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.

[AndrewD]

Originally Posted by Alfa1

I do not understand what you are saying, because I have no clue about how either the 'extra' limit-useraccess' or the vbulletin->userinfo['posts'] work.
Either a detailed step by step explanation or a plug in/xml would work for me.

The limit-useraccess extra in the new LDM zip file includes a plugin, limitaccess-byreputation-plugin.xml, which modifies the download access according to the user's reputation. If you simply install it unchanged, it will behave as follows:

Users with reputation 0-9 get no bytes and no files
Users with reputation 10-49 get whatever you have set up in the bandwidth tables
Users with reputation 50-499 get double whatever you have set up in the bandwidth tables
Users with reputation of 500 or higher get ten times whatever you have set up in the bandwidth tables

These changes do not apply to administrators

You can change that behaviour by editing the plugin. It should be straightforward.

[Alfa1]

Now I am confused. I want members to add to the reputation of the member posting the file. So that a member rating the file will have effect upon the reputation of the member who posted the file. I think that this will greatly increase the amount of files posted, as it will reward doing so.
This can be done by either adding a reputation rating scale to the icons right from the file (next to add to my favorites) or by connecting comments and ratings to the reputation system.

[AndrewD]

Originally Posted by Alfa1

Now I am confused. I want members to add to the reputation of the member posting the file. So that a member rating the file will have effect upon the reputation of the member who posted the file. I think that this will greatly increase the amount of files posted, as it will reward doing so.
This can be done by either adding a reputation rating scale to the icons right from the file (next to add to my favorites) or by connecting comments and ratings to the reputation system.

Actually, I'm also confused. I'd understood that you wanted to control access according to reputation.

OK, this goes back on the wish list.

[Marsupilami]

Regarding LDM 2.2.1:

Originally Posted by AndrewD

Just to be clear on this:

a) In this situation, the LDM code uses an internal VB function construct_full_url() to produce a full url. That uses the value of $_SERVER['HTTP_HOST'] or similar, depending on server, to build the url.

.

Originally Posted by AndrewD

b) The ../dir syntax is not valid for the thumbs_dir directory. (In fact, it is only valid in LDM for local_file_root_prefix and upload_dir and only when local_file_root is set to 1)

Maybe to put some validation in the settings dialog to get rid of this problem?

Originally Posted by AndrewD

c) The strange problem - thumbnail displaying with Opera and not with IE - was probably not a browser issue. LDM creates different urls for the thumbnail, depending on whether it thinks it has cached the file or not. Before it has cached it, the url points to the thumbnail generator script.

Spooky that the IE/Opera problem remains 100% reproducable in 2.2.1 even with setting:

Thumbs space = "/thumbs"

The thumbnails will not load in IE 6.0.

Tried flushing caches and all.

Can this have something to do with file name, (URL base name), generation for the thumbs?

Originally Posted by AndrewD

d) You can always make this work (at least when I've uploaded a fix to someone else's problem...) by turning off thumbs_dir

Setting:

Thumbs space = ""

..and thereafter doing "Rebuild thumbs", (http://www.teflon.net/forum/local_links_admin.php?action=doadmin&dothumbs=1), will make the problems go away.


If not rebuilding thumbs, the problem remains randomly for some of the pictures.

And even after clearing Thumbs space and rebuilding thumbs, there will still be remnant files in the thumbs directory.

Can this have something to do with file name generation for the thumbs and validating of cached thumbs?

[AndrewD]

Originally Posted by Marsupilami

Maybe to put some validation in the settings dialog to get rid of this problem?

Validation of the thumbs_dir setting was written into the code after 2.2.1, because there were a number of different reported problems. Basically, the code tries to crate a test file in the specified directory.

Interestingly, I've just rechecked the validation with the example you have reported. It works properly on a Linux box where /dir1/dir2/../dir3 is not a valid file name amd where file permissions work properly. However, Windows, bless its heart, unexpectedly (for me at least) decides that /dir1/dir2/../dir3 = /dir1/dir3 and - because its file permissions are less robust - can create the test reports and so reports that everything is ok.

Originally Posted by Marsupilami

And even after clearing Thumbs space and rebuilding thumbs, there will still be remnant files in the thumbs directory.

Yes, I'm sorry about that. There were circumstances where the old files were not being tidied up properly. I hope there are now fewer in 2.2.5.

[Marsupilami]

Originally Posted by AndrewD

Interestingly, I've just rechecked the validation with the example you have reported. It works properly on a Linux box where /dir1/dir2/../dir3 is not a valid file name amd where file permissions work properly. However, Windows, bless its heart, unexpectedly (for me at least) decides that /dir1/dir2/../dir3 = /dir1/dir3 and - because its file permissions are less robust - can create the test reports and so reports that everything is ok.

I've tested on these two server platforms:

• Slackware 10.2.0, Linux version 2.4.31
• Linux www2 2.6.17.7-grsec #4 SMP

It is fully reproducable on the above platforms.


Windows? Don't mention the war! :knockedout:
No offence ment for those who love those limited platforms, but there is billions of issues with webservers running Windows.
I know this i s flame bait, but please make another thread or send med some PMs if ya want to bite my head off.

[AndrewD]

Originally Posted by Marsupilami

I've tested on these two server platforms:

• Slackware 10.2.0, Linux version 2.4.31
• Linux www2 2.6.17.7-grsec #4 SMP

It is fully reproducable on the above platforms.

yes, it would be, with 2.2.1 - as I said, the error checking was written in afterwards.

[Raul7]

Hi Andrew,
Thanks for the hack, its perfect, but i have a small problem, i want to make a categories that only some user groups can see, my understanding is now, i need to link to a forum, so it picks a permission from that forum, the problem is , i dont have a forum which only those user groups can see. all my forums are open to everyone, but i want SOME categories in the download manager be exclusive to some usergroups, is this possible? thank you very much again.

[MissKalunji]

Originally Posted by Raul7

Hi Andrew,
Thanks for the hack, its perfect, but i have a small problem, i want to make a categories that only some user groups can see, my understanding is now, i need to link to a forum, so it picks a permission from that forum, the problem is , i dont have a forum which only those user groups can see. all my forums are open to everyone, but i want SOME categories in the download manager be exclusive to some usergroups, is this possible? thank you very much again.

create one with ur permissions and make it invisible so no one sees it

[Raul7]

EDITED ... i fixed it, thanks