Major Additions - Links and Downloads Manager

What this is and does

LDM is a general-purpose tool for managing libraries of links and files, and handling uploads and downloads in a flexible way, while tracking and control user access. It has a range of integrated media players and a large library of 'plugin' extras.

Installation and Usage Explained in the on-line Wiki, with a brief explanation in the file instructions.txt in the release zip. The recent revision history is given in the first post of this thread.

Please use carefully and always backup your database before upgrading. Post reports of problems and suggestions for enhancements in this thread.

14.06.09 Version 2.3.0 is now the the officially-supported version. Works with 3.7 and vb 3.8. Please post comments in this thread

22.06.08 Version 2.2.9-post1 - This is the previous supported version. Works fine with all versions of vb 3.6 and vb 3.7. All standard features except profile integration and forum prefix selection work fine with vb 3.8.

[sparklywater]

Originally Posted by AndrewD

- Option to make comments/ratings visble inline consistently

Would this feature allow display of the 'links_viewall_comment' template (ie. the full list of comments), within the playerbit templates, such as 'links_playerbit_Realplayer' and 'links_playerbit_JWplayer' ?

Also, is it possible to make the LDM variables 'global', so that their use is not restricted to specific templates only, allowing them to be used in other templates too? Is there some code I can edit to do this myself?

Here is an example of how I would like the comments-list displayed within the playerbit templates:

PS. I'm not sure if the comments listing is already paginated, but if not then it would keep things more organised if the comments are listed across a number of pages rather than all running down a single long page.

[AndrewD]

Originally Posted by sparklywater

Would this feature allow display of the 'links_viewall_comment' template (ie. the full list of comments), within the playerbit templates, such as 'links_playerbit_Realplayer' and 'links_playerbit_JWplayer' ?

Also, is it possible to make the LDM variables 'global', so that their use is not restricted to specific templates only, allowing them to be used in other templates too? Is there some code I can edit to do this myself?

Here is an example of how I would like the comments-list displayed within the playerbit templates:

PS. I'm not sure if the comments listing is already paginated, but if not then it would keep things more organised if the comments are listed across a number of pages rather than all running down a single long page.

These are broadly what I have in mind. I have to check to ensure I can be consistent across different displays.

[sparklywater]

Originally Posted by AndrewD

These are broadly what I have in mind. I have to check to ensure I can be consistent across different displays.

great, thanks for considering our suggestions, I for one would be happy to test any alpha version of LDM you decide to release

[obmob]

Is it possible to disable comments, but keep rating options on? o.?

Thanks

[AndrewD]

Originally Posted by obmob

Is it possible to disable comments, but keep rating options on? o.?

Thanks

I think that's already there in 2.2.9 - ldm/admin/settings/comments and ratings/hide comment + hide rate

[sparklywater]

If I add this line of code into a template, ' <!--$linkid::entities--> ' , only then the entities / attributes are displayed within the template. Is there a similar line of code I need to add to make the following variables work in other templates:

$linkeditbit
$linkfavbit
$linksendtofriendbit
$linkreportlinkbit
$linklikebit
$linkstarbit
$linknewbit

?

[AndrewD]

Originally Posted by sparklywater

If I add this line of code into a template, ' <!--$linkid::entities--> ' , only then the entities / attributes are displayed within the template. Is there a similar line of code I need to add to make the following variables work in other templates:

$linkeditbit
$linkfavbit
$linksendtofriendbit
$linkreportlinkbit
$linklikebit
$linkstarbit
$linknewbit

?

There's two different points to consider -

a) the various link_linkbit_* templates can all use any of the variables that are used in the other templates - so you can freely mix and match among these templates.

b) however, the variables are built up in different ways (or not at all) depending on what you are doing. So for example, after a search, not all the variables are created. Similarly when rating/commenting, etc.

For any particular action, the same variables will always be created, regardless of the template. For different actions, different combinations of the variables are created. This is what I need to check carefully.

[sparklywater]

Originally Posted by AndrewD

a) the various link_linkbit_* templates can all use any of the variables that are used in the other templates - so you can freely mix and match among these templates.

My problem is that I need to use the link_linkbit_* variables in either the 'links_play_embedded' template or the 'links_playerbit_RealPlayer' template, but they don't work in these templates. Can you please tell me in which php file these variables are defined to work only in the link_linkbit_* templates?

[Simon Lloyd]

Andrew D, can this be used to manage a users downloads if a user was to purchase a subscription and move in to a different usergroup for 1 day can a limit of 1 download be set, would i have to manually change the usergroup each time - i'm a complete novice in html and php and am just setting up my forum i want a pay per download section on my site, is this possible with this mod?

[stwilson]

Originally Posted by AndrewD

2.2.9 is likely to stay the supported release for at least a couple of months, perhaps with a few more bug fixes applied.

I have done quite some work already on 2.3.0, but some of the suggestions and the bug reports posted here will take time to complete. Perhaps an early alpha will be available fairly soon, but thorough testing is the big challenge these days.

Coded so far for 2.3.0:

+ Category Display
Added option to display/remove keyword filter dropdown
+ Starred nominations
Entries can be unnominated
Nominations are no longer stacked, i.e. only user's current nomination is recorded
+ Session ids
vBulletin session ids handled corrrectly throughout
+ Efficiency changes
Admin and categories tables cached in vBulletin datastore and other code rewritten to eliminate various database lookups
+ Media Players
Upgraded JWsilverlight player to version 1.1 and added windowless and background params
+ Hooks
Added ldm_icons_cached after caching list of icon filenames
+ Bug fixes
Fixed id3tag-enhancements extra
Fixed permissions-related null category bug within Edit Entry
Fixed sort order/pagination bugs when searches contain urlencoded chars
Fixed Add LDM to VB navbar plugins for situation when vbAdvanced is not installed in forum directory

Still to do:

- Redo much of the 'attributes' code to fix bugs/improve functionality
- Provide import mechanism for vb attachments
- Move to jw media player 4.0
- Disentangle comments and ratings calculations
- Option to make comments/ratings visble inline consistently
- other bug fixes

Anything else?

Andrew,

Thank you. One other suggestion, a few more layout templates to choose from. AND just in case you have nothing else to do, the ability to integrate Google Maps into the link display page, via a latitude and longitude attribute, with a waypoint attribute too. I would pay for someone to custom develop that for me! hint...hint...