# Acts\_as\_attachment - on server copy? **URL:** \ **Category:** Rails\ **Created:** [August 23, 2007, 3:53am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/acts-as-attachment-on-server-copy/112771 "2007-08-23T03:53:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![bakki](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/6a8cbe/32.png) [@bakki](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/bakki)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2007, 3:53am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/acts-as-attachment-on-server-copy/112771/1 "2007-08-23T03:53:39Z")
Hi all, I am using aaa for uploads (Upload model) of assets to a dir below public. I also need to save files, into the Upload model, which come as attachments by email. Is there a way I can ask aaa to save the attachment as if it was uploaded? TIA, bakki ---
**Author:** ![bakki](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/6a8cbe/32.png) [@bakki](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/bakki)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2007, 3:54pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/acts-as-attachment-on-server-copy/112771/2 "2007-08-23T15:54:44Z")
On 8/23/07, Bakki K. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > Hi all, > > I am using aaa for uploads (Upload model) of assets to a dir below > public. I also need to save files, into the Upload model, which come > as attachments by email. Is there a way I can ask aaa to save the > attachment as if it was uploaded? TIA, > > bakki bakki, you should be loop through the email’s attachments and create new Uploads like this: for attachment in email.attachments Upload.create! attachment end # note: this is untested code, but should point you in the right direction. Have a look at this article regarding Action Mailer’s attachments: [http://wiki.rubyonrails.org/rails/pages/HowToReceiveEmailsWithActionMailer](http://wiki.rubyonrails.org/rails/pages/HowToReceiveEmailsWithActionMailer) ---
**Author:** ![bakki](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/6a8cbe/32.png) [@bakki](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/bakki)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2007, 5:29pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/acts-as-attachment-on-server-copy/112771/3 "2007-08-23T17:29:59Z")
Thank you for your reply Sam, I don’t have my action mailer receive part working yet and I will try this when its done. However the Upload model has acts\_as\_attachment :storage =\> :file\_system, :file\_system\_path =\> ‘uploads’ validates\_as\_attachment I was wondering if acts\_as\_attachment can take an attachment passed to the model vs. the uploaded file which it normally gets from cgi param. I thought the validates\_as\_attachment call back might not work if the attachment was passed to the model as you suggest. I’ll have to look the aaa code over to see if this doesn’t work. -bakki ---
**Author:** ![bakki](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/6a8cbe/32.png) [@bakki](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/bakki)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2007, 8:06pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/acts-as-attachment-on-server-copy/112771/4 "2007-08-23T20:06:30Z")
here’s a post on how to upload files stored locally: [http://www.railsweenie.com/forums/2/topics/1013](http://www.railsweenie.com/forums/2/topics/1013) ---
**Author:** ![bakki](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/6a8cbe/32.png) [@bakki](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/bakki)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2007, 11:05am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/acts-as-attachment-on-server-copy/112771/5 "2007-08-24T11:05:14Z")
Hello, I am not sure if I understand correctly, but you can pass a regular file (on disk) to the model conviently using TestUploadedFile (see [http://api.rubyonrails.org/classes/ActionController/TestUploadedFile.html#M000278](http://api.rubyonrails.org/classes/ActionController/TestUploadedFile.html#M000278)) like this: Photo.create( :uploaded\_data =\> ActionController::TestUploadedFile.new(file, ‘image/jpeg’) ) See [http://pastie.caboo.se/90597](http://pastie.caboo.se/90597) for more complete code I use for importing whole directory of photos into application. (You can even use this in script/console or script/runner, thus automating the importing process.) Cheers, Karel ---
**Author:** ![bakki](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/6a8cbe/32.png) [@bakki](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/bakki)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2007, 7:41pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/acts-as-attachment-on-server-copy/112771/6 "2007-08-24T19:41:38Z")
Hello, yes, that’s it precisely. I guess acts\_as\_attachment has `TestUploadedFile` somehow encapsulated, but I couldn’t get it to work, don’t recall precisely why. I recently used `TestUploadedFile` to import loads of legacy data into ported application with _great_ results. Glad to help, cheers, Karel ---
**Author:** ![bakki](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/6a8cbe/32.png) [@bakki](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/bakki)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2007, 5:39pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/acts-as-attachment-on-server-copy/112771/7 "2007-08-24T17:39:20Z")
Hi Karel, This actually should work for me. I was looking at the code in acts\_as\_attachment and it has the following code which handles uploaded files. ``` # This method handles the uploaded file object. If you set the ``` field name to uploaded\_data, you don’t need # any special code in your controller. # # \<% form\_for :attachment, :html =\> { :multipart =\> true } do |f| -%\> # \<%= f.file\_field :uploaded\_data %\> # \<%= submit\_tag :Save %\> # \<% end -%\> # # @attachment = Attachment.create! params[:attachment] def uploaded\_data=(file\_data) return nil if file\_data.nil? || file\_data.size == 0 self.content\_type = file\_data.content\_type.strip self.filename = file\_data.original\_filename.strip self.attachment\_data = file\_data.read end So this should fire when, as you suggest Photo.create( :uploaded\_data =\> ActionController::TestUploadedFile.new(file, ‘image/jpeg’) ) :uploaded\_data gets assigned to and the rest of aaa validations etc should work. Thank you for your help. -bakki