Major Additions - Links and Downloads Manager

What this is and does

Version 3.0.2-PL1 uploaded 15th March 2010.

LDM is a general-purpose tool for managing libraries of links and files, and handling uploads and downloads in a flexible way, while tracking and controlling user access. It also has a range of integrated media players and a large library of 'plugin' extras. It has been developed steadily since the release of vb 3.0 some six years ago, based on extensive feedback from users at vb.org.

I think the 3.0.x releases have been tested enough and are no longer considered beta. However, I still want feedback on features that do not work at all or do not work properly.

Translations in Spanish, French, Chinese, German and Dutch are available as phrase files and are more or less complete.

Installation and Usage Explained in the on-line Wiki, with a brief explanation in the file instructions.txt in the release zip.

The installer will either create a new LDM database, or recognise that you already have an earlier version installed and update it.

Unlike earlier versions of LDM, this version automatically adds a link to the product on the main vb navbar.

Please do not blindly install on a live forum without being sure that you have tested it adequately. Use carefully and always backup your database before upgrading. Post reports of problems and suggestions for enhancements in this thread. You can find extensive discussion of this mod in the VB3.7 mods and VB3.8 mods sections.

Staff Note: Sadly, Andrew D, the developer of the Links and Downloads Manager has passed away after a long period of illness.

[Ophelia]

Ignore this one.

[skylab]

Any way to change from DownloadsII to this while keeping all the files?

[AndrewD]

Originally Posted by Ophelia

Error on upgrade.. I did this "Run the Product Management System (VB admincp: Plugin System/Manage Products) and upload /release/product_eirma_ldm.xml"

And the following error came up:

Checking environment...

Warning open_basedir is set to in your PHP installation
Refer to documentation for information on this setting

This isn't an error - it's a warning. When your server has a php configuration file that sets a value for <em>open_basedir</em>, this restricts the parts of the filesystem that *any* script can access. It is quite possible to set <em>open_basedir</em> and LDM's settings such as <em>file_root_prefix</em> to be incompatible, hence the warning.

Originally Posted by Ophelia

Under settings...

On my live site the teamuploads and thumbs is under /forum/teamuploads and /forum/thumbs

I changed this in the upgrade so it should be looking at /dev_forum/teamuploads and /dev_forum/thumbs, but it doesn't appear to be updating. I have none of the files in teamuploads and only 1/4 of the thumbs but when I go to the download manager, all the thumbs are there and I can download the zip files.

The LDM code does not currently update its database records to change all the pointers for existing uploads and thumbs from the previous directory to the new directory. I can probably send you a straighforward bit of sql to use with, e.g., phpmyadmin, to make the update, and will add this problem to the 'to do' list.

Originally Posted by Ophelia

The comments sections is drastically different.



It expands the comments below everything, and shows 4 comments. This takes up a lot of space. Can you set it so that it doesn't expand like this?

There are now (actually for some time in vb 3 also) two ways of accessing the comments system, one using the 'dropdown' method that you are probably used to, and the second using an extended 'inline' feature that you are observing. You can choose which you want on the admin/settings page. I think you've enabled them both to show simultaneously.

Originally Posted by Ophelia

In the admin area, you have bullet points for each category

Settings
File management
Linkbits/Catbits
Mirror Sites
Media Players

etc.

I'm old. Trying to get the mouse directly over those small bullet points isn't as easy for me anymore Can the link be extended out to the word too?

Probably, you ask so nicely

The time for the local_links.php is a lot longer than the time for the forum/blog or cms to load. Anyone else seeing that too?

This is a matter of caching certain bits of the display in order to gain speed. It is one of those things which gets tuned as one goes along, and was not a priority for this beta release. There is however a 'display bit caching' setting on the admin/settings page which is already partially functional.

[michael24179]

local_file_root
Website
local_file_root_prefix
not set
Datei-Uploads
not set
upload_dir
not set
thumbs_dir
not set
file_icons_dir
not set

Is this normal ?????? All information has been submitted

[AndrewD]

Originally Posted by michael24179

local_file_root
Website
local_file_root_prefix
not set
Datei-Uploads
not set
upload_dir
not set
thumbs_dir
not set
file_icons_dir
not set

Is this normal ?????? All information has been submitted

Edited: I didn't look carefully enough...

There's a bug in the 3.0.0 code which prevents some items being displayed properly. Sorry for jumting to conclusions too quickly. Fixed in 3.0.1

[Ophelia]

Originally Posted by AndrewD

This isn't an error - it's a warning. When your server has a php configuration file that sets a value for <em>open_basedir</em>, this restricts the parts of the filesystem that *any* script can access. It is quite possible to set <em>open_basedir</em> and LDM's settings such as <em>file_root_prefix</em> to be incompatible, hence the warning.

I'm not overly experienced with the server side of things; but if we have had LDM running okay in the past, is this something that I need to worry about?

The LDM code does not currently update its database records to change all the pointers for existing uploads and thumbs from the previous directory to the new directory. I can probably send you a straighforward bit of sql to use with, e.g., phpmyadmin, to make the update, and will add this problem to the 'to do' list.

No worries on sending the code. I just wanted to make sure that it wasn't a bug. Once we go live everything will be where it's suppose to be

There are now (actually for some time in vb 3 also) two ways of accessing the comments system, one using the 'dropdown' method that you are probably used to, and the second using an extended 'inline' feature that you are observing. You can choose which you want on the admin/settings page. I think you've enabled them both to show simultaneously.

There we go! All fixed

Probably, you ask so nicely

Thank you

This is a matter of caching certain bits of the display in order to gain speed. It is one of those things which gets tuned as one goes along, and was not a priority for this beta release. There is however a 'display bit caching' setting on the admin/settings page which is already partially functional.

I turned on the "bit_cache_active" and it did seem to load faster. Not sure if it's my imagination or not

I'll be doing more testing... we won't be going live until they get the CMS functioning better, but we are very excited about all the changes

[ryacine]

Hello mates,
Thank you for this wonderful mod, one of the most important mods actually. I tried to install it on my test board, but it doesn't seem to complete the installation. It shows a message as shown in the image, but nothing happens, no matter how much I wait. But when I enter the "Addon manager", it's there, but when i try to login as admin : mysite/local_links_admin.php , nothing happens, only a white page. I don't what the problem is. Thank you.

[JWL]

Can someone link a working site with this please?

I am interested in this and would like to see how it works.

Thank you

[linuxututs]

Originally Posted by JWL

Can someone link a working site with this please?

I am interested in this and would like to see how it works.

Thank you

I'm waiting for the next update myself. ( Scared to screw up my new site )
But one thing is for sure, this is a GREAT Mod, had it installed on my 3.8.4 site a week or so before I upgraded. It is/was SUPER !

Thanks for the great Mod.

Thanks,

[AndrewD]

Originally Posted by ryacine

Hello mates,
Thank you for this wonderful mod, one of the most important mods actually. I tried to install it on my test board, but it doesn't seem to complete the installation. It shows a message as shown in the image, but nothing happens, no matter how much I wait. But when I enter the "Addon manager", it's there, but when i try to login as admin : mysite/local_links_admin.php , nothing happens, only a white page. I don't what the problem is. Thank you.

May be a problem with the time taken to upload the xml product file.

Try uploading the product file (product-eirma_ldm.xml) into your includes/xml directory, then tell vb to install that file, instead of doing the upload.