# Image\_tag and files outsite /public directory **URL:** \ **Category:** Rails\ **Created:** [July 23, 2007, 9:34pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/image-tag-and-files-outsite-public-directory/110161 "2007-07-23T21:34:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![jochen\_kaechelin](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/48db29/32.png) [@jochen\_kaechelin](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/jochen_kaechelin)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2007, 9:34pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/image-tag-and-files-outsite-public-directory/110161/1 "2007-07-23T21:34:45Z")
I have some image files under /app /uploads /images/ 111.jpg /public /images . . How can I user image\_tag to display the images under /uploads/images/…? Any hints? – Jochen K. [gissmoh.de](http://gissmoh.de), [figgfrosch.de](http://figgfrosch.de), [ror-ror.de](http://ror-ror.de) ---
**Author:** ![jochen\_kaechelin](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/48db29/32.png) [@jochen\_kaechelin](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/jochen_kaechelin)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2007, 9:39pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/image-tag-and-files-outsite-public-directory/110161/2 "2007-07-23T21:39:04Z")
jochen kaechelin wrote: > . > . > > How can I user image\_tag to display the images under > /uploads/images/…? > > Any hints? Hi Jochen, you can create symlink in public dir that would point to uploads. – Bojan M. → Ruby on Rails and Web D. Blog : [http://source.mihelac.org](http://source.mihelac.org) ---
**Author:** ![jochen\_kaechelin](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/48db29/32.png) [@jochen\_kaechelin](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/jochen_kaechelin)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2007, 9:42pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/image-tag-and-files-outsite-public-directory/110161/3 "2007-07-23T21:42:19Z")
Bojan M. schrieb: > > > > Hi Jochen, > you can create symlink in public dir that would point to uploads.But But the files must be protected…when I create a syslink everyone is able to access them! Right? – Jochen K. [gissmoh.de](http://gissmoh.de), [figgfrosch.de](http://figgfrosch.de), [ror-ror.de](http://ror-ror.de) ---
**Author:** ![jochen\_kaechelin](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/48db29/32.png) [@jochen\_kaechelin](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/jochen_kaechelin)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2007, 10:36pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/image-tag-and-files-outsite-public-directory/110161/4 "2007-07-23T22:36:47Z")
Adam C. schrieb: > protected from what? In what cases do you want users to be able to > view these images? Only logged in users are able to view the files. When I store the images under /public/images/111.jpg everyone is able to view the images. But I thing I got a soultion: send\_file RAILS\_ROOT + “/downloads/#{params[:galery\_id]}/#{params[:filename]}”, :type =\> “image/jpeg”, :disposition =\> ‘inline’ > > > > ``` > > > > 111.jpg > > > > > > > > ``` > > > > – > > Jochen K. > > [gissmoh.de](http://gissmoh.de), [figgfrosch.de](http://figgfrosch.de), [ror-ror.de](http://ror-ror.de) > > > – Jochen K. [gissmoh.de](http://gissmoh.de), [figgfrosch.de](http://figgfrosch.de), [ror-ror.de](http://ror-ror.de) ---
**Author:** ![jochen\_kaechelin](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/48db29/32.png) [@jochen\_kaechelin](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/jochen_kaechelin)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2007, 10:16pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/image-tag-and-files-outsite-public-directory/110161/5 "2007-07-23T22:16:29Z")
protected from what? In what cases do you want users to be able to view these images? Adam ---
**Author:** ![jochen\_kaechelin](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/48db29/32.png) [@jochen\_kaechelin](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/jochen_kaechelin)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2007, 8:32am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/image-tag-and-files-outsite-public-directory/110161/6 "2007-07-24T08:32:42Z")
jochen kaechelin wrote: > But I thing I got a soultion: > > send\_file RAILS\_ROOT + > “/downloads/#{params[:galery\_id]}/#{params[:filename]}”, :type =\> > “image/jpeg”, :disposition =\> ‘inline’ beware that send\_file keep files in memory until they are downloaded, so that means you could get in trouble with big files or many downloads at time. Bojan ---
**Author:** ![jochen\_kaechelin](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/48db29/32.png) [@jochen\_kaechelin](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/jochen_kaechelin)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2007, 8:52am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/image-tag-and-files-outsite-public-directory/110161/7 "2007-07-24T08:52:58Z")
You can also use the X-Sendfile header to send non-publicly accessible files through the web server (providing that it supports this header), without tying up your rails process. You can read more about it here: [http://john.guen.in/past/2007/4/17/send\_files\_faster\_with\_xsendfile/](http://john.guen.in/past/2007/4/17/send_files_faster_with_xsendfile/) > **[mod\_proxy\_core got X-Sendfile Support - lighty's life](http://blog.lighttpd.net/articles/2006/07/22/mod_proxy_core-got-x-sendfile-support/)** > > As promissed mod\_proxy\_core would combine the features from mod\_proxy and mod\_fastcgi. mod\_proxy gave the balancers, mod\_fastcgi gave its fail-over … Adam The following may be of use to you: > **[mod\_proxy\_core got X-Sendfile Support - lighty's life](http://blog.lighttpd.net/articles/2006/07/22/mod_proxy_core-got-x-sendfile-support/)** > > As promissed mod\_proxy\_core would combine the features from mod\_proxy and mod\_fastcgi. mod\_proxy gave the balancers, mod\_fastcgi gave its fail-over … ---
**Author:** ![jochen\_kaechelin](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/48db29/32.png) [@jochen\_kaechelin](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/jochen_kaechelin)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2007, 9:17am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/image-tag-and-files-outsite-public-directory/110161/8 "2007-07-24T09:17:37Z")
Adam C. wrote: > You can also use the X-Sendfile header to send non-publicly accessible > files through the web server (providing that it supports this header), > without tying up your rails process. You can read more about it here: > > [http://john.guen.in/past/2007/4/17/send\_files\_faster\_with\_xsendfile/](http://john.guen.in/past/2007/4/17/send_files_faster_with_xsendfile/) > [http://blog.lighttpd.net/articles/2006/07/22/mod\_proxy\_core-got-x-sendfile-support](http://blog.lighttpd.net/articles/2006/07/22/mod_proxy_core-got-x-sendfile-support) > > Adam or create own x-send\_file method that would create symlink with unique name and redirect logged user to it. Clear can be done with cronjob. – Bojan M. → Ruby on Rails and Web D. Blog : [http://source.mihelac.org](http://source.mihelac.org)