CakePHP - Saving and serving files outside of webroot - cakephp

Question

Using Cake version 2.4.3 stable
So I am having a time here, I have modified this plug in to save files to the app folder https://github.com/srs81/CakePHP-AjaxMultiUpload/
The uploaded files are being saved to /public_html/app/files
Now the strange thing is, when trying to serve these files to the view, I can read the file name, the file size, but not the file itself, image, pdf, etc.
When I try to access the file via direct url, i get this error :
Error: FilesController could not be found.
How can it be that I can read the file name, the file size, but not the file itself?
There is a need to save the files in the app folder. These files should be protected and therefore only be accessed by users who are logged into the application. I have tried to use cake send file response with no outcome.
Edit : I guess the real question at hand here is how can I read files from APP . DS . 'files' ?
View code :
public function view ($model, $id, $edit=false) {
$results = $this->listing ($model, $id);
$directory = $results['directory'];
$baseUrl = $results['baseUrl'];
$files = $results['files'];
$str = "<dt>" . __("Pictures") . "</dt>\n<dd>";
$count = 0;
$webroot = Router::url("/") . "ajax_multi_upload";
foreach ($files as $file) {
$type = pathinfo($file, PATHINFO_EXTENSION);
$filesize = $this->format_bytes (filesize ($file));
$f = basename($file);
$url = $baseUrl . "/$f";
if ($edit) {
$baseEncFile = base64_encode ($file);
$delUrl = "$webroot/uploads/delete/$baseEncFile/";
$str .= "<a href='$delUrl'><img src='" . Router::url("/") .
"ajax_multi_upload/img/delete.png' alt='Delete' /></a> ";
}
$str .= "<img src='$url' /> ";
$str .= "<a href='$url'>" . $f . "</a> ($filesize)";
$str .= "<br />\n";
}
$str .= "</dd>\n";
return $str;
}
And the upload / save
public function upload($dir=null) {
// max file size in bytes
$size = Configure::read ('AMU.filesizeMB');
if (strlen($size) < 1) $size = 20;
$relPath = Configure::read ('AMU.directory');
if (strlen($relPath) < 1) $relPath = "files";
$sizeLimit = $size * 1024 * 1024;
$this->layout = "ajax";
Configure::write('debug', 0);
$directory = APP . DS . $relPath;
if ($dir === null) {
$this->set("result", "{\"error\":\"Upload controller was passed a null value.\"}");
return;
}
// Replace underscores delimiter with slash
$dir = str_replace ("___", "/", $dir);
$dir = $directory . DS . "$dir/";
if (!file_exists($dir)) {
mkdir($dir, 0777, true);
}
$uploader = new qqFileUploader($this->allowedExtensions,
$sizeLimit);
$result = $uploader->handleUpload($dir);
$this->set("result", htmlspecialchars(json_encode($result), ENT_NOQUOTES));
}
The only real change from the original plug in is changing WWWROOT to APP to make the switch. Saving works fine and lovely. But its just weird that I can read the file name, file size in the view no problem but cannot view an image, pdf, etc.

Answer 1

The problem:
You cannot display files that are outside the webroot via a direct URL - that's the whole point in putting them above the webroot in the first place - to make them NOT directly accessible.
So building the image src path in the controller first (not good practice anyway) won't change the fact that when that path gets to the browser, and it reads the source of the image as trying to pull an image from above webroot, it won't/can't.
The Solution:
The solution is to use a CakePHP's Sending files (what used to be Media Views). Then, you set your img's "src" to a controller/action. In that action, it basically says "display this action as an image" (or pdf, or whatever else).
Path to use in Controller:
took this from one of my apps which is doing exactly the above, and here's the path I used for a file in 'files' (same level as webroot):
file_exists(APP . 'files' . DS . $your_filename)

Answer 2

Create a symbolic link to your folder inside of the webroot ;-)