regarding helper function, am i doing this the right way?

[eluser]nikefido[/eluser]
I'd extend the file upload class and add inject that functionality in rather than create my own.

You might want to consider that, but I do see what you are saying about that $this->upload->do_upload() "problem" (have you tested that?)

That's not too much of a problem, it can be taken care of with a fairly simple if statement (although I haven't done this myself)