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.

[|oR|Greg]

Originally Posted by daFish

First, great product.

But I have a question and maybe overlooked something. How is it possible to upload an image when you create a new link to an website, e.g. the image is the logo of the linked site?

Use the Image or Image Upload section(s).

http://www.amacny.com/vb/local_links...d=6&linkid=148

[obmob]

Originally Posted by AndrewD

Thanks! We had a great time, including the pleasure of your country (we were in the Pyrenees for the first week).

Good, though, i'm not spaniard, i'm in Mexico!

Well, finally i'll get to work on 2.2.6 hopefully sooner i'll attach new spanish phrases.

Cant wait to look for that image resizing feature you added :laugh:

[AndrewD]

Originally Posted by obmob

Good, though, i'm not spaniard, i'm in Mexico!

ouch, sorry...

[AndrewD]

Originally Posted by dholt

Noob Question but do I have to create folders for all uploads and if so do I enter the fulll path to it or just the URL. were does it store the files.

How should I set it up

root/forums/images/ldm_icons
root/LDM_Uploads
root/forums/images/file_icons_dir
root/forums/images/thumbs_dir

chkmd to 777

Also I am not sure of this sitting/ local_file_root_prefix

I'm not sure what to put in this box even after reading.

Thanks and sorry for being such a noob with this.

I realise that I have not given you an answer. Sorry.

You'll find each of these parameters explained in the on-line wiki - see first post - but you may have to dig around a bit.

You suggest this set up..

root/forums/images/ldm_icons
root/LDM_Uploads
root/forums/images/thumbs_dir

This is fine, except:

- you do not need a directory root/forums/images/file_icons_dir. Assuming you have placed the contents of the /icons directory in /root/forums/images/ldm_icons, you should point the LDM setting file_icons_dir at images/ldm_icons (i.e. omit forums/ from the setting).

- I would be inclined to put the thumbs_dir outside your forums directory.

Uploads are automatically stored in subfolders underneath (in your example) your LDM_uploads directory. You need to create the LDM_Uploads and chmod it to 777; LDM will do the rest.

local_file_root_prefix and local_file_root

These are optional settings, used to increase security. They modify where LDM looks to find entries stored on the web server. It thinks an entry is on the server if the entry you provide in the Add Entry form has no url (i.e. you specify it as /dir/file.typ rather than as http:// site/dir/file.typ)

If local_file_root is off (by default), then LDM assumes that the entry can be found in the web directory, i.e. in the example given, in subdirectory dir immediately underneath the web root.

If local_file_root is on, then LDM assumes that the entry is found in directory /dir in the local file system of the web site. This is usually not the same place as the web site's root.

local_file_root_prefix is used to 'include' a standard prefix in front of all local file names, regardless of the setting of local_file_root. By default, it is blank. If you set it to /dir1/dir2, then (for the example I gave), LDM would look for the entry in directory /dir1/dir2/dir.

By adjusting these two parameters, you can place files on your local server out of reach of prying eyes and you can also limit the parts of the file system that LDM can get at. This is useful for security reasons.

[AndrewD]

I've only seen one serious problem reported with the beta 2.2.6. Three people have said that email sql error messages are being sent *after* a download is complete, when users then click on the navbar.

I haven't been able to reproduce this problem myself, but I think I know where the problem is.

Please can anyone who has experienced this bug with 2.2.6 test the attached version of the file local_links.php (Just upload it into your main forums directory) and let me know if the problem disappears.

Once this is confirmed, we can make 2.2.6 the official release, and I can start on something else.

[zooki]

Hi there Andrew, What do you say about someone who wants to let people download 600mb files? Does this differ from say a 5mb or 70mb file with regards to stress on server????

I have had many 70mb movie files for download. Now i need to share larger ones. Just worried it might have some ill effect. (apart from bandwidth, which is not problem)

The file will be on the server.. a local file.

thank you.

[AndrewD]

Originally Posted by zooki

Hi there Andrew, What do you say about someone who wants to let people download 600mb files? Does this differ from say a 5mb or 70mb file with regards to stress on server????

I have had many 70mb movie files for download. Now i need to share larger ones. Just worried it might have some ill effect. (apart from bandwidth, which is not problem)

The file will be on the server.. a local file.

thank you.

There seem to me to be two things you should look out for, cpu usage on your server and the possibility of disconnections during transfers.

I just tried an experiment with a 700mb file, held on my PC and 'downloaded' via LDM back onto this PC. It used about 6 seconds cpu time. So you should be ok from that angle.

Concerning dropped connections, the problem is that someone who uses a regular browser interface may get only part of the file. If they are using a download manager, then that should recover. LDM works with download managers, and is able to deliver parts of the download on request (to be technical, it can cope with single range HTTP 206 partial transfer requests).

[zooki]

Originally Posted by AndrewD

There seem to me to be two things you should look out for, cpu usage on your server and the possibility of disconnections during transfers.

I just tried an experiment with a 700mb file, held on my PC and 'downloaded' via LDM back onto this PC. It used about 6 seconds cpu time. So you should be ok from that angle.

Concerning dropped connections, the problem is that someone who uses a regular browser interface may get only part of the file. If they are using a download manager, then that should recover. LDM works with download managers, and is able to deliver parts of the download on request (to be technical, it can cope with single range HTTP 206 partial transfer requests).

THank you, hmm perhaps with the circa 3000 visitors a day its not such a good idea.

[Ipuck]

Originally Posted by AndrewD

I've only seen one serious problem reported with the beta 2.2.6. Three people have said that email messages are being sent *after* a download is complete when users click on the navbar.

I haven't been able to reproduce this problem myself, but I think I know where the problem is.

Please can anyone who has experienced this bug with 2.2.6 test the attached version of the file local_links.php (Just upload it into your main forums directory) and let me know if the problem disappears.

Once this is confirmed, we can make 2.2.6 the official release, and I can start on something else.

Thanks! The new file is working OK.

[Yorixz]

Two things that I couldn't find yet, which I'm really wondering about are; is this hack 'bandwidth-stealing-proof' when you enable guest transfers, and does it allow you to automatically create topics for added downloads (rather than having a comments-like thing.

Hopefully someone can clear these up for me, if those things are also on the features list then I'm definitely a user soon