PHP - Upload and Download File Application

Submitted by razormist on Tuesday, April 3, 2018 - 21:29.

In this tutorial we will create a Upload and Download File Application using PHP. PHP is a server-side scripting language designed primarily for web development. It is a lean and consistent way to access databases. This means developers can write portable code much easier. It is mostly used by a newly coders for its user friendly environment. So Let's do the coding.

Before we started:

First you have to download & install XAMPP or any local server that run PHP scripts. Here's the link for XAMPP server https://www.apachefriends.org/index.html.

Creating Database

This is where we store all the data we process throug HTML forms. To create a database open any kind of database base server that you have(wamp, xamp, etc..). Then create database and name it system. After that click SQL then copy/paste the code below then click GO.

CREATE TABLE `file` (
  `file_id` int(11) NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
  `name` varchar(200) NOT NULL,
  `file` varchar(500) NOT NULL,
   PRIMARY KEY (`file_id`)
) ENGINE=InnoDB DEFAULT CHARSET=latin1;

Creating the database Connection

This is where the database connection, just simple copy/paste the provided code below and save it as 'connection.php'.

<?php
  $conn = new mysqli('localhost', 'root', '', 'system');
    if($conn->connect_error){
      die("Fatal Error: Can't connect to database: ". $conn->connect_error);
    }
?>

Creating The Interface

This is where we will create a simple form for our application. To create the forms simply copy and write it into you text editor, then save it as shown below. index.php.

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
        <head>
                <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="css/bootstrap.css"/>
                <meta charset="UTF-8" name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
        </head>
<body>
        <nav class="navbar navbar-default">
                <div class="container-fluid">
                        <a class="navbar-brand" href="https://sourcecdester.com">Sourcecodester</a>
                </div>
        </nav>
        <div class="col-md-3"></div>
        <div class="col-md-6 well">
                <h3 class="text-primary">PHP - Upload and Download File Application</h3>
                <hr style="border-top:1px dottec #ccc;">
                <form class="form-inline" method="POST" action="upload.php" enctype="multipart/form-data">
                        <input class="form-control" type="file" name="upload"/>
                        <button type="submit" class="btn btn-success form-control" name="submit"><span class="glyphicon glyphicon-upload"></span> Upload</button>
                </form>
                <br /><br />
                <table class="table table-bordered">
                        <thead class="alert-warning">
                                <tr>
                                        <th>Name</th>
                                        <th>Action</th>
                                </tr>
                        </thead>
                        <tbody class="alert-success">
                                <?php
                                        require 'connection.php';
                                        $row = $conn->query("SELECT * FROM `file`") or die(mysqli_error());
                                        while($fetch = $row->fetch_array()){
                                ?>
                                        <tr>
                                                <?php 
                                                        $name = explode('/', $fetch['file']);
                                                ?>
                                                <td><?php echo $fetch['name']?></td>
                                                <td><a href="download.php?file=<?php echo $name[1]?>" class="btn btn-primary"><span class="glyphicon glyphicon-download"></span> Download</a></td>
                                        </tr>
                                <?php
                                        }
                                ?>
                        </tbody>
                </table>
        </div>
</body>
</html>

Creating the Upload

This code contains the specific script for the upload. This will process the file that have been upload then will save it to a designated directory. To do that write these block of codes inside the Text editor and call it as upload.php.

<?php
        require_once 'connection.php';
        
        if(ISSET($_POST['submit'])){
                if($_FILES['upload']['name'] != "") {
                        $file = $_FILES['upload'];
                        
                        $file_name = $file['name'];
                        $file_temp = $file['tmp_name'];
                        $name = explode('.', $file_name);
                        $path = "files/".$file_name;
                        
                        $conn->query("INSERT INTO `file` VALUES('', '$name[0]', '$path')") or die(mysqli_error());
                        
                        move_uploaded_file($file_temp, $path);
                        header("location:index.php");
                        
                }else{
                        echo "<script>alert('Required Field!')</script>";
                        echo "<script>window.location='index.php'</script>";
                }
        }
?>

Creating the Download

This code contains the function for the download script. This code will force to download a specific file when a button is clicked. To do this just write these block of codes inside the Text Editor then save it as download.php.

<?php
        if(ISSET($_REQUEST['file'])){
                $file = $_REQUEST['file'];
                
                header("Cache-Control: public");
                header("Content-Description: File Transfer");
                header("Content-Disposition: attachment; filename=".basename($file));
                header("Content-Type: application/octet-stream;");
                header("Content-Transfer-Encoding: binary");
                readfile("files/".$file);
        }
?>

There you have it we successfully created a Upload and Download File Application using PHP. I hope that this simple tutorial help you to what you are looking for. For more updates and tutorials just kindly visit this site. Enjoy Coding!!!