# File\_column problem

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/file-column-problem/92501>\
**Category:** Rails\
**Created:** [April 20, 2007, 2:37am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/file-column-problem/92501 "2007-04-20T02:37:21Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Michael\_Bamford](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/cab0a1/32.png) [@Michael\_Bamford](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Michael_Bamford)\
**Post date:** [April 20, 2007, 2:37am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/file-column-problem/92501/1 "2007-04-20T02:37:21Z")

</div>

Hey Everyone-

I would really appreciate some help with the use of the file\_column  
plugin.  
I have it working very well on my local Windows development machine, but  
have not been able to get it to work on my shared host (dreamhost). When  
trying to upload a file, I get this error message:

“Application error  
Rails application failed to start properly”

The thing is, file\_column is _mostly_ working: it accepts the uploaded  
file,  
saves it to the local file system and updates the database with the  
filename. There is some last step in the file upload process within  
file\_column that is generating this error message.

Has any one seen this before? I thought it may have something to do with  
file permissions on the shared host which don’t exist on my Windows  
development machine. Other than that, I’m at a loss.

Thanks for any help or advice!

Michael

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Michael\_Bamford](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/cab0a1/32.png) [@Michael\_Bamford](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Michael_Bamford)\
**Post date:** [April 20, 2007, 8:03am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/file-column-problem/92501/2 "2007-04-20T08:03:42Z")

</div>

could possibly be capitalisation issues

dreamhost is case sensitive

try uploading an image with all lower case letters eg thebigpicture.jpg

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Michael\_Bamford](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/cab0a1/32.png) [@Michael\_Bamford](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Michael_Bamford)\
**Post date:** [April 20, 2007, 8:19am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/file-column-problem/92501/3 "2007-04-20T08:19:44Z")

</div>

hack the file\_column.rb in the plugins/file\_column folder

new\_local\_file\_path = File.join(tmp\_base\_dir,@tmp\_dir,@filename)  
FileUtils.mv(local\_file\_path, new\_local\_file\_path) unless  
new\_local\_file\_path.downcase == local\_file\_path.downcase  
local\_file\_path = new\_local\_file\_path

and in your controller do some file manipulation to save all files as  
lower  
case

I know it seems like a dodgy hack, but I use it to guarantee all files  
are  
set to lowercase…