# Annoying problem with file\_field and paperclip **URL:** \ **Category:** Rails\ **Created:** [October 20, 2009, 5:32am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/annoying-problem-with-file-field-and-paperclip/177555 "2009-10-20T05:32:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![aftershock](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/8e7dd6/32.png) [@aftershock](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/aftershock)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2009, 5:32am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/annoying-problem-with-file-field-and-paperclip/177555/1 "2009-10-20T05:32:30Z")
Hi all, I have a really really annoying problem that’s driving me nuts with file\_field and paperclip and having to upload images everytime a form is edited even though the user is quite happy with the currently uploaded image or loose the previously uploaded image. This seems to be caused by the rails file\_field helper not storing the data that has been read in from the db in the same way that other field helpers do and therfore unless an image is uploaded everytime the form is updated the data for the current image does not get sent back to the controller in the params hash. This in turn causes the model to believe that the data has been deleted. This is obviously a problem with the rails helper as it should work the same way as all the other field helpers do and retain the data somehow but right now I need a work around. Javascript is not an option as the site is a W3C AAA compliant site and creating a seperate form is just plain wrong as the user has enough to do without adding more button clicks. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. ---
**Author:** ![aftershock](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/8e7dd6/32.png) [@aftershock](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/aftershock)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2009, 6:27pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/annoying-problem-with-file-field-and-paperclip/177555/2 "2009-10-20T18:27:04Z")
This doesn’t sound right at all… I’ve got many forms using form\_for and f.file\_field, etc… and this isn’t an issue for me. Nothing special I’m doing to prevent it… are you sure you’re not setting that field to something somewhere in a before filter or something? ---
**Author:** ![aftershock](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/8e7dd6/32.png) [@aftershock](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/aftershock)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2009, 7:02pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/annoying-problem-with-file-field-and-paperclip/177555/3 "2009-10-20T19:02:34Z")
Philip H. wrote: > This doesn’t sound right at all… I’ve got many forms using form\_for > and f.file\_field, etc… and this isn’t an issue for me. Nothing > special I’m doing to prevent it… are you sure you’re not setting > that field to something somewhere in a before filter or something? Thanks Phillip, Maybe it’s an issue specific to paperclip I’m testing on a clean app with nothing other than the crud default views from a scaffold plus the file\_field and the necessary paperclip stuff for the model. That maybe what I’m missing. ---
**Author:** ![aftershock](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/8e7dd6/32.png) [@aftershock](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/aftershock)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2009, 11:31pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/annoying-problem-with-file-field-and-paperclip/177555/4 "2009-10-20T23:31:33Z")
Philip H. wrote: > > Philip H. wrote: > > > > > This doesn’t sound right at all… I’ve got many forms using form\_for > > > and f.file\_field, etc… and this isn’t an issue for me. Nothing > > > special I’m doing to prevent it… are you sure you’re not setting > > > that field to something somewhere in a before filter or something? > > > > Thanks Phillip, > > > > Maybe it’s an issue specific to paperclip > > Sorry, I wasn’t clear… I too am using paperclip… > > > I’m testing on a clean app with nothing other than the crud default > > views from a scaffold plus the file\_field and the necessary paperclip > > stuff for the model. > > That maybe what I’m missing. > > Yep. Same here. Thanks again. This is most strange but the problem has just dissapeared. I don’t understand what has happened. I have checked the diffs in my sourcecode repository and reversed the latest changes and the problem still hasn’t come back. I’ll just have to put this down to one of those weird anomolies. It’s great to have confirmation that all should work properly. Cheers ---
**Author:** ![aftershock](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/8e7dd6/32.png) [@aftershock](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/aftershock)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2009, 7:31pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/annoying-problem-with-file-field-and-paperclip/177555/5 "2009-10-20T19:31:28Z")
> Philip H. wrote: > > > This doesn’t sound right at all… I’ve got many forms using form\_for > > and f.file\_field, etc… and this isn’t an issue for me. Nothing > > special I’m doing to prevent it… are you sure you’re not setting > > that field to something somewhere in a before filter or something? > > Thanks Phillip, > > Maybe it’s an issue specific to paperclip Sorry, I wasn’t clear… I too am using paperclip… > I’m testing on a clean app with nothing other than the crud default > views from a scaffold plus the file\_field and the necessary paperclip > stuff for the model. > That maybe what I’m missing. Yep. Same here.