How Can I pass an image file to wp_handle_upload?

2 comments

1. wp_handle_upload() is made to handle, well, uploads. It expects upload-related inputs.

   To “upload” image from remote URL there is media_sideload_image(). Since you actually don’t specify type of your file, you might need to tinker some yourself, using this function as an example.

   Log in to Reply

2. As @Rarst said, most convenient way to handle an external upload and create the related attachment post is use media_sideload_image(), this function:

   • Download the url
   • Verify if it is a valid a image and if so
   • create the attachment post
   • attach this attachment to a specific post whose id is passed as argument
   • return the img html tag for the image

   However, sometimes one may want just access to attachment post id and is not interested in attache the attachment to any post, in this case WordPress has no built-in function, so the most convenient way is copy part of core from media_sideload_image() and part of media_handle_sideload():

    function custom_media_sideload_image( $image_url = '', $post_id = false  ) {
      require_once ABSPATH . 'wp-admin/includes/file.php';
      $tmp = download_url( $image_url );
      // Set variables for storage
      // fix file filename for query strings
      preg_match( '/[^?]+.(jpe?g|jpe|gif|png)b/i', $image_url, $matches );
      $file_array['name'] = basename($matches[0]);
      $file_array['tmp_name'] = $tmp;
      // If error storing temporarily, unlink
      if ( is_wp_error( $tmp ) ) {
       @unlink($file_array['tmp_name']);
       $file_array['tmp_name'] = '';
      }
      $time = current_time( 'mysql' );
      $file = wp_handle_sideload( $file_array, array('test_form'=>false), $time );
      if ( isset($file['error']) ) {
       return new WP_Error( 'upload_error', $file['error'] );
      }
      $url = $file['url'];
      $type = $file['type'];
      $file = $file['file'];
      $title = preg_replace('/.[^.]+$/', '', basename($file) );
      $parent = (int) absint( $post_id ) > 0 ? absint($post_id) : 0;
      $attachment = array(
        'post_mime_type' => $type,
        'guid' => $url,
        'post_parent' => $parent,
        'post_title' => $title,
        'post_content' => '',
      );
      $id = wp_insert_attachment($attachment, $file, $parent);
      if ( !is_wp_error($id) ) {
       require_once ABSPATH . 'wp-admin/includes/image.php'; 
       $data = wp_generate_attachment_metadata( $id, $file );
       wp_update_attachment_metadata( $id, $data );
     }  
     return $id;
   }
   

   This function act as media_sideload_image() but return the attachment id, or a WP_Error if something goes wrong.

   It takes an optional argument $post_id to attach media to a specific post/page, but if not passed, the attachemnt post is created but not attached to any post.

   Log in to Reply