How to store already uploaded images in the DB with CarrierWave

To associate existing images in your Cloudinary account with multiple model records in a Rails application using CarrierWave, without re-uploading the images, you can follow these steps:

If you have an existing model (OriginalModel) with an image already uploaded to Cloudinary, you can link this image to a new model (NewModel) as follows:

if original_model.image_cloudinary.present?
  image_cloudinary = Cloudinary::CarrierWave::StoredFile.new(original_model.image_cloudinary.identifier)
else
  image_cloudinary = nil
end

NewModel.create!(
  image_cloudinary: image_cloudinary,
  # other attributes
)

If you don't have an existing model but know the image's details, you can create an identifier and associate it with a new model:

resource_type = "image"
type = "upload"
version = 1234567890
public_id = "myimage"
format = "jpg"
identifier = "#{resource_type}/#{type}/v#{version}/#{public_id}.#{format}"

NewModel.create!(
  image_cloudinary: Cloudinary::CarrierWave::StoredFile.new(identifier),
  # other attributes
)

Remember to replace resource_type, type, version, public_id, and format with the actual values of your image.

By default, when a model record with an associated image is deleted, the image is also removed from Cloudinary. This behavior can lead to unintended deletions if the same image is linked to multiple records. To prevent this, you can override the delete_remote? method in your uploader to control when an image should be deleted from Cloudinary:

class ImageUploader < CarrierWave::Uploader::Base
  # Other configurations...

  def delete_remote?
    # Logic to determine if the image should be deleted from Cloudinary
    # For example, only delete if no other records are using the image
  end
end

For more detailed information, refer to Cloudinary's documentation on CarrierWave integration and the Admin API Reference.