Controller to show images from your writable/uploads folder

Uploaded images that should only be shown to loggedin users could be added to a view with an url to this controller.

• These images would usually be stored in 'app/writable/uploads'.
  
• The url to your fotos you would use in an img-tag would be eg 'https://yourdomain.com/images/subfolder/imagename.jpg'
  
• You might should extend the shield authentification rule to your needs. 
  
• Add a Route to 'config/routes': $routes->get('images/(: alphanum)/(: segment)/(: segment)', 'Images::index/$1/$2/$3');
  

If you have any comments, suggestions or questions please add them to this post.

PHP Code:

<?php
namespace App\Controllers;
use CodeIgniter\Controller;

class Images extends Controller
{
/**
 * index function
 *
 * Renders an image specified by parameters, while keeping the original path hidden.
 * Images are usually uploaded to app/writable/uploads
 * I created an 404 image and saved it to 'writable/uploads/' in case the called image is not available.
 * The url to your fotos you would use in an img-tag would be eg 'https://yourdomain.com/images/subfolder/imagename.jpg'
 * Add a Route to 'config/routes': $routes->get('images/(:alphanum)/(:segment)/(:segment)', 'Images::index/$1/$2/$3');
 *
 * @param string|false $folder1 - The first subfolder.
 * @param string|false $folder2 - The second subfolder (optional).
 * @param string|false $filename - The name of the image file.
 *
 * @return mixed - The image binary content and appropriate headers if successful; otherwise, a redirect or a 404 error message.
 */

public function index($folder1=false, $folder2=false, $filename=false)
{
    // Ensure the user is logged in
    if (auth()->loggedIn()) {
        
        // Construct the full path to the image file
        if ($filename == FALSE) {
            $filename  =  $folder2;
            $fullpath  =  WRITEPATH . 'uploads/' . $folder1 . '/' . $filename;
        } else {
            $fullpath  =  WRITEPATH . 'uploads/' . $folder1 . '/' . $folder2 . '/' . $filename;
        }

        // Check if the image file exists and show a 404 image if not.
        if (! file_exists($fullpath)) { $fullpath = WRITEPATH . 'uploads/' . '404image.png';} 

        // Load the filesystem helper
        helper("filesystem");

        // Create a file object
        $file = new \CodeIgniter\Files\File($fullpath, true);

        // Read the file and stream its binary content to the response
        $binary = readfile($fullpath);

        // Set appropriate headers and return the response
        return $this->response
            ->setHeader('Content-Type', $file->getMimeType())
            ->setHeader('Content-disposition', 'inline; filename="' . $file->getBasename() . '"')
            ->setStatusCode(200)
            ->setBody($binary);
    } else {
        // If the user is not logged in, redirect to the homepage
        return redirect()->to('/');
        }
    }
}