If I add a file_field to a form, and on create, the model fails to
save for some error, I then redirect back to edit, every other field
shows up on the form, except file_field's. This becomes tedious to a
user, because any time there's an error, they have to relocate the
file from the browse button. This seems like it's built into
file_field, but someone must have a workaround? Thanks for any info.
That’s a security issue of which you will find no solution. A few browsers (Opera, etc) may allow you to pre-fill a file input, but they usually pop up a confirmation for the user to click through anyway, which is just as annoying.
My advise to you is to give up on trying to make that work. It’s just not going to happen.