Adding and Resizing Images with Grails

Here is a quick post on how to upload images within your Grails project to your file system(rather than your database). It seems simple enough, but I ran into a few snags as I was working on one of my projects. Just wanted to provided a working example for those that are entering the Grails territory for the first time. Happy Coding!

I am using the imageTools plugin.

NOTE: The imageTools plugin has been criticized for its low quality of output. ImageMagick may be a better fit for you project(s). My particular project didn’t call for high quality pictures. A quick google search for "imagemagick for grails" should get you started on your way.

I am using version 1.0.3 in the example below

to install, I ran the following command from my grails application’s root directory

grails install-plugin http://www.arquetipos.co.cr/blog/files/grails-image-tools-1.0.3.zip

//Domain-Class

class Picture {
byte[] imagefile
//Any other stuff you want to track

}
//Controller Code for Saving an image

def save = {

    def downloadedfile = request.getFile('imagefile')
    def pictureInstance = new Picture(params)
    def imageTool = new ImageTool()

    if(downloadedfile && pictureInstance.save()){
        String imagepath = grailsAttributes.getApplicationContext().getResource("images/").getFile().toString() + File.separatorChar + "${pictureInstance.id}.jpg"
        downloadedfile.transferTo(new File(imagepath))

        imageTool.load(imagepath)
        imageTool.thumbnail(140)

        imageTool.writeResult(imagepath, "JPEG")
        imageTool.square()
        flash.message = "Picture ${pictureInstance.id} created"
        redirect(action:show,id:pictureInstance.id)
    }
    else {
        render(view:'create',model:[pictureInstance:pictureInstance])
    }
}

Code for displaying the image in both the ‘show’ and 'list' views

<td>
  <img src="${createLinkTo(dir:'images', file: pictureInstance.id+'.jpg' )}" />
</td>