JSON response assign to $var then save to db

I'm using Dropzone.js to upload multiple files in Laravel, which works fine uploads to my uploads folder but now I want the save the json object to the db.

Currently I have:

$file = Input::file('file');
$fileName = $file->getClientOriginalName();

$file->move(public_path().'/uploads/userfiles', $fileName);
return Response::json(array('filelink' => '/uploads/userfiles/' . $fileName));

So now how would I store this in my users table in the uploads column?

Depends what you want to store...

As I understand it, you want to associate uploads with a user? If you just want to store the filename, which may suffice, maybe do this:

// models/User.php
class User extends Eloquent {

    // ...

    public function setFilesAttribute(array $files)
    {
        $this->attributes['files'] = json_encode(array_values($files));
    }

    public function getFilesAttribute($files)
    {
        return $files ? json_decode($files, true) : array();
    }
}

// Your script
$file = Input::file('file');
$fileName = $file->getClientOriginalName();

$file->move(public_path().'/uploads/userfiles', $fileName);
$user = User::find(1); // Find your user
$user->files[] = $fileName; // This may work, not too sure if it will being a magic method and all
$user->files = array_merge($user->files, [$fileName]); // If not, this will work
$user->save();

return Response::json(array('filelink' => '/uploads/userfiles/' . $fileName));

Something like this?

Of course, you could get more complex and create a model which represents a "file" entity and assign multiple files to a usre:

// models/File.php, should have `id`, `user_id`, `file_name`, `created_at`, `updated_at`
class File extends Eloquent {

    protected $table = 'files';

    protected $fillable = ['file_name']; // Add more attributes

    public function user()
    {
        return $this->belongsTo('User');
    }
}

// models/User.php
class User extends Eloquent {

    // ...

    public function files()
    {
        return $this->hasMany('File');
    }
}

// Your script
$file = Input::file('file');
$fileName = $file->getClientOriginalName();

$file->move(public_path().'/uploads/userfiles', $fileName);
$user = User::find(1); // Find your user
$file = new File([
    'file_name' => $fileName,
    // Any other attributes you want, just make sure they're fillable in the file model
]);
$file->save();
$user->files()->attach($file);

return Response::json(array('filelink' => '/uploads/userfiles/' . $fileName));