Read binary data from ARC upload using Phoenix -- db only shows Filename

Question

When I read my user, I see

%MyApp.Api.user{
 profile_photo: %{
    file_name: "2018-12-28 15:46:53.330536Z.png",
    updated_at: ~N[2018-12-28 15:46:53]
  },
}

but when uploading I use this changeset:

  def update_photo_changeset(user, attrs) do
    user
    |> cast(attrs[:user], [:profile_photo])
    |> cast_attachments(attrs, [:profile_photo])
    |> validate_required([:email, profile_photo])
  end

Logging the attrs out I can see the binary and filename. When I read I only see filename.

How do I directly read binary data?

Answer 1

Arc.File is a struct having three fields.

Algebra.Inspect, that is used to represent the file in the console, prudently ignores the binary garbage.

%MyApp.Api.User{}.profile_photo should be not a map but %Arc.File{} struct and I doubt I can tell why it’s a bare map.

In any case, the struct has a directly accessible field binary:

%MyApp.Api.User{}.profile_photo.binary