Links and Files Database

[AndrewD]

Yes I know the Links Database works but that is not what I need... I was asking about the File Database with all the data given there with screenshots in the 3rd or 4th post of this thread, that doesn't work with this hack apparently

Everything that this hack is described as doing, it does, largely correctly, with VB3 gold.

It does not do what other hacks for VB2 do or did.

[Chrissicom]

Everything that this hack is described as doing, it does, largely correctly, with VB3 gold.

It does not do what other hacks for VB2 do or did.
oh ok that answered my question, the file database add-on with all these features is vB 2 only :(

[AndrewD]

oh ok that answered my question, the file database add-on with all these features is vB 2 only :(

Does it? This handles file downloads - I'm not sure what you're looking for?

[Chrissicom]

I am looking for something like this here https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/attachment.php?attachmentid=15991 which I don't know how to do with this mod :(

[Tradjick]

I don´t know if it has anything to do with your hack, but vb.nl is down an so I thought maybe you could help me out, Andrew. I installed a style, installed vbIndex and yours and Natch´s and did some template work. And when I tried to save and to upload that style i got an error. After cleaning the code it went good, but it´s always some work to do it.
Image1 is when trying to upload the style and Image2 is an extract from the .xml file.
Do you maybe have an idea, also because this happens over and over again?

[AndrewD]

I don?t know if it has anything to do with your hack, but vb.nl is down an so I thought maybe you could help me out, Andrew. I installed a style, installed vbIndex and yours and Natch?s and did some template work. And when I tried to save and to upload that style i got an error. After cleaning the code it went good, but it?s always some work to do it.
Image1 is when trying to upload the style and Image2 is an extract from the .xml file.
Do you maybe have an idea, also because this happens over and over again?

I'm sorry, I have no idea what is causing this. It looks like your database has been corrupted somehow. I'm a bit reluctant to offer advice without knowing how this happened, but have you tried simply reinstalling VB's master style?

[Tradjick]

I'm sorry, I have no idea what is causing this. It looks like your database has been corrupted somehow. I'm a bit reluctant to offer advice without knowing how this happened, but have you tried simply reinstalling VB's master style?
The default vB style doesn?t produce an error when uploading but it just won?t show up although it is marked as "selectable".

[Tradjick]

As I don?t want to use this thread for my problem I refer to...

http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showthread.php?t=99446

Thank you Andrew!

[AndrewD]

New release available in first post, fixes reported bugs up to mid week.

[LoOnEyToOnZ]

Hi Andrew.

Thanks for the fantastic hack, does it support VB3 Gold yet ?

[AndrewD]

Hi Andrew.

Thanks for the fantastic hack, does it support VB3 Gold yet ?

Yes indeed, no problems as far as I know. Our main board was upgraded to Gold as soon as it was released and nothing's gone wrong so far.

[WreckRman2]

Great hack! One thing I would like to see is a counter that shows how many links are in each category.

Sub-category Description # of Links

[LoOnEyToOnZ]

Hmm i dont know why im getting unexpected end of archive errors while opening the zip file....

[AndrewD]

Hmm i dont know why im getting unexpected end of archive errors while opening the zip file....

I dont understand either - same thing is happening to me. I've reuploaded the zip and the problem remains. What is downloaded does not match what was uploaded.

[AndrewD]

I dont understand either - same thing is happening to me. I've reuploaded the zip and the problem remains. What is downloaded does not match what was uploaded.

I've tried to download two other hacks also, and the same thing happens - corrupt archive.

Is anyone else having problems? I've tried the old tricks of turning off the firewall and Norton but it makes no difference.

[Jolten]

I just downloaded and installed. This is great! Exactly what I was looking for. Thanks Andrew.

Now I've got to figure a way to connect it to events.

Again, great work Andrew!

[hubba]

Strange, if I put in a link like

http://www.detektor.net/Information/

it does not show up, in the admin section it is marked as "not available"...??? But

http://www.detektor.net

works well...

[oly51]

Strange, if I put in a link like

http://www.detektor.net/Information/

it does not show up, in the admin section it is marked as "not available"...??? But

http://www.detektor.net

works well...
That link gives a 403 error.
Try adding http://www.detektor.net/Information/information.html

[hubba]

That was an example, the unvalidatet Link was http://www.detektor.net/Information/Themen_Allg_/Fingerhute/fingerhute.html but maybe the user missed something, I just added this link and it works. Sorry.

[MrD]

Hi,
i become an Error.
Fatal error: Call to undefined function: print_cp_header() in /home/www/web1/html/v3/local_links_install.php on line 44

Can anywhere Help ?

[LoOnEyToOnZ]

Does this allow people to submit their websites to be listed in the directory ? And require admin approval beforehand

[brianstevz]

Awesome hack. It's much better than drkfusion's imho. Clicks install.

[AlexanderT]

I installed the hack ( *installed* ) and am very happy with it. I have one question though:

I added a link to an external file (from another site). When a uses clicks on the link to download the file, he cannot see the original site. Fine. But does that mean that all filedownloads are "proxied" from the original site to my site and then from my site to the user? Like this:

file -> my site -> user

If this is the case, wouldn't it generate unnecessary traffic for my site on all external filedownloads?

[CERTguide]

I installed the hack and all looked good. I am trying to add files but it keeps telling me that they are not available:

checking 1 http://www.certguide.com/forums/guides/comptia/serverplusguide.asp (force next): failed
checking 2 http://www.certguide.com/forums/guides/comptia/2003aplusos.doc (force next)

If I paste the links in my browser the files open right up.

What am I doing wrong?

[AndrewD]

Hi,
i become an Error.
Fatal error: Call to undefined function: print_cp_header() in /home/www/web1/html/v3/local_links_install.php on line 44

Can anywhere Help ?

Are you sure you put the file in your admincp directory?

local_links.php and local_links_templatex.xml go into your main forum, local_links_install.php goes into the admincp directory.

[AndrewD]

Does this allow people to submit their websites to be listed in the directory ? And require admin approval beforehand

There is *no* moderation facility yet. The permission to add links is defined by the site admin by usergroups. If a usergroup has the relevant permission, then a user in that group can add their website.

[AndrewD]

I installed the hack ( *installed* ) and am very happy with it. I have one question though:

I added a link to an external file (from another site). When a uses clicks on the link to download the file, he cannot see the original site. Fine. But does that mean that all filedownloads are "proxied" from the original site to my site and then from my site to the user? Like this:

file -> my site -> user

If this is the case, wouldn't it generate unnecessary traffic for my site on all external filedownloads?

It depends, and it also depends what you mean by unnecessary. If the entry has a recognised mimetype (recognised = defined in the main vb admincp), then the file is successively read and transferred on to the end user. If it does not have a recognised mimetype (e.g. is just a link), then the code executes a standard redirect, and there should be no traffic through your site.

As for unnecessary, I'm open to suggestions of other ways of handling the process in a way that will work reliably.

[AlexanderT]

It depends, and it also depends what you mean by unnecessary...As for unnecessary, I'm open to suggestions of other ways of handling the process in a way that will work reliably.
By unnecessary I mean a link to a file download where I don't mind whether the user finds out the direct file location or not. Perhaps one solution would be to offer a switch called "anti-leech on/off" when creating new links, and if the switch is on, follow your current procedure (stream the file through the site), and if it is off, redirect it (disregarding the vB minetypes).

[AndrewD]

I installed the hack and all looked good. I am trying to add files but it keeps telling me that they are not available:

checking 1 http://www.certguide.com/forums/guides/comptia/serverplusguide.asp (force next): failed
checking 2 http://www.certguide.com/forums/guides/comptia/2003aplusos.doc (force next)

If I paste the links in my browser the files open right up.

What am I doing wrong?

I don't know ;)

I tried adding these links to my test database and they work just fine for me. The links checking process simply tries to open a connection to the specified file. Maybe you had a very busy server?

[AndrewD]

By unnecessary I mean a link to a file download where I don't mind whether the user finds out the direct file location or not. Perhaps one solution would be to offer a switch called "anti-leech on/off" when creating new links, and if the switch is on, follow your current procedure (stream the file through the site), and if it is off, redirect it (disregarding the vB minetypes).

Thanks - I'll think about this idea. But is bandwidth to your site more expensive than my time as a programmer? (smiling)

[CERTguide]

I don't know ;)

I tried adding these links to my test database and they work just fine for me. The links checking process simply tries to open a connection to the specified file. Maybe you had a very busy server?


I tried several times with no luck. I wish my server was that busy.

[AlexanderT]

Thanks - I'll think about this idea. But is bandwidth to your site more expensive than my time as a programmer? (smiling)
:nervous:

[AndrewD]

I tried several times with no luck. I wish my server was that busy.

I think the code would benefit from a bit better error reporting when these problems arise. I'll have a look at it next time I have some free time (probably the weekend). Otherwise we're grappling in the dark.

What I did to get the link working was simply open your link in a new window then cut and paste from the address line into the links database. Sure you've not missed out a character somewhere?

[CERTguide]

I copied the link into the database and copied it back out after it said it was not available. Always works in a browser, never in the database.

[Konk]

A fantastic hack, I'm in the process of installing it. Thanks!

I hope that you find interest/time to continue with the:
- Integrate this with the VB attachment system to allow users to upload files
- Integrate this with the VB moderation system

I imagine it's complicated but I'm sure many would be very appreciative!

[Animension]

Hello, I recently installed this hack (along with the integration with vBAdvanced hack).

My problem is that I cannot add links. I can add categories, but when I attempt to add links it sits there and loads nothing. I've tried several different web pages but it still just sits there.

Any help is appreciated.

EDIT: I played around and found that it was the URL check that was messing it up. However now, I get this SQL database error:


Database error in vBulletin 3.0.0 Release Candidate 4:

Invalid SQL:
INSERT INTO local_linkslink (linkname, linkurl, linkdesc, linkhits, linkforum, linkcheck, linkstatus, linkdate, linkusername, linkuserid)
VALUES (
'www',
'http://www.google.com',
'thedhrhetrgtgfehe',
0,
'11',
1081171544,
,
1081171544,
'Ultima Ichijouji',
1
)

mysql error: You have an error in your SQL syntax near '
1081171544,
'Ultima Ichijouji',
' at line 10

mysql error number: 1064

Date: Monday 05th of April 2004 06:25:44 AM
Script: http://www.animension.net/adrf/local_links.php
Referer: http://www.animension.net/adrf/local_links.php?action=addlink&catid=1
Username: Ultima Ichijouji

[AndrewD]

EDIT: I played around and found that it was the URL check that was messing it up. However now, I get this SQL database error:


Database error in vBulletin 3.0.0 Release Candidate 4:

Invalid SQL:
INSERT INTO local_linkslink (linkname, linkurl, linkdesc, linkhits, linkforum, linkcheck, linkstatus, linkdate, linkusername, linkuserid)
VALUES (
'www',
'http://www.google.com',
'thedhrhetrgtgfehe',
0,
'11',
1081171544,
,
1081171544,
'Ultima Ichijouji',
1
)

mysql error: You have an error in your SQL syntax near '
1081171544,
'Ultima Ichijouji',
' at line 10



The SQL error is happening where the value (statuscheck) returned by check_url is inserted into the database. You said that you'd played around with check_url - perhaps you've deleted the return code by mistake?

[AndrewD]

I copied the link into the database and copied it back out after it said it was not available. Always works in a browser, never in the database.

OK - this weekend ...

[hitmanuk2k]

just installed.... but when i go to local_links.php?links (where i am told i can add categories...) there are no options at all for anything....

[AndrewD]

just installed.... but when i go to local_links.php?links (where i am told i can add categories...) there are no options at all for anything....

Do you not see another tool bar across the screen? It should say Links, Search and Administer links v1.01. Click on Links and you'll get a pull down menu with the Create Category option

If not, we need to look deeper.

[OGT]

Is there a way to turn the link validation off? http://www.shoutcast.com shows up as unavailable even though it is available. I think a report broken link type system would work better if the validation code cant be tweaked.

[AndrewD]

Is there a way to turn the link validation off? http://www.shoutcast.com shows up as unavailable even though it is available. I think a report broken link type system would work better if the validation code cant be tweaked.

Each time someone reports this problem, I test the link they quote on my own installation and it works fine. This is making it rather hard to get to the bottom of the problem!!

It's straightforward to tweak the links_linkbit template to show all links regardless of whether they test ok or not.

for example, find the sequence

<if condition="$linkstatus<=0">
$linkname (not available)
</if>


and replace with


<if condition="$linkstatus<=0">
<a href="local_links.php?action=jump&id=$linkid" target="_blank">$linkname</a> (maybe broken)
</if>


This may fix your problem.

[OGT]

Thanks a ton. Is there any information I can give that will help narrow down this problem? I run a fairly low population site on a server that so far has seemed to have all the right things already installed by default.

How does your link validation work? Is it a ping type thing or some other form of mass packet sending that may be blocked by some servers?

[AndrewD]

Thanks a ton. Is there any information I can give that will help narrow down this problem? I run a fairly low population site on a server that so far has seemed to have all the right things already installed by default.

How does your link validation work? Is it a ping type thing or some other form of mass packet sending that may be blocked by some servers?

I'll have to dig a little to find out what I need to know. The link validation uses the facilities built into PHP to open web pages/files over an http connection. It seems to work ok on the servers I maintain but a couple of you have reported difficulties so I need to investigate.

You should check (although this was checked automatically when you installed the hack) that your server has the php variable allow_url_fopen set to 1 (you can find this out by going into your admincp, down at the bottom Import and Maintenance, then View PHP Info.

[OGT]

allow_url_fopen On On

both my master and local values for that are set to on. maybe its timing out on slower to load sites?

[fortnox]

Is here anybudy to write this Hack in german because this is great for my forums :rolleyes: ? :nervous:

[AndrewD]

Is here anybudy to write this Hack in german because this is great for my forums :rolleyes: ? :nervous:

First I need to "phrase" the hack - to use the VB jargon, i.e. place all the text into the phrase database - then it will be a straightforward task to translate.

[fortnox]

Thanks, but this is to heavy for me, because my english is bad.
Still i wait a little bit time to hope for a German version.

Thanks,

[Okiewan]

It may have been mentioned before? But it would seem that the only thing lacking would be to show how many links are in a cat/subcat and something to indicate that a cat/subcat has "new" links. Maybe total links (number) on the main links page.

[AndrewD]

It may have been mentioned before? But it would seem that the only thing lacking would be to show how many links are in a cat/subcat and something to indicate that a cat/subcat has "new" links. Maybe total links (number) on the main links page.

I agree - and I think this may happen quite soon :devious: - but tell me - do you want the checks/counts to go right the way through nested subcategories (tricky) or just one level down (easy)

[OGT]

1 level down would be the least confusing to the end user IMO. in links home, any cat with new links directly under it should be bold, and the number of total links should show up under each cat line. then when they click down, the same should happen for each sub cat.

[Okiewan]

1 level down would be the least confusing to the end user IMO. in links home, any cat with new links directly under it should be bold, and the number of total links should show up under each cat line. then when they click down, the same should happen for each sub cat.
Agreed.

[Okiewan]

Would also be cool to be able to assign an image to a link... easily. The idea is to list whoever in the links database, but sell the logos.

[13th_Disciple]

now that this thread has grown to over 20 pages, I find it hard to search to see if this has been asked, so if it has, just point me to the correct post..

when you click a link to DL a file, in the status bar of the DL, the file size is not shown nor is the "time remaining"

any idea why that may be? using 1.01 with vB RC3 - upgrading to 3 gold this weekend..

I personally don't mind, but my members get a little pissy about it..

[AndrewD]

now that this thread has grown to over 20 pages, I find it hard to search to see if this has been asked, so if it has, just point me to the correct post..

when you click a link to DL a file, in the status bar of the DL, the file size is not shown nor is the "time remaining"

any idea why that may be? using 1.01 with vB RC3 - upgrading to 3 gold this weekend..

I personally don't mind, but my members get a little pissy about it..

No, this hasn't been asked before and it was a "design feature"...

I think it's quite easy to add this facility - and it probably should be included, as some of my users become a bit mouse button happy, not knowing if their downloads are happening or not. But there's one situation (when the d/l comes from another site) where I don't think it's possible - you have to have read the entire file before you know its size, whereas for local files, the operating system tells you.

[AndrewD]

I've released (see first post) a new beta version fixing/dealing with several requests in this thread:

- count of links/categories in category
- bold face for categories which contain new items since last visit
- more robust file downloading - should correctly provide a 'save as' even if Adobe Acrobat steals the browser
- progress information for downloads of local files
- more user friendly handling of broken links - if a new/edited link seems broken, user is given the option to fix it, but the link stays available in case we're dealing with a slow site, etc.

[brianstevz]

I'm sorry if I'm repeating a question that has been asked before but I couldn't find it in the thread.

1) How do I get Links to work with another Style? I have 4 styles on my forum and it only works on the default style. If I change one of the styles to the default style and attempt to reinstall it tells me that I'm about to delete all of the previous files.

2) How can I get the web sites listed on multiple pages? One of my caterories is growing quite large filling making the page too big. Is there a way to change this into a page 2,3,4....etc.

Thanks in advance

Brian

[AndrewD]

I'm sorry if I'm repeating a question that has been asked before but I couldn't find it in the thread.

1) How do I get Links to work with another Style? I have 4 styles on my forum and it only works on the default style. If I change one of the styles to the default style and attempt to reinstall it tells me that I'm about to delete all of the previous files.

2) How can I get the web sites listed on multiple pages? One of my caterories is growing quite large filling making the page too big. Is there a way to change this into a page 2,3,4....etc.

Thanks in advance

Brian

1) In the official VBulletin, standard templates are available automatically to all styles. This is not true for the links&files templates. They are only available to:
- styles that existed at the time you last ran stage 2 of the installation process
- new styles that are children of styles that existed at that time.
In other words, if you create new top level styles after you install this hack, these styles will not include the templates for this hack.

The solution is to rerun stage 2 of the installation process. This will fix matters - it will not delete your links - but you will lose any customisation you have made to the links&files templates.

2) Currently, there is no facility to paginate the links. I know that I need to code that, but I have to work out how the standard VB3 code behaves. Sorry.

[brianstevz]

1) In the official VBulletin, standard templates are available automatically to all styles. This is not true for the links&files templates. They are only available to:
- styles that existed at the time you last ran stage 2 of the installation process
- new styles that are children of styles that existed at that time.
In other words, if you create new top level styles after you install this hack, these styles will not include the templates for this hack.

The solution is to rerun stage 2 of the installation process. This will fix matters - it will not delete your links - but you will lose any customisation you have made to the links&files templates.

2) Currently, there is no facility to paginate the links. I know that I need to code that, but I have to work out how the standard VB3 code behaves. Sorry.


Thanks for the quick response! I repeated step 2 and it worked great.

[Skyline_GT]

is it possible for users to submit files, but need to wait for amin or mod's approval?

[milkmycow]

I think It would be cool to arange links by # of hits, alphabetical, by date dadded(very important for myself) ,or by rating, just have that as an option on links home or something.

also, a different rating system might make severe improvments. like a drop down box where u select 1 through 5, then it displays the avg rating after u rate it. (or just display avg rating w a spot to click to rate in a popup, and results of ur rate would show once a refresh was made) kinda like @ www.milkmycow.com/videos

[milkmycow]

i just realized that the rating system for vbaffiliates v2 is like exactly what would be GREAT for the links/files database!

[AndrewD]

i just realized that the rating system for vbaffiliates v2 is like exactly what would be GREAT for the links/files database!
I appreciate these suggestions, but they will not be done (by me at least) in the near future. Sorry.

What *will* happen soon is
- standard VB pagination will available so that long lists of entries get broken up
- I will think quite hard about some form of moderation of new entries
- I will continue to fix bugs and provide a bit of assistance to people getting started

I have thought about using the VB attachment system to allow user file uploads, but unless the interface turns out to be trivial to use, I shall not add this facility. We do not need this on our site and there are likely to be a lot of extras that people want. I just haven't got the time to code and debug these things.

[Skyline_GT]

now that this thread has grown to over 20 pages, I find it hard to search to see if this has been asked, so if it has, just point me to the correct post..

when you click a link to DL a file, in the status bar of the DL, the file size is not shown nor is the "time remaining"

any idea why that may be? using 1.01 with vB RC3 - upgrading to 3 gold this weekend..

I personally don't mind, but my members get a little pissy about it..
I don't know why when I download the file from the databse.. It just doesn't work.. Like the doucment is about 1 mb big.. but it just let me download 50kb..and it said the file is damaged.. but when I download using a direct link. it works fine..

[AndrewD]

I don't know why when I download the file from the databse.. It just doesn't work.. Like the doucment is about 1 mb big.. but it just let me download 50kb..and it said the file is damaged.. but when I download using a direct link. it works fine..
No idea!

PM me the full details and we can try to find out why.

[AndrewD]

No idea!

PM me the full details and we can try to find out why.

I poked around your board, tried your links, and found one that was broken in the way you describe (War3TFT_115a_beta_English).

What is downloaded is actually the html for your home page, which is then being given a zip filename, so it looks like a corrupt zip file.

Let me know what you were trying to set up as the correct link. Either you've given a bad link or the hack isn't handling it correctly.

[AndrewD]

version 1.10 is now the official release. Since the beta, I have added standard vb pagination to break up lengthy pages.

The *only* further feature that I am still considering in the near future is moderation.

[Acido]

I wish see this hackt in action. Can someone give me some links to see this hack instaled and working?

Thanx :)

[accyroy]

I've got this installed here: http://www.landyzone.co.uk/lz/local_links.php?action=links

It's a new site though so there aren't to many links yet..

[welo]

I wish see this hackt in action. Can someone give me some links to see this hack instaled and working?
I set it up on my test board today and it seems pretty nice. My forums are closed until May 1st so it won't be live there until then. I'm liking it so far though. I'll have a couple of suggestions in a sec.

Meanwhile though, how hard would it be to add a link harvester to this app? I had a quick one I put together awhile back to find links in posts in IPB. Should be pretty similar here:

<?php
//define the database connection information
$dbHost = "localhost";
$dbUser = "";
$dbPass = "";
$dbName = "";

mysql_pconnect($dbHost,$dbUser,$dbPass);
mysql_select_db($dbName);

$urls = array();
$query = mysql_query("SELECT `pagetext` FROM `vb3_post`"); while($row = mysql_fetch_array($query))
{
unset($matches);
preg_match_all("|href=['\"]?([^\"' >]+)|i",$row['vb3_post'],$matches);
foreach($matches[1] AS $href)
{
echo $href.'<br />';
}
}
?>
Anyway, would be nice for the script to harvest everything then put the results in a temp category you could just go through to edit links and shuffle them around. Regardless, very nice script. :)

[AndrewD]

I set it up on my test board today and it seems pretty nice. My forums are closed until May 1st so it won't be live there until then. I'm liking it so far though. I'll have a couple of suggestions in a sec.

Meanwhile though, how hard would it be to add a link harvester to this app? I had a quick one I put together awhile back to find links in posts in IPB. Should be pretty similar here:

Anyway, would be nice for the script to harvest everything then put the results in a temp category you could just go through to edit links and shuffle them around. Regardless, very nice script. :)

Thanks for your feedback. Actually, a number of us seem to have the same needs - I wrote this hack because we have a site full of links that regularly need harvesting and reclassifying.

I've written some php which is not that different from your suggestion. But I suspect that "not that different" is rather important - everyone will have a slightly different requirement, so we will need different harvesters feeding a standard farm.

Could we specify an interface between the harvester and the farm? For example, should the harvester generate an xml file or should it just dump links straight into a default category in this hack's database?

Am happy to give some thought to this, with your suggestions.

[welo]

...everyone will have a slightly different requirement, so we will need different harvesters feeding a standard farm.

Could we specify an interface between the harvester and the farm? For example, should the harvester generate an xml file or should it just dump links straight into a default category in this hack's database?
Well, ideally, if your script contained a link harvester designed to nab links from the posts table, the results should be queued somewhere else. This way someone would be able to mark what links were already checked so when they run the harvester next time, it won't return all the links it already gave them. Someone could run it once a month or so (or if it had a scheduler built in you could just set it to run automatically and email a designated person so they know a new set of links are ready for review and filing) and see what new links having been posted might be worth moving to an appropriate existing category (or indicate the need for a new category). Would also be nice if the results showed what forum/thread/post the link came from.

[lasto]

* lasto clicks installs

what an easy hack to do :) - 2 misn from start to finish and no editing of any files either top stuff.

Works a treat as well - cheers m8

[Skyline_GT]

I poked around your board, tried your links, and found one that was broken in the way you describe (War3TFT_115a_beta_English).

What is downloaded is actually the html for your home page, which is then being given a zip filename, so it looks like a corrupt zip file.

Let me know what you were trying to set up as the correct link. Either you've given a bad link or the hack isn't handling it correctly.
This is the link that I am trying to put in..
http://www.gamerzplanet.net/files/war3/patches/War3TFT_115a_beta_English.zip

[AndrewD]

This is the link that I am trying to put in..
http://www.gamerzplanet.net/files/war3/patches/War3TFT_115a_beta_English.zip

The link you've given simply redirects to your home page. It does not download the zip file. The same thing happens if I click it here in VB or if I cut and paste the link to the address line of Internet Explorer.

[r00t3d]

AndrewD

firstly: nice hack/mod :D
secondly: is there any way to stop non-logged in or non-registered users from downloading files? I tried by setting the permissions to a forum which wont allow not-loggedin or unregistered users to download attachments, will that permission work for the downloads.

The downloadable files are just dumped into a directory, and directly linked to the mod.
Do I need to add the files as attachments to the forum and then use that forums attachment link rather than the direct link to stop unregistered users from downloding? or is there another way round it?

Tnx

[AndrewD]

AndrewD

firstly: nice hack/mod :D
secondly: is there any way to stop non-logged in or non-registered users from downloading files? I tried by setting the permissions to a forum which wont allow not-loggedin or unregistered users to download attachments, will that permission work for the downloads.

The downloadable files are just dumped into a directory, and directly linked to the mod.
Do I need to add the files as attachments to the forum and then use that forums attachment link rather than the direct link to stop unregistered users from downloding? or is there another way round it?

Tnx

This is exactly what the forum permission setting is for. Every time you associate a link or a category with a forum, then it is only visible to users who are allowed to *visit* that forum. (Access to forum attachments is not the issue - it is forum accessibility.)

You do not need to add the files as attachments - just dump them in a directory. You need to take care that the file and directory names are not that obvious, otherwise people could just go straight there. The hack hides the information from the casual user.

[r00t3d]

This is exactly what the forum permission setting is for. Every time you associate a link or a category with a forum, then it is only visible to users who are allowed to *visit* that forum. (Access to forum attachments is not the issue - it is forum accessibility.)

You do not need to add the files as attachments - just dump them in a directory. You need to take care that the file and directory names are not that obvious, otherwise people could just go straight there. The hack hides the information from the casual user.

Sorry I should have been more precise.
I am using vbadvanced homepage, and a hack ontop of that which shows the latest 5 downloads available on the main page.

http://209.51.146.19/index.php on the top right you will see latest downloads block, if you click on latest downloads it wont show you anything as you are not logged in, but if you were to click on the actual downloadable link in the same block it will allow you to download.

Is there a work around for that?

Thanks again.

[lasto]

the hack works but when i go to add new link how come in the small box in bottom left hand corner where it says based on which forums permissions it is just blank ?

Have i missed somethign out.

Also i may be on wrong track but does this auto link to attachments added to the board or does it only do ones that u specify ?

[AndrewD]

Sorry I should have been more precise.
I am using vbadvanced homepage, and a hack ontop of that which shows the latest 5 downloads available on the main page.

http://209.51.146.19/index.php on the top right you will see latest downloads block, if you click on latest downloads it wont show you anything as you are not logged in, but if you were to click on the actual downloadable link in the same block it will allow you to download.

Is there a work around for that?

Thanks again.

I haven't looked at the vbadvanced integration but I pointed out a similar problem to Natch who wrote the vbindex integration. Without looking at their code, I'm not sure how the vbadvanced hack handles permissions - I'll try to look this week.

[r00t3d]

I haven't looked at the vbadvanced integration but I pointed out a similar problem to Natch who wrote the vbindex integration. Without looking at their code, I'm not sure how the vbadvanced hack handles permissions - I'll try to look this week.

Thank You, very much.
I appreciate your help :)

[AndrewD]

the hack works but when i go to add new link how come in the small box in bottom left hand corner where it says based on which forums permissions it is just blank ?

Have i missed somethign out.

Also i may be on wrong track but does this auto link to attachments added to the board or does it only do ones that u specify ?

a) Have you set up any forums on your site? If you have none, then that box will be empty.

b) No, it does not auto link to attachments - but I assume that it works ok with attachments provided you give a valid url to the attachment - has anyone tried this?

[lasto]

yeah i have forums set up on my site but they deffo dont show in that box.The box above that one shows the sections i have made but thats about all.

Was there anything i should of changed in admin settings as i noticed forum was set to -999 or something so i set that to 8 which is a valid forum on my forum and still no luck.

[AndrewD]

yeah i have forums set up on my site but they deffo dont show in that box.The box above that one shows the sections i have made but thats about all.

Was there anything i should of changed in admin settings as i noticed forum was set to -999 or something so i set that to 8 which is a valid forum on my forum and still no luck.

Maybe you could pm me with your site url so I can take a look?

[AndrewD]

Thank You, very much.
I appreciate your help :)

As far as I can see from your site, everything is working correctly.

The people who did the vbadvanced integration have lifted the integration code that Natch wrote for vbindex. This code ignores the forums-based checking that is in my hack. It means that the vbadvanced (and vbindex) home page shows links regardless of whether you are allowed to access them or not. If a user tries to access a link that is not available to that user, then she will get an error message (link #N not available).

So the bottom line (which I tested on your site) is that the protection works, but you get to see things you can't access.

Natch felt that it was better to show all users all the available links as a way of encouraging them to register to use the site.

[r00t3d]

As far as I can see from your site, everything is working correctly.

The people who did the vbadvanced integration have lifted the integration code that Natch wrote for vbindex. This code ignores the forums-based checking that is in my hack. It means that the vbadvanced (and vbindex) home page shows links regardless of whether you are allowed to access them or not. If a user tries to access a link that is not available to that user, then she will get an error message (link #N not available).

So the bottom link (which I tested on your site) is that the protection works, but you get to see things you can't access.

Natch felt that it was better to show all users all the available links as a way of encouraging them to register to use the site.

Thanks for that info, I am also thinking of allowing people to see the links without having to be registered, but not download them until they are.

The vbadvanced latest downloads block is ignoring the permissions like you said.
Did Natch by anychance post the edited code?

tnx

[pseudocode]

Great hack!! I'm having some difficulty though. I'm sure I'm just missing something. The only thing that displays for me is "alt2" in the box on the portal page. What am I missing? I've gone back over my changes several times. Thanks in advance for your help!

[AndrewD]

Great hack!! I'm having some difficulty though. I'm sure I'm just missing something. The only thing that displays for me is "alt2" in the box on the portal page. What am I missing? I've gone back over my changes several times. Thanks in advance for your help!

Sure - will try - sounds as if you've got a template error. Which portal are you using? Easiest way to sort these things out is to send me a pm or email with details of your site, including ideally a userid that has admin privs

[AndrewD]

The vbadvanced latest downloads block is ignoring the permissions like you said.
Did Natch by anychance post the edited code?

tnx

I don't know if Natch posted it. This was the code I suggested to him for get_hotlinks.php - I have not tested it recently as I do not run either the vbindex or the vbadvanced integrations myself. You may need to do some editing - certainly if you want to have category based integration. I don't want to get caught up in this.

[Skyline_GT]

The link you've given simply redirects to your home page. It does not download the zip file. The same thing happens if I click it here in VB or if I cut and paste the link to the address line of Internet Explorer.
Thanks.. it seems is my hot link problem..
thanks

[Natch]

As AndrewD said, the code I wrote ignores the permissions deliberately. It is a teaser so that unregistered users, or users without permission do not see an Empty Box in your portal, but see the links. If they decide to try and download, they get told they do not have permission, and if unregistered they are prompted to register.

This seemd to me to be the cleanest way to do it - I can test the altered get_hotlinks.php code and get back to you on how it looks, but my guess is that it will not be as clean on your portal page.

Great hack!! I'm having some difficulty though. I'm sure I'm just missing something. The only thing that displays for me is "alt2" in the box on the portal page. What am I missing? I've gone back over my changes several times. Thanks in advance for your help!

I do not know what might be causing your error - but as AndrewD said as well, it sounds like a template error to me.

[lasto]

i installed this links database yesterday and then installed your addon Natch and it worked first time.It shows me the top 5 downloads.

Well done to both of u for a good hack :)

[Natch]

As AndrewD said, the code I wrote ignores the permissions deliberately. It is a teaser so that unregistered users, or users without permission do not see an Empty Box in your portal, but see the links. If they decide to try and download, they get told they do not have permission, and if unregistered they are prompted to register.

This seemd to me to be the cleanest way to do it - I can test the altered get_hotlinks.php code and get back to you on how it looks, but my guess is that it will not be as clean on your portal page.



I do not know what might be causing your error - but as AndrewD said as well, it sounds like a template error to me.
I've tested the updated [permissions-based] get_hotlinks.php file with my board, and the only question I have [for AndrewD] is what is returned if there are no links available for the user to view ?

It does work by reducing the links that the Guest / limited access usr can see in the CustomBox, but what happens if the number of returned links is zero (0) ?

[AndrewD]

I've tested the updated [permissions-based] get_hotlinks.php file with my board, and the only question I have [for AndrewD] is what is returned if there are no links available for the user to view ?

It does work by reducing the links that the Guest / limited access usr can see in the CustomBox, but what happens if the number of returned links is zero (0) ?

My impression, looking at the code, is that get_hotlinks() will just return a null string. If this is problematic, it could be fixed by modifing the vbindex_custom template, e.g. (not sue if my syntax is correct)

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" border="0" class="tborder" width="100%">
<tr>
<td>
<table cellpadding="$stylevar[cellpadding]" cellspacing="$stylevar[cellspacing]" border="0" width="100%">
<tr>
<td colspan="2" class="tcat" style="text-align: center">
<a name="hotties" style="float:$stylevar[right]" href="#top" onclick="return toggle_collapse('vbindex_customblock$box')"><img id="collapseimg_vbindex_customblock$box" src="$stylevar[imgdir_button]/collapse_tcat$collapseimg_vbindex_customblock.gif" alt="" border="0" /></a>
<strong><a href="$vboptions[bburl]/local_links.php" title="Visit the Downloads section">Hottest Downloads</a></strong>
</td>
</tr>
<tbody id="collapseobj_vbindex_customblock$box" style="$collapseobj_vbindex_customblock">
<if condition="$hotlinks">$hotlinks<else />There are no downloads available to you</if>
</tbody>
</table>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
<br />

[Natch]

My impression, looking at the code, is that get_hotlinks() will just return a null string. If this is problematic, it could be fixed by modifing the vbindex_custom template, e.g. (not sue if my syntax is correct)

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" border="0" class="tborder" width="100%">
<tr>
<td>
<table cellpadding="$stylevar[cellpadding]" cellspacing="$stylevar[cellspacing]" border="0" width="100%">
<tr>
<td colspan="2" class="tcat" style="text-align: center">
<a name="hotties" style="float:$stylevar[right]" href="#top" onclick="return toggle_collapse('vbindex_customblock$box')"><img id="collapseimg_vbindex_customblock$box" src="$stylevar[imgdir_button]/collapse_tcat$collapseimg_vbindex_customblock.gif" alt="" border="0" /></a>
<strong><a href="$vboptions[bburl]/local_links.php" title="Visit the Downloads section">Hottest Downloads</a></strong>
</td>
</tr>
<tbody id="collapseobj_vbindex_customblock$box" style="$collapseobj_vbindex_customblock">
<if condition="$hotlinks">$hotlinks<else />There are no downloads available to you</if>
</tbody>
</table>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
<br />

Looks good to me ! :) I'm happy to roll-up my hack into yours with this facility and be logged for support in the one place (if you are OK with that ?)

[r00t3d]

My impression, looking at the code, is that get_hotlinks() will just return a null string. If this is problematic, it could be fixed by modifing the vbindex_custom template, e.g. (not sue if my syntax is correct)

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" border="0" class="tborder" width="100%">
<tr>
<td>
<table cellpadding="$stylevar[cellpadding]" cellspacing="$stylevar[cellspacing]" border="0" width="100%">
<tr>
<td colspan="2" class="tcat" style="text-align: center">
<a name="hotties" style="float:$stylevar[right]" href="#top" onclick="return toggle_collapse('vbindex_customblock$box')"><img id="collapseimg_vbindex_customblock$box" src="$stylevar[imgdir_button]/collapse_tcat$collapseimg_vbindex_customblock.gif" alt="" border="0" /></a>
<strong><a href="$vboptions[bburl]/local_links.php" title="Visit the Downloads section">Hottest Downloads</a></strong>
</td>
</tr>
<tbody id="collapseobj_vbindex_customblock$box" style="$collapseobj_vbindex_customblock">
<if condition="$hotlinks">$hotlinks<else />There are no downloads available to you</if>
</tbody>
</table>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
<br />


would this be the same for vbadvanced homepage v1.1?

[AndrewD]

Looks good to me ! :) I'm happy to roll-up my hack into yours with this facility and be logged for support in the one place (if you are OK with that ?)

I'm happy with this. Why don't we do the following -

I'll make a minor change to the basic hack to add a new set of permissions via the admin page (e.g. can_see_links). Usergroups with this setting will be able to *see* (but not necessarily access) links via the portals.

I'll update get_hotlinks.php to use this setting and the forums permission checking.

We'll roll the two hacks together, with you flagged for support.

I'll also contact the vbadvanced thread to see if we can get the same approach taken on board there.

This may take me a few days, as I'm away on two business trips from tomorrow for a week.

[AndrewD]

would this be the same for vbadvanced homepage v1.1?

I imagine so.

[Natch]

I'm happy with this. Why don't we do the following -

I'll make a minor change to the basic hack to add a new set of permissions via the admin page (e.g. can_see_links). Usergroups with this setting will be able to *see* (but not necessarily access) links via the portals.

I'll update get_hotlinks.php to use this setting and the forums permission checking.

We'll roll the two hacks together, with you flagged for support.

I'll also contact the vbadvanced thread to see if we can get the same approach taken on board there.

This may take me a few days, as I'm away on two business trips from tomorrow for a week.
Sounds good to me - once it's finalised, I'll edit the other thread to point to here for all support, or maybe see if the two threads can be merged ...

Thanks man - your work is excellent :)

[ChrisSy]

does this also support attachments in filesystem rather than database? an also is there a way of importing old attachments into this links area

thanks

[AndrewD]

does this also support attachments in filesystem rather than database? an also is there a way of importing old attachments into this links area

thanks

This hack is *not* connected with the VBulletin attachment system - whether in the database or the filesystem.

You create links by giving the correct URL to what you want to access. To get at a VB attachment, you would give the correct URL for that attachment. To get at a file, you would give the URL that points at that file.

Automatic mass imports are not yet possible, but I am preparing a "links harvest" tool that will scan all posts for links and attachments and allow the admin to insert them into this database. I estimate that this will be released in 2-4 weeks time.

[Skyline_GT]

now that this thread has grown to over 20 pages, I find it hard to search to see if this has been asked, so if it has, just point me to the correct post..

when you click a link to DL a file, in the status bar of the DL, the file size is not shown nor is the "time remaining"

any idea why that may be? using 1.01 with vB RC3 - upgrading to 3 gold this weekend..

I personally don't mind, but my members get a little pissy about it..
I wonder what I need to change in order it will show the status bar and the time remaining?
I really want this..
THanks.

[Areku]

Does this hack support subcategories?
If so, how much deep is supported?

If not, are they planned?

Thanks!

[OGT]

Does this hack support subcategories?
If so, how much deep is supported?

If not, are they planned?

Thanks!
yes areku, unlimited

[Areku]

So coool!

/me licks install!

[AndrewD]

I wonder what I need to change in order it will show the status bar and the time remaining?
I really want this..
THanks.

You shouldn't need to change anything if you have the latest version installed.

What browser are you using? And what file formats are you trying to download?

[LoOnEyToOnZ]

Hi Andrew.

Any idea if you are gonna add the moderation of submitted links into the next version ? Thanks

[AndrewD]

Hi Andrew.

Any idea if you are gonna add the moderation of submitted links into the next version ? Thanks

Indeed I am...

[Wolfy.2k]

this may sound like a really retarded question...

i installed it fine and everything... but ermm.. how do u make categories>

lol i looked in all of admin section and cant see anything about it :S

[AndrewD]

this may sound like a really retarded question...

i installed it fine and everything... but ermm.. how do u make categories>

lol i looked in all of admin section and cant see anything about it :S

Not at all...

You go to the Links Home, (../local_links.php) then on the left hand drop down menu for this hack, there should be two items - Home and Create Subcategory.

After you have created your first category, then extra items will appear on that drop down menu to allow you to create links.

[LoOnEyToOnZ]

Indeed I am...

Ah.... I hope you dont mind but is there a ETA for the new version ?

[AndrewD]

Ah.... I hope you dont mind but is there a ETA for the new version ?

Ah, but maybe I do mind ;)

I hope to have version 1.2 released, at least in beta form, within a couple (=2) weeks.

1.2 will have moderation and a standard interface to the portals. It will probably have an accompanying harvester to trawl through the forum posts for links.

And that, my friends, will be that for the time being...

[Wolfy.2k]

Not at all...

You go to the Links Home, (../local_links.php) then on the left hand drop down menu for this hack, there should be two items - Home and Create Subcategory.

After you have created your first category, then extra items will appear on that drop down menu to allow you to create links.

ty m8

[Ian Emu-UK]

Hi, thanks for taking the trouble to making this hack for vB3, it's great, a nice addition to my site :)

One thing that could improve it though is a addition to the "functions_online.php" that showed viewing links instead of "unknown location" and the url to the page.

Probably really easy for a coder such as yourself, but for an novice like me, it's far too advanced :)

[AndrewD]

Hi, thanks for taking the trouble to making this hack for vB3, it's great, a nice addition to my site :)

One thing that could improve it though is a addition to the "functions_online.php" that showed viewing links instead of "unknown location" and the url to the page.

Probably really easy for a coder such as yourself, but for an novice like me, it's far too advanced :)

Thanks for your remarks.

I'm probably a little tired, but I'm not sure what you're asking for? Are you wanting full information on the linked urls or to include the information on who is online?

[Ian Emu-UK]

Thanks for your remarks.

I'm probably a little tired, but I'm not sure what you're asking for? Are you wanting full information on the linked urls or to include the information on who is online?
Right not it says:

Unknown Location
/forum/local_links.php?action=links

on who's online when someone is browing the main links page.

if it said

Viewing link directory
(Link to directory main page or the exact catergory they are looking at)

[AndrewD]

Right not it says:



on who's online when someone is browing the main links page.

if it said
OK, I'll investigate. I'd removed the "who's online" information from our site's forums, so had not noticed that message.

[Skyline_GT]

I wonder can you make a list of changes for the next version?
also please try to add the status bar (I mean when you download files) to this hack:D

Thanks.

[AndrewD]

I wonder can you make a list of changes for the next version?
also please try to add the status bar (I mean when you download files) to this hack:D

Thanks.

I've explained what I'm planning to do. Please don't push too far or I may lose interest.

[Ian Emu-UK]

OK, I'll investigate. I'd removed the "who's online" information from our site's forums, so had not noticed that message.
Thanks :)

[AndrewD]

Thanks :)

THis is not a straightforward thing to fix without changing standard VB code, which is something I am trying hard to avoid.

However, you can try editing the phrase called unknown_location (go into the admincp, languages and phrases, search in phrases). If you change the text from "Unknown location" to "Viewing" then you get very close to what you want.

[Ian Emu-UK]

Well, thanks for looking anyway and I'll try what you suggested as it's certainly better then "Unknown location" ;)

[OGT]

Right not it says:



on who's online when someone is browing the main links page.

if it said
To get links to show up in who's online follow the directions in the second half of this (https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showpost.php?p=482210&postcount=1) post, replacing test with local_links.php

[AndrewD]

To get links to show up in who's online follow the directions in the second half of this (https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showpost.php?p=482210&postcount=1) post, replacing test with local_links.php

Thanks for pointing this out. :tired:

[Natch]

Also note that the Admin is the only one who sees "unknown location" - regular users see "Viewing Forum" or something similar ...

[hopester]

I've released (see first post) a new beta version fixing/dealing with several requests in this thread:

- snip
- progress information for downloads of local files


Did you ever get this feature working Andrew as I've never seen it work on mine or anyone elses site?

Thanks

[AndrewD]

Did you ever get this feature working Andrew as I've never seen it work on mine or anyone elses site?

Thanks

Yes, I'm not sure what's going on for you guys. This works fine for me.

Our downloads are all pdfs. Clicking on an entry in the links/files database on our site opens the standard Internet Explorer "save as" dialogue, then gives a progress bar as the file is downloaded, indicating size and estimated time remaining.

Exactly the same thing happens with Mozilla Firefox - Save As dialogue, then progress bar.

Any more information that might be helpful in tracking this down?

[hopester]

I just checked your site, the one thing that jumped out at me was the file sizes shown, in my version no file sizes are shown. I'll pm you a link.

Thanks for your help

[AndrewD]

I just checked your site, the one thing that jumped out at me was the file sizes shown, in my version no file sizes are shown. I'll pm you a link.

Thanks for your help

Tell me - have you set you your links as relative or absolute urls? I suspect you've entered full urls in the form http://www.site.com/directory/file. When you use that format, the code bypasses the file size check (because it assumes that it will have to read the entire file to find out how big it is - it's not smart enough to recognise that the file is on the local file system).

If you use a relative url, e.g /directory/file, then the code simply checks the file size and reports it to the user. THis also makes it possible to give the proper progress bar during the download.

[hopester]

It still fails both ways but using relative it also fails the link test as well. I'll pm you an admin login so you can see the link types.

[Highlander]

can i user also external link ?
or only own uploads?
so it would be able to post drivers with 20MB and more.. wich isnt posoble in mysql

and how about the file system?
is there no matter how i save attachments?
files ode rdatabase ?

greets

[Sam FT]

Well I am having this problem when I go to add links. First of all I install the LInks/Files database hack with no problem. Nothing was changed in the templates.

Anyway I create a Sub-category without any problems. So I at the window, Add/Edit Link, adding in the info Title, URL, etc. When I get to the Categories part it is already highlighted the category I already want and in. So when I click submit button I am taking back to that sub directory and the link that I just created isn't there. So I go the the Administrator Links or Link Administration and I see the # flagged links available and click on available link. Which gives me a list of all the links I have created plus the link I just created. So I click on the edit link next to that new link and sure enough is doesn't have a Category highlight even thou I had highlighted the first time.

So am I doing something wrong...why isn't it when I create a link the link doesn't assoisate itself with the category I pick when I do so to begin with.

[AndrewD]

It still fails both ways but using relative it also fails the link test as well. I'll pm you an admin login so you can see the link types.

I've logged in and fixed all your links. These now show the size and you (or at least I) get a progress bar when downloading.

Local downloadable files (i.e. those with recognised mimetypes) are specified starting at the web root, i.e. /file is expected to be in the top directory (not your forum directory), /dir/file should be in the "dir" subdirectory of your top directory. The current code is not happy to be given filenames which use ".." type directories - I may change that with the next release.

[AndrewD]

Well I am having this problem when I go to add links. First of all I install the LInks/Files database hack with no problem. Nothing was changed in the templates.

Anyway I create a Sub-category without any problems. So I at the window, Add/Edit Link, adding in the info Title, URL, etc. When I get to the Categories part it is already highlighted the category I already want and in. So when I click submit button I am taking back to that sub directory and the link that I just created isn't there. So I go the the Administrator Links or Link Administration and I see the # flagged links available and click on available link. Which gives me a list of all the links I have created plus the link I just created. So I click on the edit link next to that new link and sure enough is doesn't have a Category highlight even thou I had highlighted the first time.

So am I doing something wrong...why isn't it when I create a link the link doesn't assoisate itself with the category I pick when I do so to begin with.

Not sure what your problem is - I had a look at your site and I can see a number of links that seem to work ok.

[AndrewD]

can i user also external link ?
or only own uploads?
so it would be able to post drivers with 20MB and more.. wich isnt posoble in mysql

and how about the file system?
is there no matter how i save attachments?
files ode rdatabase ?

greets

You can use this hack to provide links to files on any machine that is accessible via the internet. They do not need to be uploaded onto your own site. The normal approach would be to provide a link to a file held within the file system of the target host, so indeed you can provide entries to large drivers.

This hack does not provide any facility to upload the files - you have to do that another way. It also does not store the files in the database - it simply stores the information on the file.

The only comment on this is that the facility to report file sizes and track download progress is *not* available if you identify the file using a ful url, i.e. http://site/directory/file. This facility only works if the file is held on your own host and is identified using a local file name.

[Sam FT]

Not sure what your problem is - I had a look at your site and I can see a number of links that seem to work ok.Well that is after I have reassicate the links to the proper sub directories. If I gave you access could you take a look at it?

Just email me......admin at full-throttle.us

Thanks

[Seany]

Sorry, but I don't have the time to look through the whole 26 pages for my answer. :P

My question is are the downloads directly linked to link on the downloads page, or can you have the links lead to a page where there is editable information about the download, like download info or special instructions of the kind?

Thanks!

[AndrewD]

Sorry, but I don't have the time to look through the whole 26 pages for my answer. :P

My question is are the downloads directly linked to link on the downloads page, or can you have the links lead to a page where there is editable information about the download, like download info or special instructions of the kind?

Thanks!

Well, maybe I don't have time either!

Each link has a name and associated information (each of which can contain standard vbulletin bbcodes), can be associated with one or many categories and can be protected by being associated with a forum. All of this can be edited.

You could have found that out without reading 26 pages.

[Seany]

Thanks... I installed it and got it working perfectly, and it does exactly what I want it to be able to do. Thanks!

/me clicks Install

[baqai]

love the hack, only problem is that is there any way to show it on the nav bar on top?

[AndrewD]

love the hack, only problem is that is there any way to show it on the nav bar on top?

Yes - you have to edit the navbar template to get the results you want. The attached example puts an entry just to the left of the FAQ button. Just experiment to get the effect you want.

[baqai]

thanks a lot working fine now :) :) :)

[PranK]

/me clicks install

nice work! thank you!

Christian

[PranK]

btw - extremely nice 'instructions.txt' - very well laid out with lots of info!!

Thanks again,

Christian

[Acido]

AndrewD, is there a way to display the rates of the links? I only can see the options to rate, but i'm confused about where the rates are displayed...

[AndrewD]

AndrewD, is there a way to display the rates of the links? I only can see the options to rate, but i'm confused about where the rates are displayed...

You spotted this about five minutes before I did. I managed to destroy the ratings display in version 1.10 by missing out a dollar sign.

If you want to fix this, edit local_links.php, line 169 if (!links_rate_set) and put a dollar sign in front of links_rate_set.

Sorry about that.

[The Geek]

Superb add on.
Would be nice for the ratings to come up as stars, and if the user already rated for them not to be able to rate again.
O, would be nice for hyperlinks and email addresses to be parsed automatically. There is no easy way to add email addresses to an entry.

well done.

[AndrewD]

Superb add on.
Would be nice for the ratings to come up as stars, and if the user already rated for them not to be able to rate again.
O, would be nice for hyperlinks and email addresses to be parsed automatically. There is no easy way to add email addresses to an entry.

well done.

Thanks - it is not hard to change the template to display stars (I think someone already sorted that out - will try to track it down) - if someone tries to vote a second time, this is allowed, but it cancels their previous vote, i.e. their vote only gets counted once.

[The Geek]

Thanks - it is not hard to change the template to display stars (I think someone already sorted that out - will try to track it down) - if someone tries to vote a second time, this is allowed, but it cancels their previous vote, i.e. their vote only gets counted once.
As a workaround for that (only wanted people to vote once) I did the following:

Changed the query in get_linklistbit to this:

$query = "
SELECT link.linkid AS linkid, link.linkname AS linkname, link.linkuserid AS linkuserid,
link.linkusername AS linkusername, link.linkurl AS linkurl, link.linkdesc AS linkdesc,
link.linkhits AS linkhits, link.linkstatus AS linkstatus, link.linkdate AS linkdate, linkrate.linkvote
FROM ".THIS_TABLE."linkslink AS link
LEFT JOIN ".THIS_TABLE."linksltoc AS ltoc
ON link.linkid = ltoc.linkid
LEFT OUTER JOIN local_linksrate AS linkrate
ON ( ( link.linkid = linkrate.linkid ) AND ( linkrate.linkuserid =" . intval($bbuserinfo['userid']) ." ) )
$squery
ORDER BY linkname
";


Then under this:
$linknew = iif($bbuserinfo['lastvisit'] < $myrow['linkdate'],1,0);
I stuck this:

$linkvoted=intval($myrow["linkvote"]);


Then in the list_linkbit template, I changed
<if condition="$links_permissions[can_rate_link]">
To this:
<if condition="$links_permissions[can_rate_link] AND $linkvoted==0">

May not be the best, but thought I would post it in case anyone else wanted it. As for the star, tmeplate thing... I didnt look in the 27 page thread here, but you are right... its about as easy as could be.

Just change the lins_ratebit template to this:
<br />&nbsp;<br /><img src="images/rating/rating_$linkrate.gif">

Kick ass mod m8.

[AndrewD]

Superb add on.
Would be nice for the ratings to come up as stars, and if the user already rated for them not to be able to rate again.
O, would be nice for hyperlinks and email addresses to be parsed automatically. There is no easy way to add email addresses to an entry.

well done.

I think you added the second point after I blinked :) I missed it first time round.

You're right that a link has to be a file or an http link - it does not recognise ftps, mailtos etc. But you can add mailtos in the description, simply by using the email bbcode

[offlead]

Well, it's installed, but I can't access the admin portion? :ermm:

(I haven't installed a lot of hacks, so I may be missing some simple.)

I followed the instructions.txt. Uploaded the files it says to upload. local_links.php and local_links_template.xml are in my main forum directory. local_links_install.php was placed in my admincp directory, and I ran the install script. The tables were created. The templates were installed. I get to the page that says

Run Step 3: Goto (http://www.sunshineband.org/forums/local_links.php?action=admin) Links/Files AdminCP to check/initialise permissions?
Installation complete: Goto (http://www.sunshineband.org/forums/local_links.php?action=links) Links/Files main page
If I click on the link for the AdminCP, I get the standard forum error stating:

you do not have permission to access this page. This could be due to one of several reasons:
Your user account may not have sufficient privileges to access this page. Are you trying to edit someone else's post, access administrative features or some other privileged system?
If you are trying to post, the administrator may have disabled your account, or it may be awaiting activation.


The non-admin link takes me to a Links page, but of course, there's nothing there.

I'm logged in as one of the admins (or I wouldn't be able to access to install script in the first place).

[AndrewD]

Well, it's installed, but I can't access the admin portion? :ermm:

(I haven't installed a lot of hacks, so I may be missing some simple.)

I followed the instructions.txt. Uploaded the files it says to upload. local_links.php and local_links_template.xml are in my main forum directory. local_links_install.php was placed in my admincp directory, and I ran the install script. The tables were created. The templates were installed. I get to the page that says


If I click on the link for the AdminCP, I get the standard forum error stating:



The non-admin link takes me to a Links page, but of course, there's nothing there.

I'm logged in as one of the admins (or I wouldn't be able to access to install script in the first place).

1) Check ( standard VB admincp, users ) that you are using a userid with *primary* usergroup = Administrator (not an additional usergroup). Please also check (admincp, usergroups) that the admin usergroup id is 6.

2) Upload the attached script into your main forums directory (uid.php) and point your browser at it. It will report what it thinks is your usergroupid. It should say 6.

Get back to me if you still have problems.

[offlead]

1) Check ( standard VB admincp, users ) that you are using a userid with *primary* usergroup = Administrator (not an additional usergroup). Please also check (admincp, usergroups) that the admin usergroup id is 6.

2) Upload the attached script into your main forums directory (uid.php) and point your browser at it. It will report what it thinks is your usergroupid. It should say 6.

Get back to me if you still have problems.
Thanks!! I assumed it was something just this simple, but this never occurred to me. (Due to site-politics, all of the admins are regular users with "admin" as a secondary usergroup. We have one primary admin user that we can log in as for special site announcements and, of course, situations just like this. It just never occurred to me. :) )

I get in just fine now. Thanks bunches!!

[offlead]

Okay, I've started setting things up, and it all looks to be working so far. Very nice, and quite close to exactly what we were looking for.

A couple quick questions. First, is there a way to grant admin access based on secondary usergroups? While our admins can log in as the primary admin, if they have to do so it becomes much less likely that they'll pitch in to help out with this. Also, some of them cannot seem to remember the precise login information for the primary admin to save their lives. ;) (Again, all of the admins are listed as regular members by primary group, with admin as a secondary group. The users do not know who all of the admins are, and this is done on purpose.)

Second, it would be very useful if our regular registered users could suggest categories, that would go into moderation pending approval by an admin. I don't want them to be able to just add any old categories, but I also know that I won't be able to think of all the cats we'll need. Can this be accomplished? Would this be accomplished if I assigned a default_forumid that matched a forum that allows registered members to post, but where their posts are moderated pending approval? (This just came to me, and I'll try it out after I get a few hours sleep, unless I hear that it won't work.)

Thanks again. Lovely work!!

[AndrewD]

Okay, I've started setting things up, and it all looks to be working so far. Very nice, and quite close to exactly what we were looking for.

A couple quick questions. First, is there a way to grant admin access based on secondary usergroups? While our admins can log in as the primary admin, if they have to do so it becomes much less likely that they'll pitch in to help out with this. Also, some of them cannot seem to remember the precise login information for the primary admin to save their lives. ;) (Again, all of the admins are listed as regular members by primary group, with admin as a secondary group. The users do not know who all of the admins are, and this is done on purpose.)

Second, it would be very useful if our regular registered users could suggest categories, that would go into moderation pending approval by an admin. I don't want them to be able to just add any old categories, but I also know that I won't be able to think of all the cats we'll need. Can this be accomplished? Would this be accomplished if I assigned a default_forumid that matched a forum that allows registered members to post, but where their posts are moderated pending approval? (This just came to me, and I'll try it out after I get a few hours sleep, unless I hear that it won't work.)

Thanks again. Lovely work!!

Thanks and glad you've got it working. I realise that I need to deal with the admin usergroup issue, so will look at that this weekend.

Moderation is close to ready. I have it working for new links but had not realised that new categories should also be moderated. I'll give that some thought - it is not difficult.

[offlead]

Great! Yeah, letting others use your work tends to bring little except more work! ;) I do appreciate it. I'll be taking what we've got so far live today, and I'll just tend it myself until we get the secondary usergroup and moderation set up. They can always suggest categories in one of the forums.

This is great, because this is one of the last functionalities we wanted for the site, and once I have it set up on my own hobby site, I'll be setting it up for on of my clients as well.

[Holidazed]

Access to files/links and categories is controlled by assigning them to a forum. So if you want only some usergroups to see certain links, you assign these links (or their category) to a forum that has the same usergroup permissions. The association between link and forum or category and forum can be changed by anyone who has can_edit_link and/or can_edit_category access to the links database (set via the link_admin page).
AndrewD, The links thing installed flawlessly.

Question, when 1st installed, I can create a sub-category. Should it not be called a "Category" and then have "Sub-Categories" underneath the "Category"??

[AndrewD]

AndrewD, The links thing installed flawlessly.

Question, when 1st installed, I can create a sub-category. Should it not be called a "Category" and then have "Sub-Categories" underneath the "Category"??

Thanks.

You're right - I think they should all be called categories and they will be in version 1.2.

[Holidazed]

I just thought it was odd. Main Categories and Sub-Categories seems the right way to go. BTW, thanks for the hack. It is quite awesome.

BTW, any idea of how long the wait for 1.2 will be?

[AndrewD]

BTW, any idea of how long the wait for 1.2 will be?

Only a couple of days! :squareeyed: I had it ready until I learned I'd missed a feature... :knockedout:

[Holidazed]

Sweet!! Please consider the following suggestions.

Add something that displays the username of the person you submitted the link.
Give a count of how many links that user has submitted.
Have these two options editable by any usergroup that has permission to edit a link.
If a link owner (the person who submitted it) changes, have it change the count of total links that user has submitted.

[offlead]

Quick question. When viewing the main links index, it lists out the categories, and for each displays the number of sub-cats within, as well as the number of links. This link number does not include links which are in the sub-cats. So where we've set up some categories which will probably not have any links, but only sub-cats, it displays zero links. This is accurate, but I'd rather (on my forum) have that number reflect the total of links plus the links within the sub-categories. What would I need to change?

Did that make any sense? :)

[AndrewD]

Quick question. When viewing the main links index, it lists out the categories, and for each displays the number of sub-cats within, as well as the number of links. This link number does not include links which are in the sub-cats. So where we've set up some categories which will probably not have any links, but only sub-cats, it displays zero links. This is accurate, but I'd rather (on my forum) have that number reflect the total of links plus the links within the sub-categories. What would I need to change?

Did that make any sense? :)

It makes sense but was discussed a few weeks ago (go back a few dozen posts) when this feature was added - the consensus at the time was that people preferred only seeing the count going down one level. Let me think about this.

[AndrewD]

Sweet!! Please consider the following suggestions..

1. Add something that displays the username of the person you submitted the link.

this is easy - just edit the links_linkbit template and include the variable $linkusername somewhere sensible.

2. Give a count of how many links that user has submitted.

if you want this to appear in the main display, it will require a new database table, to avoid having to read the entire links table each time round

3. Have these two options editable by any usergroup that has permission to edit a link.

how about "change owner to editor" - I don't think an editor should be able to assign the link to anyone?

4. If a link owner (the person who submitted it) changes, have it change the count of total links that user has submitted]

yes but see (2)

views?

[AndrewD]

Beta version of 1.20 released, including moderation of new links/categories. See first post in this thread.

Moderation is turned on/off via the admin page, including specifying which user groups can moderate (and therefore are exempt from having their own posts moderated).

Appreciate feedback.

[offlead]

Beta version of 1.20 released, including moderation of new links/categories. See first post in this thread.

Moderation is turned on/off via the admin page, including specifying which user groups can moderate (and therefore are exempt from having their own posts moderated).

Appreciate feedback.
Ahhh, sneaky! You got the upgrade finished while I edited all my templates! ;) I'm going to upgrade, and then double back to make the template changes again. Most is just things specific to how I prefer things laid out, but did you really mean to put the forumjump into the header? Shouldn't it be in the footer, like the rest of vb pages?

Thanks for all your work, Andrew. I'll let you know how it works on my end.

[Natch]

As I mentioned in my PM - very cool new changes AndrewD :D and thanks for the integration!

https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/external/2004/08/6.gif

[offlead]

It makes sense but was discussed a few weeks ago (go back a few dozen posts) when this feature was added - the consensus at the time was that people preferred only seeing the count going down one level. Let me think about this.
I can see why most folks would want it to list only the links within the category, and not within nested sub-cats. In fact I have another site using different software that is set up just the opposite, and it isn't appropriate for that site. In this one situation, however, I'd prefer to be able to switch it 'round for my forum only. Most of our main cats aren't going to have their own links, just sub-cats, so I want people to be able to tell that there ARE links in there, even if down a level or two. I'll see if I can figure it out. :)

[offlead]

Andrew, got the upgrade run, and the secondary usergroup permissions appears to work just great. I'm logged in as my regular self, and can access the admin stuff, even though admin is my secondary ug. Thanks!! Just what we needed!

Having trouble with the moderation however. Perhaps I'm missing something. I have a regular user who has submitted a test link for me. But the link becomes immediately available and viewable, even to someone not logged in at all.

Great work though. Thanks!

[AndrewD]

Ahhh, sneaky! You got the upgrade finished while I edited all my templates! ;) I'm going to upgrade, and then double back to make the template changes again. Most is just things specific to how I prefer things laid out, but did you really mean to put the forumjump into the header? Shouldn't it be in the footer, like the rest of vb pages?

Thanks for all your work, Andrew. I'll let you know how it works on my end.

thanks..

I put the forumjump in the header as we'd redesigned our site this way - people were missing the box when it was in the footer.

[AndrewD]

Andrew, got the upgrade run, and the secondary usergroup permissions appears to work just great. I'm logged in as my regular self, and can access the admin stuff, even though admin is my secondary ug. Thanks!! Just what we needed!

Having trouble with the moderation however. Perhaps I'm missing something. I have a regular user who has submitted a test link for me. But the link becomes immediately available and viewable, even to someone not logged in at all.

Great work though. Thanks!

Have you turned on moderation? By default it's turned off - have a look in the admin page - set the moderation value to 1.

[offlead]

Have you turned on moderation? By default it's turned off - have a look in the admin page - set the moderation value to 1.
*smacks self in head* Thanks Andrew. That was indeed the trouble, and I think I just need more sleep or more coffee. I musta looked at that 30 times without actually SEEING it. :)

We tested out a non-admin member adding both a link and a category. The link test ran perfectly, no issues that I could see. Adding a category however had one glitch that I could see. In a level 2 subcat, there was an existing level 3 subcat when the member added another. While the new subcat was held in moderation, NO subcats showed up when viewing that level 2 page. The existing links in that section showed up fine, just not the existing subcat.

[AndrewD]

*smacks self in head* Thanks Andrew. That was indeed the trouble, and I think I just need more sleep or more coffee. I musta looked at that 30 times without actually SEEING it. :)

We tested out a non-admin member adding both a link and a category. The link test ran perfectly, no issues that I could see. Adding a category however had one glitch that I could see. In a level 2 subcat, there was an existing level 3 subcat when the member added another. While the new subcat was held in moderation, NO subcats showed up when viewing that level 2 page. The existing links in that section showed up fine, just not the existing subcat.

Sorry, line 610 in local_links.php reads
if ($thiscat['catmoderate'] and $bbuserinfo['userid'] != $thiscat['catuserid']) break;

The "break" should read "continue".

Will fix in the morning.

[offlead]

Thanks again, Andrew! Works now.

[offlead]

Andrew, thought you might like to see what I did with this. I did some tweaking of the layouts, and also added some instructions for our users, with the Categories and with the Links. There are also submission instructions/guidelines on the addlink and addcat sections, which of course you can't see without being a member. It's integrated into our forum index using forum set up as a forwarding link (under the Around the Corner section of the index).

http://www.sunshineband.org/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=16

Lovely hack!

[Skyline_GT]

hm.. darn didn't fix the status bar?
for downloading file..

also I don't know why the permission stuff doesn't work..
Even I set the default_forumid to a forum that guest can't download files, but they still can...

[AndrewD]

hm.. darn didn't fix the status bar?
for downloading file.....

Not "didnt fix" but apparantly can't fix. IE, Mozilla, Opera + Acrobat + etc + etc are seriously inconsistent and I need to live my real life too. This hack works the way that VBulletin works. You can switch it to an alternative (force the open/save as dialogue) - look at line 93 of local_links.php and follow the instructions. I make no guarantee that this will work in all situations - it messed up for us with certain combinations of IE + Adobe Acrobat.

also I don't know why the permission stuff doesn't work..
Even I set the default_forumid to a forum that guest can't download files, but they still can...

Works fine for me - how are you setting this up? If a user can see a forum in VB, then this hack will let her see links associated with that forum.

[AndrewD]

Sweet!! Please consider the following suggestions.

Add something that displays the username of the person you submitted the link.
Give a count of how many links that user has submitted.
Have these two options editable by any usergroup that has permission to edit a link.
If a link owner (the person who submitted it) changes, have it change the count of total links that user has submitted.

1. Add something that displays the username of the person you submitted the link.

this is easy - just edit the links_linkbit template and include the variable $linkusername somewhere sensible.

2. Give a count of how many links that user has submitted.

added to version 1.21, directly accessible via admin page and with a new search (see instructions.txt, local_links.php&action=show&user=nn)

3. Have these two options editable by any usergroup that has permission to edit a link.

not yet done

4. If a link owner (the person who submitted it) changes, have it change the count of total links that user has submitted]

not yet done

[chrisvonc]

I used the vb Link Directory 2.0 hack on my 2.3 forums however, I am going to be upgrading my production forum to vB3.0.1 soon and wanted to know if there is a way to retain all the exisiting links in my DB and have them show up under this version? I really dont want to re-enter all the links and descriptions again but this portion is holding up the production side's upgrade and really would like to go live with the new version.

Thanks in advance! :)

Chris

[Pitman]

What about an A-Z search kinda like the member list where it shows A, B, C... at the top of the catagories?

[Pitman]

Also when rating a link in the second page (and I assume ever page following that) it would redirect to the page containing the link instead of the first page.

Just an idea :)

[MaxScript]

great work [clicked install]

[AndrewD]

I used the vb Link Directory 2.0 hack on my 2.3 forums however, I am going to be upgrading my production forum to vB3.0.1 soon and wanted to know if there is a way to retain all the existing links in my DB and have them show up under this version? I really dont want to re-enter all the links and descriptions again but this portion is holding up the production side's upgrade and really would like to go live with the new version.

Thanks in advance! :)

Chris

This should be straightforward - export the relevant database tables, reformat and import. I don't know what the table structure for the 2.0 hack looks like = and as far as I can tell, the code is no longer available on vb.org. Feel free to send me this information at ad_rodin at noos.fr - I'll think about it next weekend

[AndrewD]

Also when rating a link in the second page (and I assume ever page following that) it would redirect to the page containing the link instead of the first page.

Just an idea :)

Not a bad idea at that :) - page handling was only added recently and I'm still sorting out the consequences.

added a few minutes later ;) - indeed, this is a trivial fix (ditto on editing links) - will load it next weekend.

As for a-z jumps, I'm not sure I want to get into that but will add it to the wishlist.

[Holidazed]

Not a bad idea at that :) - page handling was only added recently and I'm still sorting out the consequences.

added a few minutes later ;) - indeed, this is a trivial fix (ditto on editing links) - will load it next weekend.

As for a-z jumps, I'm not sure I want to get into that but will add it to the wishlist.
Andrew, thanks for the upgrade. I downloaded it, but I do not see any upgrade instructions. Do I need to completely re-install? do I need to uninstall first?

[chrisvonc]

This should be straightforward - export the relevant database tables, reformat and import. I don't know what the table structure for the 2.0 hack looks like = and as far as I can tell, the code is no longer available on vb.org. Feel free to send me this information at ad_rodin at noos.fr - I'll think about it next weekend
Thank you very much Andrew. I will email you in a bit when I get home tonight. Sounds very promising! :)

[Skyline_GT]

Not "didnt fix" but apparantly can't fix. IE, Mozilla, Opera + Acrobat + etc + etc are seriously inconsistent and I need to live my real life too. This hack works the way that VBulletin works. You can switch it to an alternative (force the open/save as dialogue) - look at line 93 of local_links.php and follow the instructions. I make no guarantee that this will work in all situations - it messed up for us with certain combinations of IE + Adobe Acrobat.



Works fine for me - how are you setting this up? If a user can see a forum in VB, then this hack will let her see links associated with that forum.here is a screenshot of it...
I don't know why..
but I logout and whe I try to view it database.. and it works..
how come?
I thought I limited only member can download and see the files..

[Skyline_GT]

I wonder is it possible to set the permission itself/
like not from the forum permission?
You can set the download/link permission itself from the usegroup manage?

[AndrewD]

Andrew, thanks for the upgrade. I downloaded it, but I do not see any upgrade instructions. Do I need to completely re-install? do I need to uninstall first?

Sorry if that was unclear.

You do not need to uninstall. Simply re-run the installation - it will work out what to do - step 1 checks the database, step 2 deals with the templates. You will lose any modifications you have made to this hack's templates, so it's a good idea to keep a record of these..

[AndrewD]

I wonder is it possible to set the permission itself/
like not from the forum permission?
You can set the download/link permission itself from the usegroup manage?

Yes, it would be possible, but I wanted as far a s possible to build on standard vb code, not write a new permissions system.

[Holidazed]

Sorry if that was unclear.

You do not need to uninstall. Simply re-run the installation - it will work out what to do - step 1 checks the database, step 2 deals with the templates. You will lose any modifications you have made to this hack's templates, so it's a good idea to keep a record of these..
Thank you AndrewD. I will do this when I get to the office today.

[offlead]

I'm installing this tonight for a client running vb. He's very excited to have a link script that integrates with the forum. I just noticed, however, that the search looks for strings, rather than keywords. Is there any way to change this? It's quite different than we've trained our users to look for information. It's taken me years to get my own users good at keyword searches to find what they're looking for. :)

[MaxScript]

ya i mod a little of the code

http://batalk.com/local_links.php?action=links

[AndrewD]

I'm installing this tonight for a client running vb. He's very excited to have a link script that integrates with the forum. I just noticed, however, that the search looks for strings, rather than keywords. Is there any way to change this? It's quite different than we've trained our users to look for information. It's taken me years to get my own users good at keyword searches to find what they're looking for. :)

I'll check - the current string search is a trivial SQL query to the database whereas I think keyword searching will require more effort - e.g. VB's own keyword search requires maintaining extra tables and quite a chunk of code, which other users also find does not meet their requirements.

[AndrewD]

Version 1.22 is now the supported release. Minor bug fixes/modifications since 1.21, primarily to do with handling pagination. There is also a conversion utility to ugrade from VBLinks 2 thread 44551

[chrisvonc]

The conversion utility and new version works like a charm on an upgraded vb 2.3.2 to vB 3.0.1 forum. Importing the old vB Links Directory data into the new Link and Files DB was a snap with the upgrade script!

Thank you Andrew! :)

[chrisvonc]

One quick question. I have the ratings disabled but as the admin, I clicked to rate a link and now have it showing up under the one link. Is there a way to reset that rating so it is back to 0 or if not, can I remove something so the rating wont show up?

Thanks!

Chris

[cinq]

Hi, any way to sort order of categories and/or order of links/files ?

[AndrewD]

Hi, any way to sort order of categories and/or order of links/files ?
Only by the way you name these - I haven't yet included any sorting code in the display routines, so these will always appear alphabetically.

One for the wish list, I imagine.

[AndrewD]

One quick question. I have the ratings disabled but as the admin, I clicked to rate a link and now have it showing up under the one link. Is there a way to reset that rating so it is back to 0 or if not, can I remove something so the rating wont show up?

Thanks!

Chris

Two ways, depending on what you feel comfortable with. Either use phpmyadmin (or something similar), open the table *_linksrate and delete the records in that table.

Or edit the template links_ratebit - if you change this to an empty template the ratings will never appear.

I'll add this to the wishlist.

[nydk]

Waited for latest version, just installed it with no problems that I can see yet

GREAT hack... will use this for reciprocal links, thanks

[chrisvonc]

Or edit the template links_ratebit - if you change this to an empty template the ratings will never appear.

I'll add this to the wishlist.Did the trick! Thank you again Andrew! :)

[JirQUEST]

installed it.... worked like a charm! thanks dude! :D

[Holidazed]

AndrewD, I have this all working. However I need to use it as a files database as well. When creating a new link, I do not see anything that tells me how to make it a download link. Do I need to ftp the files then add a link to where the file exists?

[AndrewD]

AndrewD, I have this all working. However I need to use it as a files database as well. When creating a new link, I do not see anything that tells me how to make it a download link. Do I need to ftp the files then add a link to where the file exists?

I take it you mean you want to have these downloadable files available on your own site?

Yes, you have to upload the files somehow (ftp or otherwise) - there are plenty of tools available for handling file uploads and I didn't want to get into the security issues that these create.

You reference these files either using the full URL (http://site/directory/file) or starting from the root directory of your web site (i.e. /directory/file). The second case will tell users the file size immediately the link is created; the first will give the size only after the first download. The location of the file is kept hidden from your users, so it's semi-leech-proof.

[Ben`]

Nice hack AndrewD,
just woundering if you would know how i could intergrade this with the utpoint system (so points get taken from you for every download you make) just dont like people signing up using all our bandwidth and never making a single post :)

thx

[AndrewD]

Nice hack AndrewD,
just woundering if you would know how i could intergrade this with the utpoint system (so points get taken from you for every download you make) just dont like people signing up using all our bandwidth and never making a single post :)

thx

I"m sorry - I'm not familiar with that system - and I'm just heading off on business for two weeks so will not have the chance to search - but...

It would be easy, I'm sure, to integrate this hack with any system that
- keeps track of "points" in the VB database
- records these points by username

Point me in the right direction and I'll take a look when I get back, without making any promises.

[Holidazed]

I take it you mean you want to have these downloadable files available on your own site?

Yes, you have to upload the files somehow (ftp or otherwise) - there are plenty of tools available for handling file uploads and I didn't want to get into the security issues that these create.

You reference these files either using the full URL (http://site/directory/file) or starting from the root directory of your web site (i.e. /directory/file). The second case will tell users the file size immediately the link is created; the first will give the size only after the first download. The location of the file is kept hidden from your users, so it's semi-leech-proof.
AndrewD, this is truly awesome. I got the files added to the links list. It works flawlessly.

Thanks

[Sam FT]

Andrew before I installed this lastest version. I do want to make sure it will work. The last version didn't work and you have to give me a custom version of Links Hack for it to work.

[Holidazed]

AndrewD, can you add something so that a user looking at the page of links can change the sort order by clicking a button? My users are wanting to sort by name, ranking and date added.

Can this be done?

[cscgal]

I, too, would love to see end-user ability to change sort order. Something else that I REALLY need is the ability to have loooong lists of links span multiple pages.

[joeychgo]

What about a robots.txt to keep search engine spidars out of this page? is that possible?

[chrisvonc]

It should do that by default, at least the previous version did but regardless, in the latest version, on the admin page, you can set how many link you would like per page by setting the links_per_page value. :)I, too, would love to see end-user ability to change sort order. Something else that I REALLY need is the ability to have loooong lists of links span multiple pages.

[Sam FT]

Andrew before I installed this lastest version. I do want to make sure it will work. The last version didn't work and you have to give me a custom version of Links Hack for it to work.
Never mind installed fine.

[cscgal]

It should do that by default, at least the previous version did but regardless, in the latest version, on the admin page, you can set how many link you would like per page by setting the links_per_page value. :)

Huh? What version does this? And where is a links_per_page value?

[chrisvonc]

Huh? What version does this? And where is a links_per_page value?The latest version (1.22) which you can find in the first post in this thread, has this option. Once you install it, go to your Links Administration page and scroll down until you see the links_per_page value. It will be right above the permissions settings. There you can set the amount of links per page to be displayed before starting another page. :)

BTW - Looking at your username, you wouldnt happen to work for CSC would you?

[AndrewD]

I, too, would love to see end-user ability to change sort order. Something else that I REALLY need is the ability to have loooong lists of links span multiple pages.

I wrote the sort order code last weekend but did not release it as I will be away for a couple of weeks, but yes, the next version does have the ability to sort alphabetically, by date, by number of hits and by rating.

The number of entries per page is normally taken from from the posts per page setting of your board, but can be over-ridden on the admin page of this hack as Chris has explained.

[AndrewD]

What about a robots.txt to keep search engine spidars out of this page? is that possible?

Surely the best way is to set the forum permissions for your links so that users have to be logged in to see the entries?

[cscgal]

AndrewD, thanks for the info. I'm currently only using version 1.00 but I plan on upgrading soon.

[defnot]

i have a question , i would like add a Url but this Url start by "https" and this hack doesn't accept this kind of URL , Can i do somethings to change this ?

thx

[Kwak]

Could you guys post your link to the hack on your forum, so I can check it out?
Just want to see a live demo. Thanks.

[chrisvonc]

Mine is at http://www.d-90.com/ and click on Links.
Please excuse the mess. I just converted to vb 3.0.1 and in the middle of redoing the site but the Links database is running strong.

[AndrewD]

i have a question , i would like add a Url but this Url start by "https" and this hack doesn't accept this kind of URL , Can i do somethings to change this ?

thx

You cannot do anything - I will have to check the code to make this possible. I hope there's no difficulty with php versions, etc. Next weekend, I'll take a look at the code.

[BeasTboyz]

Anyone else have problems with it not reporting the file size of locally hosted files? It will usually work for the first or second video in a category, but then no others.

I am pulling videos from the same directory, and they're chmod'd and chown'd the same. Any ideas what this would be?

[AndrewD]

Anyone else have problems with it not reporting the file size of locally hosted files? It will usually work for the first or second video in a category, but then no others.

I am pulling videos from the same directory, and they're chmod'd and chown'd the same. Any ideas what this would be?

Haven't seen this one before - I tried registering at your site but couldn't see any of the videos at all.

If you let me have a bit more info - i.e. ideally pm me so that we can exchange email addresses, then email me a dump of part of your database, I can have a look to see what's going on.

[joeychgo]

ok - there are 475 posts in this thread so please forgive me for not going back and reading all of them to see if my question has been answered.

I currently have this installed as a links directory - How can I install a second copy so I can use it as an article portal? WHat do I need to change to make it so I can have this installed twice?

One suggestion regarding an improvement for use as a links directory - Most of us have agreed to recripocal links - but its hard to follow up sometimes and make sure the other guy actually put our link on his site -- so a simple check box on the admin side that would indicate a recripocal link was verified or not would be nice.

[AndrewD]

ok - there are 475 posts in this thread so please forgive me for not going back and reading all of them to see if my question has been answered.


I currently have this installed as a links directory - How can I install a second copy so I can use it as an article portal? WHat do I need to change to make it so I can have this installed twice?

One suggestion regarding an improvement for use as a links directory - Most of us have agreed to recripocal links - but its hard to follow up sometimes and make sure the other guy actually put our link on his site -- so a simple check box on the admin side that would indicate a recripocal link was verified or not would be nice.

I think the following would work:
- create copies of local_links.php and local_links_install.php with new names (e.g. 2nd_links.php, etc).
- edit these new files to use a different table prefix - look for the line define('THIS_TABLE', 'local_');

Another approach - in my view easier - is to use just the one installation, set up two categories at the top level, one for your links directories and one for your articles, then have two links on your home page which go directly to these subcategories. This is how we separate material on our site.

I don't quite understand how your second point will work.

[joeychgo]

One suggestion regarding an improvement for use as a links directory - Most of us have agreed to recripocal links - but its hard to follow up sometimes and make sure the other guy actually put our link on his site -- so a simple check box on the admin side that would indicate a recripocal link was verified or not would be nice.


Well -- I come across site who "offer' to do a link trade-and ask me to link first. Ok, so I provide them with a link and send my info to them..... However they dont always provide that link back - so its important to verify that they actually linked you back.

Since its reasonable to expect a few days for the link to appear, it is easy to forget to check after a few days and veryify that link. So it would be nice to simply have a check box to let me know if I have already verified they linked me back.

[BeasTboyz]

Sorry Andrew, I had screwed up permissions on the videos, but they should all be working now.

[DeMiNe0]

ermmm, the download is currupted. Can somone pleae upload a new one? Or send me a good one at demine0@digitaltoxicity.net?

[AndrewD]

ermmm, the download is currupted. Can somone pleae upload a new one? Or send me a good one at demine0@digitaltoxicity.net?

The zip file d/l's and opens ok for me... What is happening to yours?

[13th_Disciple]

The zip file d/l's and opens ok for me... What is happening to yours?
When you get a no permission to access link error, there is no navbar or register button in the error box.. what template should I edit to at least have the navbar show? Also, what template for the error permission denied on accessing a link?

[AndrewD]

When you get a no permission to access link error, there is no navbar or register button in the error box.. what template should I edit to at least have the navbar show? Also, what template for the error permission denied on accessing a link?

Unfortunately, these messages are all generated using print_standard_error, which uses the standard_error template. I don't think you will be able to change this to include a navbar - not least because there is not necessarily a navbar available at the point at which print_standard_error is called.

[AndrewD]

Well -- I come across site who "offer' to do a link trade-and ask me to link first. Ok, so I provide them with a link and send my info to them..... However they dont always provide that link back - so its important to verify that they actually linked you back.

Since its reasonable to expect a few days for the link to appear, it is easy to forget to check after a few days and veryify that link. So it would be nice to simply have a check box to let me know if I have already verified they linked me back.

How about using the moderation facility to achieve this? Enter your cross-links using an account that is required to have new entries moderated, then accept them once you've checked the status.

[13th_Disciple]

Unfortunately, these messages are all generated using print_standard_error, which uses the standard_error template. I don't think you will be able to change this to include a navbar - not least because there is not necessarily a navbar available at the point at which print_standard_error is called.
oh ok.. but i could go to the phrase and do a $vboptions[bburl]/register.php link in there somewhere, i guess..

would that be the correct assumption?

[AndrewD]

oh ok.. but i could go to the phrase and do a $vboptions[bburl]/register.php link in there somewhere, i guess..

would that be the correct assumption?

Having had a couple of decent night's sleep, I realise what you're asking :tired:

We need to change one or two of the calls to print_standard_error to print_no_permission. I'll try it this evening. Sorry for the delay.

[13th_Disciple]

Having had a couple of decent night's sleep, I realise what you're asking :tired:

We need to change one or two of the calls to print_standard_error to print_no_permission. I'll try it this evening. Sorry for the delay.
Quite alright Andrew.. i appreciate your answers and your work on this..

The only other thing for this my members have requested is instead of all of the links appearing on one page, have it so when you click on one from the full list, it opens in it's own page.. I have thought about trying to mess with that a bit, but have had zero to no time myself..

again, thanks Andrew for this hack.. the only thing i would ever want to see added, would be an upload function.. :p

[Ian Montgomerie]

I found a bug, but I'm not sure how to fix it or even if it's fixable. If a user has an apostrophe in their user name, SQL gives an error when they try to insert into the database. Example:


Database error in vBulletin 3.0.1:

Invalid SQL:

INSERT INTO local_linksdownloads (linkid, linkurl, username, userid,
userip, userbrowser, usertime)

VALUES (

'54',

'http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Corridor/2298/index.html',

'Strategos' Risk',

'290',

'12.72.192.151',

'Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.1; AT&T CSM6.0)',

1087061901

)

[AndrewD]

I found a bug, but I'm not sure how to fix it or even if it's fixable. If a user has an apostrophe in their user name, SQL gives an error when they try to insert into the database.


Indeed, it's fixable. Sorry about that. I'll correct it in the next upload, which is currently being tested.

In the meantime, if you want a fix:
- Edit local_links.php.
- Find function record_hit($id, $url, $status), which in version 1.22 is at line 1827

Replace

$DB_site->query("
INSERT INTO ".THIS_TABLE."linksdownloads (linkid, linkurl, username, userid, userip, userbrowser, usertime)
VALUES (
'".$id."',
'".$url."',
'".$username."',
'".$userid."',
'".$userip."',
'".$userbrowser."',
$time
)
");


with


$DB_site->query("
INSERT INTO ".THIS_TABLE."linksdownloads (linkid, linkurl, username, userid, userip, userbrowser, usertime)
VALUES (
'".$id."',
'".$url."',
'".addslashes(htmlspecialchars($username))."',
'".$userid."',
'".$userip."',
'".addslashes(htmlspecialchars($userbrowser))."',
$time
)
");

[13th_Disciple]

Andrew, will the error page be changed to the no permission page in this next version?

[AndrewD]

Andrew, will the error page be changed to the no permission page in this next version?

Yes, but I meant to contact you for clarification. Can you indicate the situations in which you want to see this change made - there are many potential routes to "no access" errors. I hope you're not referring to the use of the VBindex/VBAdvanced portal interfaces, as these are not under my control.

[13th_Disciple]

Yes, but I meant to contact you for clarification. Can you indicate the situations in which you want to see this change made - there are many potential routes to "no access" errors. I hope you're not referring to the use of the VBindex/VBAdvanced portal interfaces, as these are not under my control.
Ok, if there is a direct link to the file, not thru the portal or anything, but just a direct link to the file thru the links deal, like so:

http://www.dbcenter.org/forums/local_links.php?action=jump&id=84

you will get the print_standard_error.. but if you go to the actual catagory:

http://www.dbcenter.org/forums/local_links.php?action=links&catid=63

you will get the print_no_permission

So I would like to see either the print_no_permission error there, or at least have the navbar displayed to allow someone to register rather quickly.. does that explain it a little better or do you need a bit better clarification? and thank you Andrew for taking the time to look in to this.. greatly appreciated!!

[AndrewD]

Ok, if there is a direct link to the file, not thru the portal or anything, but just a direct link to the file thru the links deal, like so:

http://www.dbcenter.org/forums/local_links.php?action=jump&id=84

you will get the print_standard_error.. but if you go to the actual catagory:

http://www.dbcenter.org/forums/local_links.php?action=links&catid=63

you will get the print_no_permission

So I would like to see either the print_no_permission error there, or at least have the navbar displayed to allow someone to register rather quickly.. does that explain it a little better or do you need a bit better clarification? and thank you Andrew for taking the time to look in to this.. greatly appreciated!!

Got it - will make this consistent in the next release due out this week, assuming all goes well.

[13th_Disciple]

Got it - will make this consistent in the next release due out this week, assuming all goes well.
Excellent.. thank you very much, Andrew.. :)

[Onkel_Tom]

Works fine, thank you !
Onkel_Tom clicks install ;)

[AndrewD]

Beta release 1.25 uploaded in first post to this thread. Please test and report.

New features:
a) Boolean fulltext searches and highlighted keywords
b) Ability to sort links display on name, date, hits
c) Facility to link to local downloads outside the web directory tree

Modifications:
a) Bug fix for quotes in usernames
b) More consistent error templates

[Onkel_Tom]

thanks AdrewD, beta 1.25 works fine for me !

[Ranma2k]

Beta release 1.25 uploaded in first post to this thread. Please test and report.

New features:
a) Boolean fulltext searches and highlighted keywords
b) Ability to sort links display on name, date, hits
c) Facility to link to local downloads outside the web directory tree

Modifications:
a) Bug fix for quotes in usernames
b) More consistent error templates


There is a bug if you did a search
it will give the error


Invalid SQL:
SELECT link.linkid AS linkid, link.linkname AS linkname, link.linkuserid AS linkuserid,
link.linkusername AS linkusername, link.linkurl AS linkurl, link.linkdesc AS linkdesc,
link.linkhits AS linkhits, link.linkstatus AS linkstatus, link.linkdate AS linkdate,
ltoc.catid AS linkcatid
FROM local_linkslink AS link
LEFT JOIN local_linksltoc AS ltoc
ON link.linkid = ltoc.linkid

WHERE
link.linkforum NOT IN (0)
AND (link.linkmoderate = 0 OR link.linkuserid =1 )

AND MATCH (link.linkname, link.linkdesc) AGAINST ('Naruto2' IN BOOLEAN MODE)

ORDER BY linkcatid, linkname

mysql error: You have an error in your SQL syntax near 'BOOLEAN MODE) )

ORDER BY linkcatid, linkname

how can i fix this ?!

[AndrewD]

There is a bug if you did a search
it will give the error

how can i fix this ?!

I have two questions/suggestions:

a) did you install version 1.25 fresh or upgrade from an earlier version? If you upgraded, did you remember to run the local_links_install script?

b) which version of MySQL are you using? If it is earlier than 3.23.23 (I think), this version will not work. Most people are using version 4.0.something.

[ImportPassion]

I just installed 1.25, first time.

Wondering why link count doesn't show up for local files?