How to set a file upload programmatically using Paperclip

Question

I have a rake task to seed an application with random data using the faker gem. However, we also have images (like logos) that we want uploaded in this rake task.

We already have Paperclip set up, but don't have a way to upload them programmatically in a rake task. Any ideas?

Answer 1

What do you mean by programmatically? You can set up a method that will take a file path along the lines of

my_model_instance = MyModel.new
file = File.open(file_path)
my_model_instance.attachment = file
file.close
my_model_instance.save!

#attachment comes from our Paperclip declaration in our model. In this case, our model looks like

class MyModel < ActiveRecord::Base
  has_attached_file :attachment
end

We've done things similar to this when bootstrapping a project.

Answer 2

I do something like this in a rake task.

photo_path = './test/fixtures/files/*.jpg'
Dir.glob(photo_path).entries.each do |e|
  model = Model.find(<query here>)        
  model.attachment = File.open(e)
  model.save
end

I hope this helps!

Answer 3

I didn't actually have to write a method for this. Much simpler.

In Model ->

Class Model_Name < ActiveRecord::Base
  has_attached_file :my_attachment,
  :params_for_attachment

In seed.db ->

my_instance = Model_name.new
my_instance.my_attachment = File.open('path/to/file/relative/to/app')
my_instance.save!

Perhaps the previous answers meant to use the name of the attachment as defined in the model (rather than writing a method Model_name.attachment). Hope this is clear.