Links and Downloads Manager

LDM extends VBulletin to manage a library of documents, files and links to other web sites. Documents can be stored on your own web site, stored on your server separate from the web site, uploaded by your user community, or held somewhere else altogether. So you can use LDM to provide your user community with access to your own files and allow them to share files with each other.

12/08/06 - Versions that work with vb36 are available and supported in the VB36 thread. Version 2.2.1, which works with VB 3.5 but not with VB 3.6, remains available here.

Thanks to everyone who has helped with all the design, testing, etc.
Translations are provided (thanks dLutt and LeeWicked) into German, (thanks to Allan) into French, and (thanks to Hugo) into Spanish. Harry1951 has handled the Dutch translation.

Screenshots, Instructions and How to Install

Full details and instructions are available as a Wiki at http://www.eirma.org/wikis/index.php...nloads_Manager

LDM installs as a VBulletin product. There are no modifications required to standard VB code.

Basically - upload php files and run the installer through VB's Product installer. No changes needed to VB code. Remember to BACKUP YOUR DATABASE. By default, LDM prefixes its database tables 'local_'. Edit the configuration file, local_links_init.php, if you need/wish to change this.

LDM can handle an essentially unlimited number of categories and nested subcategories, and an unlimited number of entries (hyperlinks or downloadable files). Each entry can be placed in one or several categories. Categories can have styles. Descriptions and titles can optionally include BBcodes, smilies, images and html, giving the possibility to add images, colouring, etc. File types can be flagged using icons and individual entries can also have associated thumbnail images.

Standards templates are provided for libraries of links, files, documents, and photographs.

Users can offer comments and rate the links/downloads. Each user is allowed one rating and many comments per entry, and can freely edit these if they change their mind.

Permission to use specific features is established via the product's admin page, where the administrator specifies which usergroups can add and edit entries, comment and rate these entries, moderate, etc.

By default, all entries are visible to all users. You can restrict visibility/access to links and categories by using the permissions masks from your board's forums.

Moderation of new entries is available but turned off by default.

Users can report bad links to the relevant moderators/administrators.

Each user can flag links as his/her "Favourites".

Modules are provided for VBAdvanced.

Hooks are provided in suitable places in LDM and sample plugins are included in the release (see extras directory), for example to integrate with ID3 tags in mp3 files, for slideshows, to autocreate new threads in your forums, etc.

Plus much more.

[Juniors]

Hi

After the uninstall i recieve the following Error when i access my /forum/online.php:

Warnung: Unknown(/my/directory/forum/includes/local_links_init.php): failed to open stream: No such file or directory in /includes/functions_online.php(1424) : eval()'d code (Zeile 7)

Fatal error: (null)(): Failed opening required '/my/directory/forum/includes/local_links_init.php' (include_path='.:') in /my/directory/forum/includes/functions_online.php(1424) : eval()'d code on line 7

You have any Idea?

Thanks a lot

Junior

[pirotess]

Originally Posted by AndrewD

You're using essentially the same environment that I use, and I do not get the link check error that you report with http://jaxwax.us/index.htm

Im having a similar problem with .org and .net links. They fail to link check but if I manually accept them they link just fine.

[AndrewD]

Originally Posted by Juniors

Hi

After the uninstall i recieve the following Error when i access my /forum/online.php:



You have any Idea?

Thanks a lot

Junior

Presumably the plugins are not being removed during the uninstallation. Take a look at Plugin System/Plugin Manager and see if there are any plugins that look like Links and Downloads Manager

[elsupremo]

Originally Posted by EasyTarget

good idea on the mirror.

Instead of just a mirror link, the ability to have multiple links in one (such as for pictures of different resolutions) would be nice. Main link with title and description, then sublinks (maybe above description) with name and one-line description.

[TundraSoul]

Originally Posted by AndrewD

Thanks for the responses so far to 2.1.1 beta 1.

- I will not at this stage provide the extra facility to link keywords to entries. You will have to do this via the entry's title/description. Keywording will stay on the 'wish list' for the time being.

OK?

I'm thinking searchable keywords, or a search based on the profile choice. My birthday's on the 8th, and I can feel it coming.. j/k

Seriously, I have a workaround I can implement to re-organize the links based on the possible profile choices, but I don't want to do the work if this is coming in the next month.

[AndrewD]

Originally Posted by TundraSoul

I'm thinking searchable keywords, or a search based on the profile choice. My birthday's on the 8th, and I can feel it coming.. j/k

Seriously, I have a workaround I can implement to re-organize the links based on the possible profile choices, but I don't want to do the work if this is coming in the next month.

OK, in the next month. But to be sure we get this right, from what you've seen so far with the second beta of 2.1.1, pls specify the keyworking behaviour:

- how will the set of available keywords be established, and by who
- will keyword searches over-ride fulltext/'like' searches or be in addition to
- what happens if certain entries have no keywords associated with them

etc

[Nam]

Originally Posted by elsupremo

Instead of just a mirror link, the ability to have multiple links in one (such as for pictures of different resolutions) would be nice. Main link with title and description, then sublinks (maybe above description) with name and one-line description.

I've suggested multiple files in one link before in this thread, not sure that's what you mean. In case there is an video files that has multiple parts, create a new entry would cluster the interface.

Anyway, Andrew, I can't wait any longer and will install the beta on my server once the beta 2.1.2 is release, it is easy to upgrade to stable one? I like this script so much and want the bandwidth feature on my forum right now.

[AndrewD]

Originally Posted by Nam

I've suggested multiple files in one link before in this thread, not sure that's what you mean. In case there is an video files that has multiple parts, create a new entry would cluster the interface.

Anyway, Andrew, I can't wait any longer and will install the beta on my server once the beta 2.1.2 is release, it is easy to upgrade to stable one? I like this script so much and want the bandwidth feature on my forum right now.

Upgrades are very straightforward.

The main known bug you will find in 2.1.1 is that some of the controlling urls are broken, in particular those that appear in the table of 'what's new' at the top of the displays and in the VBAdvanced interface. You can avoid the first by setting 'show_hit_parade' to 0, and the second by not using the VBadvanced interface for the time being.

[Nam]

Btw, another question is that how difficult to make access to link based on category? Say Registered member can access to A and not B category, but Premium members can access to both. Just a thought.

Originally Posted by AndrewD

You do this with the forum-based permissions system.

Chose (or create) two forums which have the usergroup permissions you want, let's say Forum 1 (Registered and Premium access) and Forum 2 (Premium only)

'Associate' all the links that you want to be available to your premium users only with Forum 2. You set this on the link edit form, or you can 'mass edit' all the links in a category using the Admin/Category page

Ditto 'associate' all the links you want to be available to registered and premium users with Forum 1.

You can set LDM up so that protected links are visible (or not) to other users witht he Admin/Permissions/Can see protected links on portal permissions

Andrew, when I associate all the links to Forum 2 for premium access, all the category and LDM disappear. I want all the links in Forum 2 are seen by Guests members, but they can not download nor play, is this archiveable?

First, I set LDM can_access_link checked for Guests, then in Forum 2's permission setting, I've tried various options with Unregistered/Not Logged In group, just see if I can make they *see* the link but not be able to download:

A. Can View Forum: Yes
Can View Thread Content: Yes
Can View Others' Threads: No
Result: no permission error page (They can't see any link at all)

B. Can View Forum: Yes
Can View Thread Content: No
Can View Others' Threads: Yes
Result: Guests can download/play the file (They can see but also can download).

The case B is the closest I want to archive, they can see the title of the thread, but NOT the content of the thread. But that doesn't work with LDM, which Guests can see the link but also can download the link.

So the bottom line is, your solution only works if I hide the forum completely, hence it will hide specific LDM folder and files underneath it completely. Again, is there anyway to make the link viewable but not download/playable?

[TundraSoul]

The admin would optionally have to add the keywords by editing the current links. I don't see any logical way for you to create them based on titles and descriptions.

When defining a search, I would simply let the admin choose what method is best for their site. The current full text / like / keyword search or a combination of the two.

In the event the admin set his search type to keyword, and some links have no keywords, the search would miss those links. It simply wouldn't be very smart to enable that type of search unless all the keywords have been added.

Allow the admin to choose the text from the profile field as a possible keyword. If the profile field is a multi-line selection field, allow the admin to choose any or all of the possible profile choices and make them keywords.

Originally Posted by AndrewD

OK, in the next month. But to be sure we get this right, from what you've seen so far with the second beta of 2.1.1, pls specify the keyworking behaviour:

- how will the set of available keywords be established, and by who
- will keyword searches over-ride fulltext/'like' searches or be in addition to
- what happens if certain entries have no keywords associated with them

etc