Can I display pictures outside backend web folder in yii2? - yii2

Question

I have a little problem. I can’t view images outside the backend web folder.
Aliases in common\config\main:
'aliases' => [
'#upload' => dirname(dirname(__DIR__)).'/upload',
],
View Dataprovider:
[
'format' => 'raw',
'label' => 'Immagine',
'value' => function ($data) {
return Html::img(Yii::getAlias('#upload') . $data->codice_prodotto . '/' . $data->immagine, ['width' => '70px', 'class' => 'img-thumbnail']);
},
],
Can I resolve? Thanks.

Answer 1

If your file is not accessible for http server, so you can't directly download it.
You can:
Move uploads directory to directory accessible for the http-server
Create action that will read the file from private directory and stream it to the browser (you can use yii\web\Response::sendFile() function for that)
Streaming file to the browser
Please read this official docs article to understand this deeply: https://www.yiiframework.com/doc/api/2.0/yii-web-response#sendFile()-detail
Action code example for your case: *
public function actionFile($filename)
{
$storagePath = Yii::getAlias('#upload');
// check filename for allowed chars (do not allow ../ to avoid security issue: downloading arbitrary files)
if (!preg_match('/^[a-z0-9]+\.[a-z0-9]+$/i', $filename) || !is_file("$storagePath/$filename")) {
throw new \yii\web\NotFoundHttpException('The file does not exists.');
}
return Yii::$app->response->sendFile("$storagePath/$filename", $filename);
}
And view Dataprovider configuration: *
[
'format' => 'raw',
'label' => 'Immagine',
'value' => function ($data) {
return Html::img(Url::to(['/path/to-streaming-action/file', 'filename' => $data->codice_prodotto . '/' . $data->immagine]), ['width' => '70px', 'class' => 'img-thumbnail']);
},
],
* Notice that this code is not ready to copy-paste, please read it carefully and try to understand the principle before implement it in your code.