Integrated Download Program

[AuroraMike]

I know that we have Downloads 1.0e by Ron1n and Downloads Area 1.2 by another author but both programs have a number of issues and are very low priorities by the authors. We really need a solid download program that's integrated with VB, uses the VB permission systems but is something more than a forum where people add attachments. The Downloads 1.0e is a good looking program but just really lacks any serious functionality. What it does do, it does well. But if someone could make a (as I call it) Download Manager akin to VBAdvanced's Gallery product, in terms of integration and features, I'm sure it's something ppl would pay for.

What I'm thinking about is another php program that gives admins a whole new dynamic. We could have categories and sub-categories (and so on). Users could leave feedback and ratings, we could provide security on a per-category (or sub category) basis. Screenshots could be attached (if screenshots were needed) and a detailed description could be left by the admin. Additionally, there could be the possibility of users uploading new files and then admins could (or disable if they didn't want to) moderate the files to cover their rear end from copyrighted material.

I was thinking that if someone could make something similar to Ron1n's program, give it the abilities and style of cinq's VBArticles 2.0 and then polish it and give it the features of VBA's Gallery...wow. I'd pay $50 for that, easily. And I'm sure there are quite a few others who would as well. I haven't touced code in 10 years and when I did, it required the use of a compiler and used the 3rd letter of the alphabet as it's name. While I can fix minor issues w/ PHP, I couldn't even being to do something like this on my own. So I'm appealing to the community so that someone might make this. If it's free, you're a good person but it's a lot of work and probably a lot of support so $$$ isn't a bad thing.

edit: Also, Andrew's Link's and Files 1.55 is a GREAT program but a perfect example of using the forums, something that would be nice to avoid. Don't get me wrong, Andrew has written an incredibly program but it wasn't intended for downloads and was modded to support them but again, it requires the use of a forum, not really clean in my opinion.

edit2: One very big thing that is missing from existing programs is the ability to read a directory on the server and let the admin create downloads from that. Yes, it's a manual process and yes, that's a function I would want. Say that someone was hosting large video files (no, not porn in my case but that's a valid application for this). Most of these other applications require you to upload it to the server via the forums but with PHP's limitations (and yes, I have my upload and max_post set to 16M) you can't upload files in the 100+ MB range. It's just not practical.

We're also missing anti-leeching technology. Granted, storing files on the filesystem means you might be vulnerable to that (mod_rewrite???? I dunno, I'm a dummy who barely remembers C much less PHP/Apache) but Andrew added a URL hiding function that if could be expanded upon and put into a seperate system (i.e. not the forums but an integrated application), how powerful would that be? Storing 100MB+ files in the database just isn't practical.

I don't personally need this but I'm sure sites that deal in file trading (which I'm sure are all legit :classic: ) would like things like upload/download ratios, just like the old dial-up BBS days: 4MB down for every 1MB up or whatever.

I can go on and make a sick laundry list of features and functions but I think those who *could* do this have an idea of what I'm getting at. Again, I know I'm not the only user who wants something like this and yes, paying for something like this is 100% reasonable assuming the price is also reasonable.