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.

[Alfa1]

Originally Posted by AndrewD

I'll think about a plugin - I'm not sure that this is something that everyone will want?

Maybe not all people do not realise it yet, but providing this feature will affect the use and popularity of LDM in general:

Those boards which have their member status upgrades dependant upon reputation(Most large boards) will see a firm increase of the use of LDM, as members are eager to get a higher member status and thus contribute new entries to the LDM to get there.

We now manually bump reputation for this and it really gets the LDM going. Because of this, the LDM is growing so rapidly that at this rate, it will become just as important as the forum itself.

[AndrewD]

Originally Posted by EasyTarget

is there a way to make submissions in one category subject to moderation but not submissions in another?

Currently no, but it could be changed. However...

Moderation is tied to the entry, independent of its category/ies. So what should happen if someone places the entry into multiple categories, when only one of these categories requires moderation? Presumably, the new entry will require moderation if any of these categories requires moderation?

[GrendelKhan{TSU]

Hey Andrew...
nothing but continued praise from me, as you know.

few questions
1. I installed teh lightbox add-on... but its either not working or I can't figure out what it does. right now... I don't see any difference when enlarging a thumbnail. it just opens a new window. :/ did I miss something?

2. any chance of getting providing a url (parsed?) to an uploaded file so that people can link it into posts? [*url="uploadedfilevideo url"]myUploadedvideofile[*/url]

3. sorry I think I missed something. I upgraded to latest version 2.2.1... and is it me? or did the jukebox disappear? (mine now just launches windows media player or quicktime... no more window with the speaker and description underneath). or did I forget to turnon some setting (which I can't seem to find). I have the usergroup can_play_musicbox enabled for appropriate User groups. :/
EDIT: ok. I see what happened for number 3. didn't have the icon path set up and was just clickign the link. doh!

anyway...again... aweseom stuff.

[GrendelKhan{TSU]

different question..
I have two boards. is it possible to import/transfer LDM files/links from one to the other?

[AndrewD]

Originally Posted by GrendelKhan{TSU

1. I installed teh lightbox add-on... but its either not working or I can't figure out what it does. right now... I don't see any difference when enlarging a thumbnail. it just opens a new window. :/ did I miss something?

It's linked to the magnifying glass icon. When you install it, the icon will do something rather interesting with the picture rather than opening a new winodw. Try it - perhaps you didn't have your icons directory set, so didn't have the magnifier

[EasyTarget]

Originally Posted by AndrewD

Currently no, but it could be changed. However...

Moderation is tied to the entry, independent of its category/ies. So what should happen if someone places the entry into multiple categories, when only one of these categories requires moderation? Presumably, the new entry will require moderation if any of these categories requires moderation?

I have it set so that one group pretty much handles all the files, links, photos in the LDM. However we would like to have one category which allows for other groups to upload/add entries to a specific category. Since the other categories are controlled by a trusted usergroup there's no need for moderation of their files.

I assume in your example that there would be the general moderation setting as it is now, plus a category moderation setting. If both were set to yes I imagine that new entry would require moderation once for the categories without moderation and another time for the category with moderation. But what would happen if the general moderation setting was set to no and the category moderation were set to yes? I would assume it would work for my purposes so long as the cateogory settings override the general ones so that when the general one is enabled/disabled it doesn't override the category settings.

[EasyTarget]

I've been tinkering around and comparing with a few other hacks and I think a beneficial change for some people would be the ability to list the most recent additions, most popular links/files and members who have contributed the most, right on the ldm home page (instead of having to click the dropdown link). so like some side modules on the ldm start page or maybe one long module that's split up into sections. and for those that didn't want to display them or only some they could enable/disable it in the settings.

[Antivirus]

Can users of the LDM upload their files to the db therefore allowing the site to host the file for them?

Nevermind- found answer to my question
(all hail the MIGHTY "search this thread" function!)

[GrendelKhan{TSU]

Originally Posted by AndrewD

It's linked to the magnifying glass icon. When you install it, the icon will do something rather interesting with the picture rather than opening a new winodw. Try it - perhaps you didn't have your icons directory set, so didn't have the magnifier

hmm... it says to upload the lightbox icon folder in the forum root folder. is that not right? or was I supposed to add the icons into the LDM icon folder (rather than a new folder - "lightbox-icon")
also, I set the regular icon directory... is that the one you mean?

and did part 2 of my other question make sense? or was it one of those soo silly cause I missed something things that you're waiting for me to just realize that I've been a dork (most likely scenario )

[AndrewD]

Originally Posted by GrendelKhan{TSU

hmm... it says to upload the lightbox icon folder in the forum root folder. is that not right? or was I supposed to add the icons into the LDM icon folder (rather than a new folder - "lightbox-icon")
also, I set the regular icon directory... is that the one you mean?

and did part 2 of my other question make sense? or was it one of those soo silly cause I missed something things that you're waiting for me to just realize that I've been a dork (most likely scenario )

The files should all be uploaded into exactly the directories supplied in the addon, and then the plugin xml shouold be imported. Once that's done - at least with Firefox and IE6 - the magnifying glass behaves differently. It's a test towards extending the photo album features of LDM.