Major Additions - 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.

[j?rg]

hi,

thank you verry much.

[sonicBeagle]

I'm having a hard time understanding what LDM actually does and what it looks like from a user's perspective - in other words, what a member of my board will see. Does anyone have a board using LDM where I could see it "in action"?

My problem is that I use my board as a "support site" and my users download executables and pdfs on the order of 20-120Mb. vBulletin, as far as I can tell, makes uploading large files difficult and downloading them very unreliable. So I'm trying to find a better way to post large files and make them easier for my members to pull down. Is LDM the answer?

Thanks!

[AndrewD]

Originally Posted by sonicBeagle

I'm having a hard time understanding what LDM actually does and what it looks like from a user's perspective - in other words, what a member of my board will see. Does anyone have a board using LDM where I could see it "in action"?

My problem is that I use my board as a "support site" and my users download executables and pdfs on the order of 20-120Mb. vBulletin, as far as I can tell, makes uploading large files difficult and downloading them very unreliable. So I'm trying to find a better way to post large files and make them easier for my members to pull down. Is LDM the answer?

Thanks!

Let's take your last question first. Uploading large files is difficult because the normal techniques used for the web (the HTTP protocol) are not suitable for handling these files. This is why people use FTP protocols instead, which involve different tools. HTTP is a reliable way of transferring small quantities of data. You can force it to work with larger files, but it becomes unreliable.

VBulletin aims to make life easy for people using the web, primarily for having discussions.

LDM also aims to make life easy for people on the web to share links and downloadable files, including uploading relatively small files. There are quite a number of LDM users who are using it to allow users to upload quite large files, but they need to know what they are doing. The bottom line, for files bigger than 20 MB, is the following - if you can install them on your site correctly, LDM will handle the downloading process.

As far as reliable downloads are concerned, this is again a 'feature' of the web. LDM will work smoothly with other download managers to allow failed connections, etc, to be picked up and corrected.

However, I do not recommend that you rely on it as a general purpose uploading tool for large files.

[sonicBeagle]

Andrew, thank you for the response. I do upload my large files (I'm the only one who actually uploads - all my members just download) to my site using FTP because of the very problem you cite - I'm somewhat relieved to hear my HTTP troubles aren't "just me".

You mentioned that LDM works well with other download managers - do I need to use another manager in combination with LDM or is just LDM enough?

[outlaw621]

AndrewD,
I would like to import the limitaccess-byhits-plugin.xml from the extras folder but the instructions do not tell you which hook to use. Can you advise the correct hook placement?

[AndrewD]

Originally Posted by sonicBeagle

Andrew, thank you for the response. I do upload my large files (I'm the only one who actually uploads - all my members just download) to my site using FTP because of the very problem you cite - I'm somewhat relieved to hear my HTTP troubles aren't "just me".

You mentioned that LDM works well with other download managers - do I need to use another manager in combination with LDM or is just LDM enough?

No, you don't need to use another download manager - it's simply that some people find that these take the hassle out of managing multiple large downloads, so it was a relief to discover that LDM works with (at least some of) them.

[AndrewD]

Originally Posted by outlaw621

AndrewD,
I would like to import the limitaccess-byhits-plugin.xml from the extras folder but the instructions do not tell you which hook to use. Can you advise the correct hook placement?

The plugin already knows where to go - you use VB/admin/Plugins and Products/Download and Upload Plugins - and then upload the xml file.

[outlaw621]

Originally Posted by AndrewD

The plugin already knows where to go - you use VB/admin/Plugins and Products/Download and Upload Plugins - and then upload the xml file.

Doh. Thank you AndrewD. I had a complete brain fart and forgot about that VB option. Maybe it's time to go back to bed. On a different note, just completed the upgrade from 2.2.5-rc to 2.2.5 and it went as smooth as a baby's bottom. Great product.

[AndrewD]

Originally Posted by EasyTarget

Just updated to 2.2.6a and installed the new extra for patch forum home thumbnails. It seems to be working great without any bugs.. thanks for all the work you've put into this.

Is it possible to make the thumbnails which appear on the forum home patch a different size than the ones in the ldm? (I have a fairly large thumbnail setting for the ldm which isn't quite as practical to have on the forumhome)

Will be changed in the next upload.

[EasyTarget]

I use the cURL functions and everything has been working great, however I recently added someone else to help with the LDM and he's done something to make it so my thumbs no longer display.. they're all just red x's.

He was remote linking to images on other sites but now not only do those images not work, none of them do. I've tried changing the thumbnail settings (size and create_thumbs_oninsert) and resetting the thumbs but nothing seems to be working.

*edit*
resubmitting them 1 by 1 seems to fix them, is there another way to do this without having to edit each link with a thumbnail image?

also, if you're thinking of tweaking/adding more to the forumhome addon, what about a random images/files setting where it would display random files/images apart from the new/hot ones (as well as being limited to specific categories as hot/new are)?