Laravel 10 REST API Image Upload Example

In this tutorial, we will learn how to upload an image in a REST API using Laravel 10. We will also validate the image before uploading it.

Step 1: Create Laravel Project

Run below command to create laravel project.

composer create-project laravel/laravel laravel-wishlist

Now, you need to connect the Laravel app to the database. Open the .env configuration file and add the database credentials as suggested below.

.env

DB_CONNECTION=mysql
DB_HOST=127.0.0.1
DB_PORT=3306
DB_DATABASE=database_name
DB_USERNAME=database_user_name
DB_PASSWORD=database_password

Step 2: Create Image Model and Migration

Run shorthand command to create image modal, migration and controller.

php artisan make:model Image -m

create_images_table.php

<?php

use Illuminate\Database\Migrations\Migration;
use Illuminate\Database\Schema\Blueprint;
use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Schema;

return new class extends Migration
{
    /**
     * Run the migrations.
     */
    public function up(): void
    {
        Schema::create('images', function (Blueprint $table) {
            $table->id();
            $table->string('image');
            $table->timestamps();
        });
    }

    /**
     * Reverse the migrations.
     */
    public function down(): void
    {
        Schema::dropIfExists('images');
    }
};

app/Models/Image.php

<?php

namespace App\Models;

use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Factories\HasFactory;
use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model;

class Image extends Model
{
    use HasFactory;
    protected $fillable = [
        'image'
    ];
}

Step 3: Create Image Api Controller and Route

There are two ways to store and validate image files:

1. First Method: Image File Upload with Validation.

Create an Image API Controller by running the following command:

php artisan make:controller Api/ImageController

First you need to import Image class and import use Symfony\Component\HttpFoundation\Response;

app/Http/Controllers/Api/ImageController.php

<?php

namespace App\Http\Controllers\Api;

use App\Http\Controllers\Controller;
use App\Models\Image;
use Illuminate\Http\Request;
use Symfony\Component\HttpFoundation\Response;

class ImageController extends Controller
{
    public function imageStore(Request $request)
    {
        $this->validate($request, [
            'image' => 'required|image|mimes:jpg,png,jpeg,gif,svg|max:2048',
        ]);
        $image_path = $request->file('image')->store('image', 'public');

        $data = Image::create([
            'image' => $image_path,
        ]);

        return response($data, Response::HTTP_CREATED);
    }
}

2. Second Way to Image file upload with validation.

Create image store request for validation.

php artisan make:request ImageStoreRequest

app/Http/Controllers/Requests/ImageStoreRequest.php

<?php

namespace App\Http\Requests;

use Illuminate\Foundation\Http\FormRequest;

class ImageStoreRequest extends FormRequest
{
    /**
     * Determine if the user is authorized to make this request.
     *
     * @return bool
     */
    public function authorize()
    {
        return true;
    }

    /**
     * Get the validation rules that apply to the request.
     *
     * @return array
     */
    public function rules()
    {
        return [
            'image' => 'required|image|mimes:jpg,png,jpeg,gif,svg|max:2048',
        ];
    }
}

Now you need remove Request and import ImageStoreRequest for image validation.

app/Http/Controllers/Api/ImageController.php

<?php

namespace App\Http\Controllers\Api;

use App\Http\Controllers\Controller;
use App\Http\Requests\ImageStoreRequest;
use App\Models\Image;
use Illuminate\Http\Request;
use Symfony\Component\HttpFoundation\Response;


class ImageController extends Controller
{
    public function imageStore(ImageStoreRequest $request)
    {

        $validatedData = $request->validated();
        $validatedData['image'] = $request->file('image')->store('image');
        $data = Image::create($validatedData);

        return response($data, Response::HTTP_CREATED);
    }
}

Now you need to set api.php route.

routes/api.php

<?php

use App\Http\Controllers\Api\ImageController;
use Illuminate\Http\Request;
use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Route;


Route::post('image',[ImageController::class, 'imageStore']);

Step 4: Migrate database & Storage links

run migrate database.

php artisan migrate

Storage links to public directory.

php artisan storage:link

Step 5: Setup and Test Api

First, navigate to the body section and select the form field for API image upload. Then, make a POST request to http://localhost:8000/api/image and set the header Accept to application/json.

http://localhost:8000/api/image

Laravel 10 rest api Image upload validation test.

laravel 10 rest api Image upload successful.

Step 1: Create Laravel Project

Step 2: Create Image Model and Migration

Step 3: Create Image Api Controller and Route

Step 4: Migrate database & Storage links

Step 5: Setup and Test Api

saim ansari