TYPO3 extension Model conflict with f:form.upload - typo3-extensions

Question

For an own extension, I want o use the viewhelper f:form.upload
to retrieve the upload parameters I have to define the property for this viewhelper as an array. These work fine to get the name, type, tmp_name, error, and size parameters.
In the Domain Model, I read the parameters and save the uploaded file and store the file name inside the database. That works fine! Here the part of the Domain Modell for the variable iFile:
/**
* iFile
*
* #var array
* #TYPO3\CMS\Extbase\Annotation\ORM\Cascade("remove")
*/
protected $iFile = [];
/**
* Returns the iFile
*
* #return string iFile
*/
public function getIFile()
{
$temp = [];
$temp['image_name'] = $this->iFile;
error_log("Get_iFile: " . var_export($temp, true), 0);
error_log("Get_iFile0: " . var_export($this, true), 0);
return $temp;
}
/**
* Sets the iFile
*
* #param string $iFile
* #return void
*/
public function setIFile($iFile)
{
if($iFile['tmp_name'] != ""){
$docRoot = $_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT'].'\\' ;
if (!is_dir($docRoot)) {
mkdir($docRoot, 07777, true);
}
$date = new \DateTime();
$fName = 'fileadmin\\Radio\\crNews\\' . $date->format('Ymd') . $iFile['name'];
if(copy($iFile['tmp_name'], $docRoot . $fName) == true);
unlink($iFile['tmp_name']);
}
error_log("Set _FILES: " . var_export($iFile, true), 0);
$this->iFile = $fName;
}
But if I try to read it from the database, I don't get back the file name from the database! Only an empty array.
'iFile' =>
array (
),
The problem seems to be, due to the definition of iFile as an array.
How can I solve the problem?
Is there any possibility, to add a new variable to the Model as an array, but not to store it in the database?

Answer 1

So I found a workaround. I only defined iFile as an string to read and save the file name in the database and used the $_FILES post variables to retrieve the name and tmp_name of the $_FILES.
In Typo3, access the $_FILES parameters is not so easy. So I recommend to use phpinstruction error_log("Create _FILES: " . var_export($_FILES, true), 0); to find out the structure of the array.