get path of an uploaded file - file

Question

This is my form to upload a photo
$form['Background_image'] = array(
'#type' => 'managed_file',
'#title' => t('Choose a background image'),
'#description' => t('Click "Browse..." to select an image to upload.'),
'#required' => TRUE,
'#upload_validators' => array('file_validate_extensions' => array('jpeg jpg png gif')),
'#upload_location' => 'public://backgroundimage/',
'#default_value' => $this->options['Background_image'],
);
I tried this function that get the current uploaded image and return its path, but still not working: what is missing:
function image_path()
{
$f = file_load($this->options['Background_image']);
//this too is not working:
//$f = file_load($form_state['values']['Background_image']);
$url_image = file_create_url($f->uri);
print_r($url_image);
return ($url_image);
}

Answer 1

Assuming your value $this->options['Background_image'] is the file id (a.k.a. fid) then the only issue I see with the second set of code is with your print_r statement. file_create_url returns a string, not an object or array, so you only have to print the output.
So replace:
print_r($url_image);
With:
print $url_image;
and it'll output the image's full url (including http) to the browser. Or simply remove the print_r statement if you are returning the value for use in another function.