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.

[elsupremo]

Hi Andrew, I just installed your hack after installing a Download hack by a different creator. I must say that your hack is vastly superior in both functionality and layout. I am very impressed and grateful for your time and effort in creating this hack. I only have one question:

I would like for users to be able to add more than one comment. I am hoping that this is an easy thing to be able to implement, and if you could tell me how to enable more than one comment I would be very grateful.

If there is no practical way to implement this, would it perhaps be easier to link the comments to an active forum thread?

Any help with this one thing is truly appreciated.

Best,
Dave

[AndrewD]

Originally Posted by elsupremo

I would like for users to be able to add more than one comment. I am hoping that this is an easy thing to be able to implement, and if you could tell me how to enable more than one comment I would be very grateful.

If there is no practical way to implement this, would it perhaps be easier to link the comments to an active forum thread?

Thanks for your kind words.

The code as written stops people from having more than one comment. It's not hard to change - and I can easily add this to the 'to do' list - but I'd welcome thoughts on the following:

- Should a user also be able to provide more than one rating?
- Should her first or last or average rating be counted?
- Should she also be able to edit all her previous comments and ratings?
- The admin currently decides which user groups can add comments at all. Should the admin also decde if they can add multiple comments, or should this be the same for everything.

The current solution is 'one comment and one rating, both of which can be edited/changed'. I think the alternative would be 'multiple comments, one rating, all of which can be changed'.

By the way, I don't want to provide as fancy an editor as is used for the main VB forums - simply text edit, with BBCodes, etc, is straightfoward to maintain.

Thoughts?

[elsupremo]

Originally Posted by AndrewD

Thanks for your kind words.

The code as written stops people from having more than one comment. It's not hard to change - and I can easily add this to the 'to do' list - but I'd welcome thoughts on the following:

- Should a user also be able to provide more than one rating?
- Should her first or last or average rating be counted?
- Should she also be able to edit all her previous comments and ratings?
- The admin currently decides which user groups can add comments at all. Should the admin also decde if they can add multiple comments, or should this be the same for everything.

The current solution is 'one comment and one rating, both of which can be edited/changed'. I think the alternative would be 'multiple comments, one rating, all of which can be changed'.

By the way, I don't want to provide as fancy an editor as is used for the main VB forums - simply text edit, with BBCodes, etc, is straightfoward to maintain.

Thoughts?

Your alternative of multiple comments, one rating, all of which can be edited seems very good to me.

I am very in need of the functionality of multiple comments, so that users may correspond with each other in their comments re: the video. Almost like a mini-forum within the download section (since your download/link hack is now becoming a centerpiece of the entire forum).

So, with that in mind, my vote would be the multiple comments, one rating, all of which can be edited.

[Boofo]

I agree with the multiple conmments and one rating idea. I don't think the user should be ablle to edit their comments or ratings. That might lead to abuse of the implamentation of it. The only ones who should be able to have those editing permissions would be those that have moderating status of the links. Just my 2 1/2 cents worth.

[Boofo]

Now that you've got things a little easier to upload, I'll give it a shot, sir.

[Boofo]

Andrew, I'm getting this nasty error now whenever I try to access the links db or the settings for it.

Critical error: different versions of software, templates, phrases and database.
Software: 2.0.5 database: 2.0.4
Cannot continue - ask administrator to correct.

[AndrewD]

Originally Posted by Boofo

Andrew, I'm getting this nasty error now whenever I try to access the links db or the settings for it.

Just uninstall and reinstall via the VB products page. I'll check - I've probably forgotten to update something.

[Boofo]

Originally Posted by AndrewD

Just uninstall and reinstall via the VB products page. I'll check - I've probably forgotten to update something.

Will that delete the links already there?

[AndrewD]

Originally Posted by Boofo

Will that delete the links already there?

No - it leaves the database intact

[Boofo]

Now I'm getting this error:

Fatal error: Cannot redeclare cache_styles() (previously declared in /xxxx/xxxx/xxxxxx_xxxx/xxxxxx/includes/adminfunctions_template.php:2190) in /xxxx/xxxx/xxxxxx_xxxx/xxxxxx/includes/local_links_include.php on line 497