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.

[AndrewD]

Originally Posted by Rouzbeh1

hi
i have two problems with LDM.
1 - when forum is turned OFF LDM doesn't work how it should or i may have forgotten to turn on some options. (entry thumb can't be shown in portal and also thread. it can not find the image somehow....)
if you need some more details or access to my site, please let me know.

2 - Bandwidth Usage is not working for me at all ( per file & per size in Bytes)

feature request for new versions:
1 - adding 2 or more links for each entry (mirror choose)

thanks in advance

I'm sorry, I'm not quite understanding point 1, and I can't help without point 2 without taking a look. Pls send me a pm with site details and an admin u/name and pwd.

[Rouzbeh1]

Originally Posted by AndrewD

I'm sorry, I'm not quite understanding point 1, and I can't help without point 2 without taking a look. Pls send me a pm with site details and an admin u/name and pwd.

thanks
PM sent

[fringehead]

Thanks for the quick reply Andrew! I will ask the guys over at vbdrupal about changing their function name. How much code modification would it take to get your mod to work? So I just change the name of the function and the code that references that function and it's all good?

I'll check it out!

Thanks,

Sean

Originally Posted by AndrewD

Sean, you will have to edit one or other piece of code to rename function check_url to something else.

The difficulty is one has no control over the ways users combine pieces of software, and it is not straightorward in php to keep function definitions localised.

I've started working on this problem for 2.2.7 by introducing a new naming scheme, but it will be sometime before I am confident that nothing has been broken in the process.

If you are running v 2.2.5, this is where check_url is defined/used:

check_url (local_links_include.php)
local_links_include.php(1171)
local_links_actions.php(412)
local_links_actions.php(445)
local_links_actions.php(702)
local_links_actions.php(837)
local_links_actions.php(875)
local_links_admin.php(849)

If you are running 2.2.6 beta, these are the locations:

check_url (local_links_include.php)
local_links_include.php(1185)
local_links_actions.php(412)
local_links_actions.php(445)
local_links_actions.php(702)
local_links_actions.php(837)
local_links_actions.php(875)
local_links_admin.php(849)

[fringehead]

Andrew, I made the changes and the program is working fine!

Thanks for the quick and very informative reply!

You're doing a great job supporting your awsome FREE program!

Sean

[obmob]

WOW! Andrew has had a lot of posts this week...

Great Job, Great Job!

Already translating spanish phrases... it's the best i can do for LDM!

[AndrewD]

As per PM, just for the record...

Originally Posted by Rouzbeh1

hi
i have two problems with LDM.
1 - when forum is turned OFF LDM doesn't work how it should or i may have forgotten to turn on some options. (entry thumb can't be shown in portal and also thread. it can not find the image somehow....)
if you need some more details or access to my site, please let me know.

Boy, the first problem (images not shown when forum turned off) is a bit obscure...

The image that is shown on the portal is actually constructed "on the fly", not read directly from the file. The script that creates it (local_resize.php) is being told that your forums are switched off, so does not run.

The fix is to edit local_resize.php, find the line

define('SKIP_SESSIONCREATE', 1);

and comment it out, i.e.

// define('SKIP_SESSIONCREATE', 1);

I'll fix this in the next release.

2 - Bandwidth Usage is not working for me at all ( per file & per size in Bytes)

As far as I can see this working correctly. I gave your (my) usergroup an allowance of 1 file and 292K per day, downloaded benjamin once, then tried to download it a second time and it told me that I had used up all my allowances.

LDM deliberately allows you to exceed your bandwith allowance with the current transfer, i.e. if downloading the file will take you over the allowance, that's ok, but it will not start the download if the allowance is already exceeded.


Another point - for your sample download (benyamin.zip), you had set up both the entry and the image using a full url to your own site. This works, but it will be *much* more expensive in server load than giving just the filename relative to your site, i.e. just as /downloads/music/albums/benyamin/Benyamin - 85.zip. I've edited the example to show you what I mean. This downloads faster and places less load on your server.

feature request for new versions:
1 - adding 2 or more links for each entry (mirror choose)

thanks in advance

Noted - several people have asked for this - it requires a bit of redesign to do this cleanly, so I will think whether/how to best handle your request.

Let me know that everything is now ok.

[Rouzbeh1]

thank you Andrew for your time and help

Originally Posted by AndrewD

As far as I can see this working correctly. I gave your (my) usergroup an allowance of 1 file and 292K per day, downloaded benjamin once, then tried to download it a second time and it told me that I had used up all my allowances.

LDM deliberately allows you to exceed your bandwith allowance with the current transfer, i.e. if downloading the file will take you over the allowance, that's ok, but it will not start the download if the allowance is already exceeded.

it wasn't working before, so i tried everything and then asked you for help.
could you please tell me what was the reason it wasn't working? (any settings i may have forgotten?!...)

Another point - for your sample download (benyamin.zip), you had set up both the entry and the image using a full url to your own site. This works, but it will be *much* more expensive in server load than giving just the filename relative to your site, i.e. just as /downloads/music/albums/benyamin/Benyamin - 85.zip. I've edited the example to show you what I mean. This downloads faster and places less load on your server.

i have first entered in the same way you explained, but somehow the images were not being shown, so i just done some testings


once again i would like to thank you for your support.
everything is working perfect.

[AndrewD]

Originally Posted by Rouzbeh1

thank you Andrew for your time and help

it wasn't working before, so i tried everything and then asked you for help.
could you please tell me what was the reason it wasn't working? (any settings i may have forgotten?!...)

I didn't do anything!! One of the great mysteries of life...

[Ophelia]

Hi there Andrew.

Thank you for your response earlier..

I have a new issue.

We have the Terms of Use Accept/Decline turned on. I know that when you had it set up so it showed when they downloaded, there was an issue with folks using a download manager.. well we are running into a similiar issue, but most are not using a download manager.

Here is thread where I'm asking them to define their environment.

http://www.gottapixel.net/forum/showthread.php?t=6558

The issue is that when they click Accept, it looks like it's forwarding them, but instead, sends them back to the Accept/Decline page. We *really* want to use this feature on the site as there is a lot of sharing of graphic files and a reminder is always nice Any ideas?

[AndrewD]

Originally Posted by Ophelia

Hi there Andrew.

Thank you for your response earlier..

I have a new issue.

We have the Terms of Use Accept/Decline turned on. I know that when you had it set up so it showed when they downloaded, there was an issue with folks using a download manager.. well we are running into a similiar issue, but most are not using a download manager.

Here is thread where I'm asking them to define their environment.

http://www.gottapixel.net/forum/showthread.php?t=6558

The issue is that when they click Accept, it looks like it's forwarding them, but instead, sends them back to the Accept/Decline page. We *really* want to use this feature on the site as there is a lot of sharing of graphic files and a reminder is always nice Any ideas?

One of your users has remarked that they can prevent the problem by temporarily turning off their firewall. I think this gives a hint.

LDM records that people 'accept' the terms of agreement by storing a cookie on their PC. This cookie lasts for 24 hours. If, for any reason, the PC refuses to create the cookie, or if LDM is not told about it, then I realise that the software will get thrown into this loop and keep asking the same question.

I had missed this possibility - it may be related to the growing concern around the web about security. I will have to find a different approach. In the meantime, it will be very helpful to learn what firewall and what antivirus software people are using who experience this problem.

If