Links and Downloads Manager
 

Version 2.3.0 of LDM is now the official release. This works with both VB3.7 and VB3.8. You can obtain it here

Version 2.2.8 remains available here, with limited support.

04.02.08: patch-cat.xml 'extra' uploaded - see first post for information

27.10.07: Version 2.2.8-post1 uploaded
French translation of product installer uploaded (other language translations are in the main release zip)

Remember to back up your current database tables before upgrading.

What this is and does

LDM is a general-purpose link and file manager, which handles user uploads and downloads in a flexible way. A range of media players is integrated into LDM and others are included as plugin extras. LDM is described below in the first post of this thread, which also contains a brief list of the currently-known bugs.

This release of LDM works correctly with all VB versions 3.6.x and recent versions of vbadvanced.

Documentation, screen shots, etc, are provided as a Wiki at http://www.eirma.org/wikis/index.php...nloads_Manager

Thank you to everyone who has tested, given suggestions, helped with the translations, etc.

How to Install and Use LDM

Full details and installation/usage instructions are available as a Wiki at http://www.eirma.org/wikis/index.php...nloads_Manager

Remember to BACKUP YOUR DATABASE before installing or upgrading.

LDM installs as a VBulletin product and requires no modifications to the standard VB code. On most sites, the installation and upgrading processes are the same:

a) upload files from the /release/forums directories of the zip file,
b) if you wish, upload icons from the /release/icon directory, then
c) run the VB Product installer and install the product-eirma_ldm.xml file contained in the /release directory.

You can ignore the contents of the /development directory in the zip file unless you are curious.

04.02.08: Bug Fix Path

The patch-cat.xml file provided above contains a fix against a bug which can give unauthorised users access to protected files in your LDM database. This is *only* required if you use LDM's *can_access_category* permission to limit access to certain categories. It is not needed if you use this permission to restrict your entire database, by denying this permission at the admin level. Install as a normal VB plugin.

Important Installation Notes

1. By default, LDM database tables are prefixed 'local_'. Edit the configuration file, local_links_init.php, if you need/wish to change this. If you do so, remember to make the same changes each time you upgrade.

2. If your web site runs on Microsoft's IIS web server in cgi mode (you can find this out by looking at the main VB admincp page), a key php environment variable DOCUMENT_ROOT is not defined by default. This causes serious problems with the placement of files on your server. LDM detects this problem and issues a fatal error if necessary. If this occurs, edit includes/local_links_init.php and define the constant LDM_DOCUMENT_ROOT. The code highlights where to make the edit. Alternatively, you can patch your web server to define DOCUMENT_ROOT correctly.

Features

LDM handles a large (32767) number of categories and nested subcategories, and an essentially unlimited number of entries (hyperlinks or downloadable files) in these categories. Each entry can be placed in one or several categories. Categories can have styles. Descriptions and titles can use BBcodes, smilies, images and html, giving the possibility to add images, colouring, etc. File types can be flagged using icons. Entries can have associated thumbnail images. Entries can be added manually by the site admin and/or by the user community, or can be generated automatically by synchonising with directories on your server.

A number of layout templates are provided, suitable for libraries of links, files, documents, and photographs. There are several Jukebox addins which play most types of media files.

Users can offer comments and rate the links/downloads. Each user is allowed one rating and many comments per entry, and can freely edit these if he/she changes his mind.

Permission to use specific features is established via the product's admin page, where the administrator specifies which usergroups can add and edit entries, comment and rate these entries, moderate, etc.

By default, all entries are visible to all users. You can further restrict visibility/access to some of your entries and categories by using the permissions masks from your board's forums.

Moderation of new entries is available, and entries can be set to expire after a certain period or require re-moderation.

Users can report bad links to the relevant moderators/administrators, and can send messages to their friends to let them know about the contents of LDM.

Each user can flag links as his/her "Favourites", and site administrators can set up "Featured" sites.

A range of modules are provided that integrate with VBAdvanced.

Many hooks are provided throughout the LDM code, and a range of sample plugins is included in the release (see extras directory), for example to read ID3 tags in mp3 files, to create slideshows, to autocreate threads announcing new LDM entries in your forums, etc.

Plus much more.

Version 2.2.8-post1

These are the significant changes in release 2.2.8-post1 compared to 2.2.7:

Administration

admin/categories/mass edit categories and admin/categories/mass edit links include option to mass edit the display orders
admin/import/export includes facility to download Google-type sitemap of your LDM database; imports/exports can be gzipped
admin/hits Tidy hits table (archive/delete) accepts optional list of usernames
New settings variable *perpage_download* controls default hits per page on admin/hits
admin/keywords extended to enabled merging/renaming of keywords
admin/settings and admin/permissions highlight all parameters that can be over-ridden within categories, not just those that have been over-ridden
local_links_init.php (ADMIN_USER_GROUP) extended to allow multiple usergroups to have access to LDM admin
autocreate thread/post code extended and integrated into main product
(NB: users of existing autocreate 'extra', refer to 'extra' directory for info)

Allowances

Allowances apply to all files delivered from the local server and from mirrors

Categories

Add/Edit Category allows same username changes as Add/Edit Entry
autocreate linked forum includes choice whether to display linked forum on forumjump menus

Comments and Ratings

Options to display summary inline within the linkbit or as drop-down
Moderators can create/edit comments by other users and change the submitting user for comments

Entries

Add/Edit Entry form modified to clarify options to replace existing entry with url or upload
*allow_add_multi* setting enables creation of several entries at once
Options added to Edit Entry to delete/replace existing uploaded image

Mirror sites
Mirror sites supported by new admin page. When a download satisfies a mirror test, user is presented
with list of available mirrors and is asked to choose one.

Permissions

Add/Edit Category, Edit Entry, Select Category and Set Display Order permissions made inheritable
*can_search_link* permission allows/denies access to searches
*must_add_keyword* permission requires at least one keyword on add/edit entry
*must_comment_and_rate* disables rating submit button until user selects a rating
*must_rate_download*, *must_rate_play* permissions added to force comment/rating before allowing download/play

Page layout

Category information tidied up
Show Latest Ratings menu item added, displays most recently rated entries
Size displayed for entries with filetype other than htm/html even if not in attachment table
New Modern (top) linkbit added - same as Modern, except everything aligns to the top rather than middle of the row

Ratings

Users who can edit other's comments can also change their ratings
User avatars displayed within ratings bits
Users denied *must_rate_download*/*must_rate_play* permission can still download/play their own submissions without rating

Translations

Arabic language removed - obsolete and very incomplete
French, Chinese, Dutch and Spanish translations brought up to date

vBulletin integration

apply_censor option defines whether to apply vBulletin censorship features
vb's forum password protection implemented within LDM
- when viewing categories associated with a password-protected forum
- when attempting to view/play entries associated with a password-protected forum

VBAdvanced

Tested with vbAdvanced version 3 - NB not version 2. Code works in function-wrap and global modes
Bandwidths displayed by *ldm_tot* module display to 1 or 2 decimal places when appropriate
thumbs module uses cached thumbnail when possible
Keyword tagcloud module added

Extras

systematic revision of extras to use LDM admin settings page to control behaviour
*add-page-information* extra displays arbitrary text withi main displays
*auto_threadcreate* removed and fully integrated into LDM
*block-context-menu* extra now works in player windows
*blockhit-bytime* extra added to allow usergroup d/l blocks by time of day
*external-links-framed* opens external urls in an iframe
*filmstrip* extra provides strip overview of category contents when viewing single entry
*import-radiostations* imports xml data files prepared using Dream's excellent radiostations hack (vb.org thread 152037)
*jukebox-enhancements* extra brought up to date
*JWplayer* provides Jeroen Wijering's generalised mp3/swf/flv media player
*secureurl* extra added to lock play/download urls to entries/times/userid/ip address
*similarthreads* extra patches showthread's 'similar threads' feature to include *similar LDM entries*
*spider-me* extra tidied up ('spider me' text if icon not found)
*tagcloud* extra, as per vbadvanced but displayed within LDM

Hooks

More hooks inserted into code
Internal code around calls to the links_addlink_preinsert hook made consistent throughout LDM

Bug fixes

Fixed My Profile listing of entries placed in multiple categories
Fixed LDM's attempt to redirect user when entry has moved to a different category from that given in a url
Fixed submit bug with Admin/Media Players/edit settings
Fixed miscellaneous bugs in admin/hits analyses
Fixed bug whereby invalild default_forumid locks everyone out
Made Edit Category command visible when current user owns the current category
Fixed Add/Edit Entry handling of timezones with half hour deltas
Improved efficiency of code which emails users about updates to their downloaded entries
Improved error messages for logged in users who lack *can_access_link* permission
Main edit message boxes correctly pick up *formwidth_usercp* style setting
Removed the stray text in the bold linkbit
Corrected problems with handling of vba thumb sizes
LDM 'latest entry' information in forum displays handles assigned forum permissions
autothread - fixed various bugs with cross-posting of comments/ratings; ratings without remarks don't get posted
Who's Online entries brought up-to-date; Downloading gets recorded correctly
Changed autocreate thread to be inactive by default
Fixed broken admin layout when improper settings found in database
Validate entries resets invalid filesizes
Fixed invalid userid setting on edit entry
Fixed invalid userid test on edit category
Fixed bug for players requiring fullurl when playing offsite media files
Fixed allowance reporting bug (links counted as files on main displays)
Allowances apply to downloadable files even when force_redirect set to 1
Fixed Wimpy Button to work via vbAdvanced when not in forum directory
Searches work in utf-8 languages (but still don't highlight correctly)
DOI searches on advanced search work correctly
Fixed bug whereby image-type entries never gained thumbnail if link_imagesize=0 at time of creation
Fixed spurious 'Nothing to show' message when *featured_sites* enabled but none visible in current category
Fixed bug with *sync_username* parameter, leading to wrong associated userid.
Partial content transfers work correctly with IIS webserver
Fixed a spurious *rename* error message if the name of an uploaded file contains characters that are invalid on some operating systems
Trap seriously malformed urls such as http:// with no site

Translations

Spanish - complete for 2.2.8 - thanks ObMob
French - complete for 2.2.8 - thanks Pitchoune
Chinese - complete for 2.2.8 - thanks ItsBlack
Dutch - complete for 2.2.8, thanks Alfa1
German - nearly up to date for 2.2.6 - thanks dLutt

Cool - I'm doing my own testing of vB 3.6 for my forums and was sad to see the directory not work for 3.6 Beta...I'll check this out later

Thanks for being so quick with it!

I'm getting excited about 3.6 now.
This mod is significant and I would have waited to upgrade until it was finished.
Thanks.

*clicks install*

Upgraded to Beta 2 and LDM 2.2.2 last night, and no problems so far - nicely done!

I'll probably be upgrading to Beta 3 tonight also...it's funny how that happens...you upgrade your forums and the next day a new version is released, doh!

lol i had that happen too! within hours of me upgrading to 3.6.0 beta 2....they came out with 3.6.0 beta three!!

not a problem yet with links and downloads ;)

okay i came across this....

Database error in vBulletin 3.6.0 Beta 3:

Invalid SQL:

SELECT linkid, userid, usertime
FROM local_linksdownloads
ORDER BY usertime DESC;

MySQL Error : Lost connection to MySQL server during query
Error Number : 2013
Date : Thursday, June 22nd 2006 @ 03:54:03 PM
Script : http://www.teamrespawn.com/vBulletin...d=569&catid=30

Is this reproducible, and is this the only LDM database error? Lost connection errors are usually caused by some sort of problem on your database server.

If it's reproducible, have you used LDM to download anything yet (i.e. is it possible that the downloads table is empty)?

hmmm hmmm and hmmm

this is reproducible....not the only db error....i will get more....

i was downloading a song and was listening about 45 seconds into it...

i would imagine my downloads table isn't empty but i couldn't tell you for sure...what would i look for?

Interesting - I had one other report of this problem a few months back, also when someone was using the jukebox. The database search is done when LDM has thrown the last bit of the file at the user's browser, and is recording a 'hit'. I'll take another look. MySQL seems to croak sometimes when it's asked to do a search and nothing is found. What version of MySQL/PHP are you running?

You can, in the meantime (I hope), hide the error in one of two ways:
- give all usergroups "can_bypass_hit_recording" on the LDM admin permissions page, or
- set timeout_hit_recording and timeout_hit_allow to 0 on the LDM admin settings page

is now available in this thread

Main changes from 1st beta - many more hooks to help the integration with vbPlaza

This is great news. LDM is now a major part of my site, and so a changeover to 3.6 looks practical for me. Thanks, Andrew.

why do i feel like a newbie??

Paste from 3.5.X:

i can't seem to figure out why my icons don't work.....

if the path is right it doesn't work and if i add a ./ it doesn't work either....oops wrong thread? should i have put this in the 3.6.0 thread??

anyway they don't work in the modules....

not sure if this is me or if there is a problem....

when i download from the jukebox it asks if i want to save or open the file....ummmm that shouldn't happen right? lol now in the 3.5.4 it never did that but maybe i need to change a setting?

can_play_musicbox and can_save_musicbox settings:

With both: the filetype icon opens the jukebox and the entry name triggers a open/save as'
With can_play but not can_save: both icon and name open the jukebox
With can_save but not can_play: icon does nothing and name triggers a open/save as

Probably you had changed this permission in your vb354 board as nothing has changed with the vb36 code

okay now andrewd....quick questions...

i don't have my uploads in vb db...i have them in my forum root...now if i do a fresh install what do i need to export to bring them all back? just the csv? or the xml too? and if i do the xml import will this wipe out everything i have done to my new test forum? there's no threads or anything like that but i am worried about my mods...will i have to reinstall or anything like that?

and how do i get rid of this look? i can't seem to figure it out....
http://www.teamrespawn.com/vbulletin/local_links.php

In settings, change the cat_sub_display option to 0 (zero) to not show the sub catagories that are inside your main catagory.

tyvm lol

oh and i got my files transferred lol ;)

You are very welcome.

installed & Works.

Been away for a few days - seems as if everything's ok?

okay everything was okay until i tried to install the templates....i mean modules sorry

now i know they don't point where they were supposed to...so i had uploaded them to my server root and changed the file_dir to them and it worked...but when i changed it to 3.6.0 beta4 it no longer works...can you take a look and tell me why?

oh yeah let me know if you need ftp access

but the path to it is /images/icon/

i tried ./images/icon
i tried ./../images/icon

mental block i guess

I'm having fun customizing this mod on a testing board. Thank you for sharing, AndrewD. *Clicked Install*

I had a question regarding the sub-category view on the main local_links page. Under a main link category, I have 3 sub-link categories that lists horizontally. Is it possible to customize the amount of sub categories displayed per row?

Currently there is not a setting for this, but I realised the other day that 2.2.2's a mess (I changed the display of subcategories from a simple text string that automatically folded at line end to a single row table with multiple cells that never folds).

So it needs a bit of work, and I'm quite happy to add another parameter if you want. My inclination is to go back to the text string.

Thanks, AndrewD for replying. :)

I'd like that feature if possible. I'd be more than willing to help you out.

I am testing the LDM on a 3.6.0 RC1 testing board and working on a clean and simple layout. Excuse the default vB template but the attachments below show what I have currently:

The version Spanish is Great! Thacnk You very much! :D

Thanks - I will add the feature - I will also take note of your ideas on the layout - this has become more cluttered as we have added more options, and it needs attention.

Thank you for considering to add the requested feature. :)

As for template ideas, I have a few that I would like to try; I'm focusing on the user interface, not admin portion. As I deal them out I'll post back and share it. :)

does this have the option that can search the local directory automatically and add them to the links db? instead of adding them manually?

XD

Yes. In the current version, you can carry out directory scans via the LDM admin pages.

In the next beta, categories can be associated with directories, and the synchronisation process will be handled automatically, including subdirectories/subcategories.

The only caveat is that scanning large directory trees is cpu intensive

I'd be very interested in a template that makes LDM look more like the forums layout ..

I'm working on several things atm but I'll give it a go. :)

Okay... several questions relating to this mod...

Right now, this mod shows 1 download per row. Is it possible to set this mod up so that it shows 2 downloads per row? Frankly because I think it looks very ugly with all that space in between the thumbnail and the information panel...

As well, is it possible to have it show 3 thumbnails per file instead of only 1?

LDM/Admin/Settings or (per category) Edit Category/Control Settings

There are various parameters to control the layout (e.g. links_cols_display), and various styles of linkbit provided (the standard frameset-based, one item per row; a photo based linkbit, up to six per row; etc).

After three years of discussion on this, I've come to the conclusion that there is no single layout that everyone will like! So you can always edit the linkbit templates as well, if you don't like the layout.

No, this is not currently possible

great job andrewD !!

one more question, can it scan files from a url? for example, i have some files in another server and want to insert those links into LDM without enter them manually, since lots of those files are located on the other url.

when scanning, just enter e.g. http://www.webfiles.com/filestored/

thanks
XD

As far as I can tell, this is not possible: for security reasons, one cannot read directories on remote systems except using ftp, and the ftp protocol is not supported by PHP until release 5.

Hi AndrewD,

i was trying the limitaccess plugin, somehow it doesn't work, here is what i got:
Fatal error: Call to a member function on a non-object in /data/sv/forums/includes/local_links_include.php(1651) : eval()'d code on line 3

i just imported the plugin and that's what i got when trying to click on the download link. this is a really great feature.

thanks
xd

Sorry about that - I'd broken this 'extra' in one of my tidying up exercises.

Will fix in the next upload - it's trivial to fix but not just one simple change.

IIs there a way to do 2 column catagories, without descriptions? When I set it to 2 columns I htink it still makes space for the descriptions and scrunches the catagory name.

Thanks - great add-on btw