This demonstrates how to manually handle file uploads in web2py (without any SQLForm magic.)

model:

db.define_table('image',
    Field('title'),
    Field('file', 'upload'),
    format = '%(title)s')

controller:

def download(): return response.download(request,db)
def link(): return response.download(request,db,attachment=False)

def index():
	
	image_form = FORM(
		INPUT(_name='image_title',_type='text'),
		INPUT(_name='image_file',_type='file')
		)
	
	if image_form.accepts(request.vars,formname='image_form'):
		
		image = db.image.file.store(image_form.vars.image_file.file, image_form.vars.image_file.filename)
		id = db.image.insert(file=image,title=image_form.vars.image_title)
	
	images = db().select(db.image.ALL)
	
	return dict(images=images)

view:

{{extend "layout.html"}}

<form action="" enctype="multipart/form-data" method="post">
	<input name="_formname" type="hidden" value="image_form">
	<input class="string" name="image_title" type="text" value="">
	<input class="upload" name="image_file" type="file">
	<input type="submit" value="Submit">
</form>

<ul>
{{for image in images:}}
	<li>
		<a href="{{=URL(f='link', args=image.file)}}">
			<img src="{{=URL(f='link', args=image.file)}}"/>
			{{=image.title}}
		</a>
		<a href="{{=URL(f='download', args=image.file)}}">
			[Download]
		</a>
	</li>
{{pass}}
</ul>

(Of course we could just use the serialized form in the view, but I like to render my views by hand to show what's going on)

Reference:

• Manual Uploads | web2py book