previous article. Here are a few steps you can follow to setup downloads on your website:
1. Update your routes
You will need two routes: one for handling request for the page where you will be displaying the files available and the other for handling file download requests. Add the following lines of code to your routes/web.php file.
//Route for viewing a list of student names and links to download their imageRoute::get('view-students', [StudentController::class, 'viewFiles'])->name('student.view_files');//Route for downloading a file using the id of the related studentRoute::get('download/{id}', [StudentController::class, 'downloadFile'])->name('student.download');
2. Create and update your view.
The view will be used to show a list of students names. Beside each student name will be a download link to allow users to download the students picture. To create the view, navigate to your resources/views folder of your project and create a new file with the name view_students.blade.php.
Add the following code to your file:
<!DOCTYPE html><html lang="en"><head><meta charset="UTF-8"><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0"><meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="ie=edge"><title>View Students</title></head><body><table>@foreach ($students as $student)<tr><td>{{$student->name}}</td><td><a href="{{ route('student.download', $student->id) }}">download</a></td></tr>@endforeach</table></body></html>
3. Update your Controller
Add the following code to your StudentController:
<?phpnamespace App\Http\Controllers;use Illuminate\Http\Request;use App\Models\Student;use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Storage;class StudentController extends Controller{ public function create(){ return view('students'); }public function viewFiles(Request $request){ $students = Student::all(); return view('view_students', ['students' => $students]);}public function downloadFile($id){ $path = Student::where("id", $id)->value("file_path"); return Storage::download($path);}}
Don’t forget to add the following line; you need it in order to use Storage::download().
use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Storage;4. You’re done !!!
You should be able to access a view where you can view student names and download their pictures by running the following in your browser address bar.
http://localhost:8000/view-students