Automatic File Uploader to Website - ruby-on-rails

Question

I have a website with a form to upload files. I want to automatically sign in and upload image files once a changes are scene on my local folder on my computer. Can any guidance be provided in the matter.

Answer 1

As per my understanding, you can write a task for this purpose, which can run lets say every hour and check if any changes are made in directory then upload these files on you app.

Answer 2

I don't know what kind of system you are working on but you could do something like this. If you are on a linux system you could use the watch command to track the activity of the directory of choice. The what you could do is use something like Mechanize in a ruby script that gets triggered by the watch command that will then go and submit the form and upload the file for you by selecting the file with the latest creation date.

Answer 3

I realize that it says ruby on rails in the post, but this answer is just as legitimate as writing a solution in Ruby (and a bit easier/faster)
Using Qt C++ to do this, then you could do something like this:
(untested, you'll have to make adjustments for your exact situation)
Overview of Code:
Create a program that loops on a Timer every 20 minutes and goes through the entire directory that you specify with WATCH_DIR, and if it finds any files in that directory which were modified in between the time that the loop last ran (or after the program starts but before the first loop is run), then it uploads that exact file to whatever URL you specify with UPLOAD_URL
Then create a file called AutoUploader.pro and a file called main.cpp
AutoUploader.pro
QT += core network
QT -= gui
CONFIG += c++11
TARGET = AutoUploader
CONFIG += console
CONFIG -= app_bundle
TEMPLATE = app
SOURCES += main.cpp
main.cpp
#include <QtCore/QCoreApplication>
#include <QtCore/qglobal.h>
#include <QDir>
#include <QDirIterator>
#include <QNetworkAccessManager>
#include <QTimer>
#include <QByteArray>
#include <QHash>
#define WATCH_DIR "/home/lenny/images"
#define UPLOAD_URL "http://127.0.0.1/upload.php"
int main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
QCoreApplication a(argc, argv);
MainLoop loop(WATCH_DIR);
return a.exec();
}
class MainLoop : public QObject {
Q_OBJECT
public:
MainLoop(QString _watch_directory = qApp->applicationDirPath()) {
watch_directory = _watch_directory;
// the ACTION="" part of the upload form
website_upload_url = UPLOAD_URL;
/* 20 minutes
20 * 60 * 1000 = num of milliseconds that makes up
20 mins = 1200000 ms */
QTimer::singleShot(1200000, this, SLOT(check_for_updates()));
/* this will stop any file modified before you ran this program from
being uploaded so it wont upload all of the files at runtime */
program_start_time = QDateTime::currentDateTime();
}
QDateTime program_start_time;
QString watch_directory;
QString website_upload_url;
// hash table to store all of the last modified times for each file
QHash<QString, QDateTime> last_modified_time;
~MainLoop() { qApp->exit(); }
public slots:
void check_for_updates() {
QDirIterator it(QDir(watch_directory));
/* loop through all file in directory */
while (it.hasNext()) {
QFileInfo info(it.next());
/* check to see if the files modified time is ahead of
program_start_time */
if (info.lastModified.msecsTo(program_start_time) < 1) {
upload_file(info.absoluteFilePath());
}
}
/* set program_start_time to the current time to catch stuff next
time around and then start a timer to repeat this command in
20 minutes */
program_start_time = QDateTime::currentDateTime();
QTimer::singleShot(1200000, this, SLOT(check_for_updates()));
}
/* upload file code came from
https://forum.qt.io/topic/11086/solved-qnetworkaccessmanager-uploading-files/2
*/
void upload_file(QString filename) {
QNetworkAccessManager *am = new QNetworkAccessManager(this);
QString path(filename);
// defined with UPLOAD_URL
QNetworkRequest request(QUrl(website_upload_url));
QString bound="margin"; //name of the boundary
//according to rfc 1867 we need to put this string here:
QByteArray data(QString("--" + bound + "\r\n").toAscii());
data.append("Content-Disposition: form-data; name=\"action\"\r\n\r\n");
data.append("upload.php\r\n");
data.append("--" + bound + "\r\n"); //according to rfc 1867
data.append(QString("Content-Disposition: form-data; name=\"uploaded\"; filename=\"%1\"\r\n").arg(QFileInfo(filename).fileName()));
data.append(QString("Content-Type: image/%1\r\n\r\n").arg(QFileInfo(filename).suffix())); //data type
QFile file(path);
if (!file.open(QIODevice::ReadOnly))
return;
data.append(file.readAll()); //let's read the file
data.append("\r\n");
data.append("--" + bound + "--\r\n");
request.setRawHeader(QString("Content-Type").toAscii(),QString("multipart/form-data; boundary=" + bound).toAscii());
request.setRawHeader(QString("Content-Length").toAscii(), QString::number(data.length()).toAscii());
this->reply = am->post(request,data);
connect(this->reply, SIGNAL(finished()), this, SLOT(replyFinished()));
}
void replyFinished() {
/* perform some code here whenever a download finishes */
}
};
Before running this program, make sure to read through it completely and make the necessary changes by reading the comments and the post -- also you may have to install the qt framework depending on your platform
Anyways, the final step is to run qmake to create the project makefile and finally, make to build the binary.
Obviously the last steps are different depending on what system you are using.
... This program will continue to run... essentially forever until you close it.... uploading changed files every 20 minutes
Hope this helps...