Using Paperclip and Amazon S3 for zip file containing photos

Question

I currently have a working photo uploader that creates Photo images using paperclip and aws-s3 gems. The loader can also dynamically add Photo upload fields so multiple files can be uploaded at once on a single submit. What I'd like to do is have the option of uploading a zip file with the expectation that the file contains Photos and have it run through my same process of creating thumbnails, medium size, and original images that the single photo file upload goes through. My model and controller is pretty straight forward with storing photos locally if on development, or on s3 if production, with just a little bit on fanciness with the view template:

photo.rb

class Photo < ActiveRecord::Base
  belongs_to :album
  if AppConfig['s3']
    has_attached_file :data, 
      :styles => { 
        :thumb => "100x100>",
        :medium => "500x500>" 
      },
      :storage => :s3, 
      :default_style => :original,
      :bucket => AppConfig['s3']['bucket_name'],
      :s3_credentials => { :access_key_id => AppConfig['s3']['access_id'], :secret_access_key => AppConfig['s3']['secret_key'] },
      :s3_headers => { 'Cache-Control' => 'max-age=315576000', 'Expires' => 10.years.from_now.httpdate },
      :path => "/:class/:id/:style/:filename"
  else
    has_attached_file :data,
      :styles => { 
        :thumb => "100x100>",
        :medium => "500x500>"
      },
      :storage => :filesystem, 
      :default_style => :original
  end
end

*photos_controller.rb*

class Admin::PhotosController < Admin::AdminController
  def index
    @photos = Photo.all
  end

  def show
    @photo = Photo.find(params[:id])
  end

  def new
    @photo = Photo.new
  end

  def create
    @photo = Photo.new(params[:photo])
    if @photo.save
      flash[:notice] = "Successfully created photo."
      redirect_to [:admin, @photo]
    else
      render :action => 'new'
    end
  end

  def edit
    @photo = Photo.find(params[:id])
  end

  def update
    @photo = Photo.find(params[:id])
    album = @photo.album
    if @photo.update_attributes(params[:photo])
      flash[:notice] = "Successfully updated photo."
      redirect_to [:admin, @photo]
    else
      redirect_to edit_admin_album_url(album)
    end
  end

  def destroy
    @photo = Photo.find(params[:id])
    album = @photo.album
    @photo.destroy
    flash[:notice] = "Successfully destroyed photo."
    redirect_to edit_admin_album_url(album)
  end

end

The interesting parts of the view are here:

*_form.html.haml*

  #photos
    - if @album.new_record?
      = render :partial => 'photo', :locals => { :form => f, :photo => @album.photos.build }
    - else
      - for photo in @album.photos
        .photo
          = link_to(image_tag(photo.data(:thumb)), photo.data(:medium), :class => 'photo_link')
          - f.fields_for @album.photos do |photo_field|
            / Viewable?
            / = photo_field.check_box :viewable
          %br
          = link_to "Delete", [:admin, photo], :confirm => 'Are you sure?', :method => :delete
      .float_clear
  = add_object_link("New Photo", f, @album.photos.build, "photo", "#photos")
  .row
    = submit_tag "Save", :disable_with => "Uploading please wait..."
  .float_clear

*_photo.html.haml*

.photo_form
  %p
  - form.fields_for :photos, photo, :child_index => (photo.new_record? ? "index_to_replace_with_js" : nil) do |photo_form| 
    = photo_form.file_field :data
    = link_to_function "delete", "remove_field($(this), ('.photo_form'))" 
    %br

Welcome all ideas or contributions! Thanks!

Answer 1

I would use a callback to pull out the archive files (zip, tar etc) and let the image files go on through to be processed/saved. Use delayed_job to process the archives after upload to increase the user experience and ease the load on your server.

I'm not sure of any archive utility wrappers in ruby but you could use system calls to unzip archives using tar or something similar, then loop through the unzipped files to process and store the images and discard non-image files.

You could even use a rake task and cron job to periodically unzip, loop through and create Photos from the untarred archives.