Links and Files Database

The VB3.0 version is no longer supported although there have been no reported problems for some time

See here for the VB 3.6 version of this hack, which is now the supported version. This version currently also works with VB 3.5
See here for the VB 3.5 thread for this hack.

What's new in v1.60?

Option to display associated thumbnail images
Option to accept/not accept new entries if these already exists in database
Code for mass edits (accessed via admincp) tidied up
VB phrasing completed
Includes a full French and a partial German translation (thanks to cclaerhout, Allan and LeeWicKeD), handled properly by installation script.
Various bugs fixed and tested against php4 and php5:
Better database validation (on startup/in admincp: links with invalid associated forumids, categories with invalid parentids)
Alternative linkbit templates provided (default uses a fieldset, the other is the old-style table row)
Alternative category selection templates (pull down menu/list of checkboxes),
Star rating displayed using standard VB stars rather than in text form
Series of minor bug fixes
See file change.txt in zip file

What it is/does

- Provides a searchable database of weblinks and/or downloadable files, for example manuals, music files, pictures, etc.
- Integrates within VBulletin, without requiring any code changes.
- Transparently handles links and file downloads. (If you want to provide downloads from your own site, you need a separate tool to upload these files. This hack does not and will not include a file uploader.)
- Provides unlimited nested categories.
- Each link/file can be a member of multiple categories.
- Link and category title and descriptions can use all BBCODEs, giving the possibility to add images, colouring, etc, as you wish
- Viewing/access permissions controlled using VBulletin forum system
- Users can rate links, in a similar manner to VB thread rating.
- File downloads are semi-leechproof, i.e. the user does not see where the file is stored and can only access the link if she has access to the associated forum.
- Audio files playable via Windows Media Player can be offered as a jukebox .
- Tracks who downloads what
- Validates links on entry/editing, and provides admin facility to validate the entire database.

Installation/upgrading instructions

Read instructions.txt in the zip file. Installation script works out whether to install or upgrade.

To upgrade from an earlier release of this hack, simply re-run the installation script. If you modified the templates in the top styles, you will lose these modifications unless you back up and re-edit.

PLEASE BACK UP YOUR DATABASE

See also

For screen shots, see attachments.

Tested with

VBulletin 3.0 and higher
PHP 4.1.1 and 4.3.4, should work with all 4.x versions, seems ok with 5.0.4
MySQL 4.0.
Reported ok with MySQL 4.1 but not exhaustively tested

Credits

Initially inspired by drkFusion's vb2 hack "vb Link Directory" v.2 and discussion about v.3 on Vbulletin.org. This is a complete rewrite with many more features. Every credit to the VBulletin folks for providing the infrastructure and to those on vbulletin.org who have helped with testing.

Integrations/Conversions

Natch has written extensions to integrate this hack with VBindex and VBAdvanced.

For convenience, this hack includes fully integrates with, but does not install, his VBIndex hack - i.e. the required template and code are provided, and the admin panel handles the configuration settings. Please refer to his thread for instructions.

Integration with VBadvanced is described in thread 1319 at vbadvanced.com.

The zip file includes a script and instructions for converting from vbLinks v2 (see thread 44551

[intrigue]

get this error

The following setting(s) are invalid
monitor_dir :

i tried a 1 and a 0
.matt

[AndrewD]

Originally Posted by intrigue

get this error

The following setting(s) are invalid
monitor_dir :

i tried a 1 and a 0
.matt

If you set this at all, it should be set to the name of a directory. local_file_root tells the code where to find the directory.

If local_file_root=0, then setting monitor_dir (e.g.) to /downloads would tell the code to base its scans on http://yoursite/downloads

If local_file_root=1, then you might set moitor_dir (e.g., on a windows m/c) to d:/websites/yoursite/downloads

[AndrewD]

Will be travelling for the next week, so please don't break anything important

[Imperial Fritz]

Upgraded successfully after upgrading to 3.0.7 as well, works fine.

[Imperial Fritz]

Well, you forgot to phrase two of the most visible words

PHP Code:

<tr align="center">
    <td class="tcat" align="center" width="20%"><strong>Entry</strong></td>
    <td class="tcat"><strong>&nbsp;Description</strong></td>
</tr> 


[AndrewD]

Originally Posted by Imperial Fritz

Well, you forgot to phrase two of the most visible words

PHP Code:

<tr align="center">
    <td class="tcat" align="center" width="20%"><strong>Entry</strong></td>
    <td class="tcat"><strong>&nbsp;Description</strong></td>
</tr> 


Why do I feel as if you wanted to find these! :speechless: Will fix when I get back home. Thanks.

[RustedBucket]

Originally Posted by AndrewD

You create (or choose) a forum on your board, and give that forum the permissions you want to use for the file (for example, only registered users can view posts in the forum). Then you associate the file with the forum. You do this within the form for adding or editing the link. You can do the same for categories.

If you want to apply this condition to every new file you make available, then on the links admin page, you set that forum to be the default forum for new links/categories.

The problem with this methodology appears to be that you still end up hiding the fact there is anything to download from the user. The unregistered user either can't see it or they see a link in another forum they can't access. So in the first scenerio, why would they do anything, the assumption is going to be there is nothing to download. The second scenerio would end up turning on the hidden links so you end up with two forums with the same stuff in them.

Why not base this on the grup attachment properties. Consider a link to a file the same thing as a physical attachment, because in essence it really is that. So if it's clicked, and the usergroup doesn't have permission to download attachment the permission error is generated?

[AndrewD]

Originally Posted by crazy4bass

The problem with this methodology appears to be that you still end up hiding the fact there is anything to download from the user. The unregistered user either can't see it or they see a link in another forum they can't access. So in the first scenerio, why would they do anything, the assumption is going to be there is nothing to download. The second scenerio would end up turning on the hidden links so you end up with two forums with the same stuff in them.

Why not base this on the grup attachment properties. Consider a link to a file the same thing as a physical attachment, because in essence it really is that. So if it's clicked, and the usergroup doesn't have permission to download attachment the permission error is generated?

Quite a number of the recent questions have been about this or related points of visibility versus access. I understand that others may want to use the availability of downloads to attract new people to register. However, this hack was written from a different perspective, which is to offer different types of document to different user communities, one public, the other fee paying. In our case, most of those who are in the public category do not have the option (because of the nature of the association I run) to become fee paying (& so we hide the register button from them), and should not know that the other documents exist.

So the design objective was to build all access permissions on the forums permissions system for VB. That way, links and posts become equivalent, either fully visible or invisible, according to usergroup. There are one or two minor adjustments to that (i.e the can_see_protected_links_on_portal permission), to meet a particular user need. The decision was taken way back, and it would require a complete overhaul of the code to change it.

[Imperial Fritz]

To add another perspective - in my case I absolutely don't want unregistered and even general registered users to know that I'm offering stuff for download (it's mostly articles and documents). The permission system as it is now is perfect for me.

[Xtrm2Matt]

Hi,

Is there a way we can make it so users MUST register on the forum to download files? I just checked, and a guest can download a file without registering

Matt