Is it necessary to assign an ID to images when saving them to link them to the database, or are there alternative methods?

When saving images to link them to a database, it is not necessary to assign an ID to each image. Instead, you can use the image file name as a unique identifier. This way, you can easily retrieve the image from the database using the file name. Alternatively, you can also store the image file path in the database to link it to the corresponding record.

// Example of saving image file name to the database
$imageFileName = $_FILES['image']['name'];
// Save $imageFileName to the database along with other data