Plugging into the Media Library to upload images (NOT associated with any post)

Question

My Old Question:

I made a Theme with rotating banner, common thing. So I want a way for users to select images. I think instead of implementing my own upload, I think its better to allow users to use the Media Library, how do I do that?

The New One

So far, I have something like below

functions.php

// init wordpress media upload stuff ...
if (is_admin() && isset($_GET['page']) && $_GET['page'] == 'elem_opts') {
  wp_enqueue_style('thickbox');
  wp_enqueue_script('media-upload');
  wp_enqueue_script('thickbox');
  wp_register_script('elem_adm_js', get_bloginfo('template_directory') . '/js/admin.js', array('jquery', 'media-upload', 'thickbox'));
  wp_enqueue_script('elem_adm_js');
}

admin.js

jQuery(document).ready(function($) {
    $('#elem_upload_logo').click(function() {
        tb_show('', 'media-upload.php?type=image&TB_iframe=true');
        return false;
    });

    window.send_to_editor = function (html) {
        imgurl = $('img', html).attr('src');
        $('input[name=elem_opts[h_image]]').val(imgurl);
        tb_remove();
    }
});

The media library upload thickbox pops up, I can click select files, but when I try to upload them nothing happens. In Firebug I can see the following:

Answer 1

Here are 3 links to get you started, your question should be more clear, do you want this to work like twentyten's header, using a custom theme options field, a category?

How to use media upload on theme option page?
How can I add an image upload field directly to a custom write panel?
Attaching media to custom posts without editor
Creating an Image-Centric Custom Post Type?

Answer 2

1) I think you should change the JS file. The send_to_editor is the default WordPress handler that will insert image into the editor. In your code, you completely replaced it. That's not cool. You should backup it (I'm not sure if that can fix the errors, but at least it make your code run more properly):

Something in this code I'll explain below

jQuery(document).ready(function($) {
    $('#elem_upload_logo').click(function() {
        var backup = window.send_to_editor, // backup the original 'send_to_editor' function which adds images to the editor
            post_id = $(this).attr('rel');  // get post ID

        // now you can change the default behavior
        window.send_to_editor = function (html) {
            // check the returned HTML code and do something with it

            // restore the default behavior
            window.send_to_editor = backup;
        }

        tb_show('', 'media-upload.php?type=image&TB_iframe=true&post_id=' + post_id);
        return false;
    });
});

2) Another problem with your code is that the returned html might has no img tags. Actually, it depends on how users choose the way to link the image (they can link the image to the attachment page, the image file, or not link to anywhere). The code above works only when the image is linked to the image file.

You can test this situation by inserting image to the editor, changing the way image is linked, you'll see the actual returned html.

3) The last problem I found when viewing your errors is that you didn't declare the post ID. The thinkbox media uploader must have post ID.

To fix this, you can use a simple trick: in your PHP code that echos the #elem_upload_logo, set its rel="<?php echo $post->ID; ?>" and in your JS script, extract this attribute and pass it into the URL of the media uploader (as the code above).