Tearing my hair out!! *uploading files*

maybe somthing like this, although it doesn't do anything with mysql

if(isset($_FILES[/*input file field name*/]))
	{
		if($_FILES[/*input file field name*/]['error'] == UPLOAD_ERR_OK))
		{
				rename($_FILES[[/*input file field name*/]['tmp_name'], /*directory to upload to*/ . ereg_replace("[[:space:]]","_", /*the name you want*/));
		}
	}

Here's what I use to add files to custom node types:

http://cvs.drupal.org/viewcvs/drupal/contributions/sandbox/yogadex/modul...

Unfortuanely for you, that is written for drupal 4.7 and your code appears to be earlier.

Your problem may have to do the forms encoding type. If your code is part of a hook_form(&$node, &$param), try this:

 $param['options'] = array("enctype" => "multipart/form-data");

From your example I can't tell if you're using hook_form. If not, you'll have to figure out an attribute or something to set the encoding type.

I've put together a module with an image upload field as an example.

Hope this helps.

/**
 * Implementation of hook_help().
 */
function nodewithupload_help($section) {
  switch ($section) {
    case 'admin/modules#description':
      return t('A simple node with an upload field.');
    case 'node/add#nodewithupload':
      return t('A simple node with an upload field.');
  }
}

/**
 * Implementation of hook_node_name().
 */
function nodewithupload_node_name($node) {
  return t('node with upload');
}

/**
 * Implementation of hook_perm().
 */
function nodewithupload_perm() {
  return array('create nodewithupload', 'edit own nodewithupload');
}

/**
 * Implementation of hook_access().
 */
function nodewithupload_access($op, $node) {
  global $user;

  if ($op == 'create') {
    return user_access('create nodewithupload');
  }

  if ($op == 'update' || $op == 'delete') {
    if (user_access('edit own nodewithupload') && ($user->uid == $node->uid)) {
      return TRUE;
    }
  }
}

/**
 * Implementation of hook_menu().
 */
function nodewithupload_menu($may_cache) {
  $items = array();

  if ($may_cache) {
    $items[] = array('path' => 'node/add/nodewithupload', 'title' => t('node with upload'),
      'access' => user_access('create nodewithupload'));
  }
  return $items;
}

/**
 * Implementation of hook_load().
 */
function nodewithupload_load($node) {
  $additions = db_fetch_object(db_query("SELECT picture FROM {nodewithupload} WHERE nid = %d", $node->nid));
  return $additions;
} 

/**
 * Implementation of hook_form().
 */
function nodewithupload_form(&$node, &$param) {
  $param['options'] = array("enctype" => "multipart/form-data");
  $form = '';
  $form .= form_hidden('picture', $node->picture);
  if ($node->picture) {
    $form .= form_item(t('Group picture'), theme('image', $node->picture));
  }
  $form .= form_file(t('Upload group picture'), 'picture', 40, t("Upload a picture to represent your group."));
  return $form;
}

/**
 * Implementation of hook_validate().
 */
function nodewithupload_validate(&$node) {
  // if the form is not yet submitted 
  if (!isset($_POST['edit'])) {
    // unset session variable set by file_save_upload() for previous temporary uploads
    unset($_SESSION['file_uploads']['picture']);
  }
  
  // check if a file was uploaded
  if ($file = file_check_upload('picture')) {
    // check if it's an image
    if (image_get_info($file->filepath)){
      $node->picture_upload = file_save_upload($file);
      $node->picture = $node->picture_upload->filepath;
    }
  }
}

/**
 * Implementation of hook_insert().
 */
function nodewithupload_insert($node) {
  if ($node->picture_upload) {
    $file = file_save_upload($node->picture_upload, $node->picture_upload->filename);
    $node->picture = $file->filepath;
  }
  db_query("INSERT INTO {nodewithupload} (nid, picture) VALUES (%d, '%s')", $node->nid, $node->picture);
}

/**
 * Implementation of hook_update().
 */
function nodewithupload_update($node) {
  if ($node->picture_upload) {
    $file = file_save_upload($node->picture_upload, $node->picture_upload->filename);
    $node->picture = $file->filepath;
  }
  db_query("DELETE FROM {nodewithupload} WHERE nid = %d", $node->nid);
  db_query("INSERT INTO {nodewithupload} (nid, picture) VALUES (%d, '%s')", $node->nid, $node->picture);
}

/**
 * Implementation of hook_delete().
 */
function nodewithupload_delete($node) {
  db_query("DELETE FROM {nodewithupload} WHERE nid = %d", $node->nid);
}

/**
 * Implementation of hook_view().
 */
function nodewithupload_view(&$node, $teaser = FALSE, $page = FALSE) {
  if ($page) {
    if ($picture = file_create_path($node->picture)) {
      $info = image_get_info($picture);
      $node->body .= '<h3>Group picture:</h3><img src="/'. $picture .'" width="'. $info['width'] .'" height="'.$info['height'] .'" />';
    }
  }
}