file upload in admin backend - custom component

Question

In my custom component/admin, in the item edit template I am trying to let the user upload a file.

The problem is that the file is not being passed in my save function. There is not even in the array as key. If I remove the enctype="multipart/form-data" from the form (which is wrong because no file will be passed) then the field comes with the filename as string.

[docfile] => my_file_to_upload.docx

but with the enctype="multipart/form-data" then, the result is :

2018-07-28T07:10:12+00:00       DEBUG 127.0.0.1 save_override_function_in_model Data $data : Array
(
    [id] => 2
    [title] => test
    [alias] => test-test
    [catid] => 0
    [client_id] => 240
    [published] => 0
    [created] => 2018-07-20 06:07:43
    [tags] => 
)

Here is the form in the tmpl/edit.php

<form action="<?php echo JRoute::_('index.php?option=com_comtest&layout=edit&id=' . (int) $this->item->id); ?>" method="post"
      id="adminForm" enctype="multipart/form-data" class="form-validate">
  <div class="form-horizontal">
    <fieldset class="adminform">
      <?php echo JHtml::_('bootstrap.startPane', 'myTab', array('active' => 'details')); ?>
      <?php
      echo JHtml::_('bootstrap.addPanel', 'myTab', 'details', empty($this->item->id) ?
                      JText::_('COM_COMTEST_NEW_CONTRACT', true) :
                      JText::sprintf('COM_COMTEST_EDIT_CONTRACT', $this->item->id, true));
      ?>
      <div class="row-fluid">
        <?php echo JLayoutHelper::render('joomla.edit.title_alias', $this); ?>
      </div>
      <div class="row-fluid">
        <div class="span6">
          <?php echo $this->form->renderField('catid'); ?>
          <?php echo $this->form->renderField('client_id'); ?>
          <?php echo $this->form->renderField('published'); ?>
          <?php echo $this->form->renderField('created'); ?>
          <?php echo $this->form->renderField('docfile'); ?>
        </div>
      </div>
      <?php echo JHtml::_('bootstrap.endPanel'); ?>
      <input type="hidden" name="task" value="" />
      <?php echo JHtml::_('form.token'); ?>
      <?php echo JHtml::_('bootstrap.endPane'); ?>
    </fieldset>
  </div>
</form>

The field in the xml models/forms/ is :

<field name="docfile" type="file" label="Select File" description="Select a doc/docx file to upload" 
         size="40" accept=".doc, .docx" />

and here is the overriden save function in the model

public function save($data = null, $key = null) {
    JRequest::checkToken() or die('Invalid Token');
    $file = JFactory::getApplication()->input->get('docfile');
    jimport('joomla.filesystem.folder');
    jimport('joomla.filesystem.file');

    JLog::add('Post $_POST : ' . print_r($_POST, TRUE), JLog::DEBUG, 'save_override_function_in_model');
    JLog::add('Data $data : ' . print_r($data, TRUE), JLog::DEBUG, 'save_override_function_in_model');
    JLog::add('File $file : ' . print_r($file, TRUE), JLog::DEBUG, 'save_override_function_in_model');

    return parent::save($data);
}

and theese are the log entries from the save function :

2018-07-28T07:18:04+00:00       DEBUG 127.0.0.1 save_override_function_in_model Post $_POST : Array
(
    [jform] => Array
        (
            [title] => test
            [alias] => test-test
            [catid] => 0
            [client_id] => 240
            [published] => 0
            [created] => 2018-07-20 06:07:43
        )

    [task] => testcom.apply
    [8c0a826f880ab2cd2842de2040510c6d] => 1
)

2018-07-28T07:18:04+00:00       DEBUG 127.0.0.1 save_override_function_in_model Data $data : Array
(
    [id] => 2
    [title] => test
    [alias] => test-test
    [catid] => 0
    [client_id] => 240
    [published] => 0
    [created] => 2018-07-20 06:07:43
    [tags] => 
)

2018-07-28T07:18:04+00:00       DEBUG 127.0.0.1 save_override_function_in_model File $file : Array
(
    [0] => 
)

Answer 1

I found the problem which was the way I was getting the file in the model. So I just changed the following line :

$file = JFactory::getApplication()->input->get('docfile');

with

$file = JFactory::getApplication()->input->files->get('jform', null, 'raw');

And this way I get an array with all the files.