Question

I am currently allowing users to upload CSV files, processing them, saving database entries based on the content, and then having to go back and clean-up the CSV. I’m wondering if it’s possible to upload, and process by keeping the CSV in memory without it touching the disk?

How do I tell paperclip to not save the original file?

…seems to suggest that leaving the field off the migration will do this but I haven’t had luck with this approach. Any ideas?

Answer 1

The whole point of paperclip is to save the file. You could have something like the following as your action and completely skip the use of paperclip.

def upload
  CSV.parse(params[:file].read) do |row|
    # do whatever you need to do with the row
  end
end

with a form like this:

<%= form_tag('/path/to/upload') do %>
  <%= file_field_tag :file %>
  <%= submit_tag %>
<% end %>