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.

[tamborinegal]

Hi Andrew,

Once again thank you for all the time you have put into this hack and thank you for adding in the avatar to the linkbit. It looks great now.

Just a couple of questions I'm hoping you could help me with...

I am using the create new thread plugin and was wondering if there is any way that a link to the thread created could also be included in the linkbit. (hope that makes sense).

And also, since we can use bbcode and smilies in the description field, is there any way that the standard controls could also be added to the "add a link" template? Most of my members don't know the bbcode offhand and use the controls when they need to add something in.

Thanks again for this. It's just great.

Clancy

[AndrewD]

Originally Posted by tamborinegal

I am using the create new thread plugin and was wondering if there is any way that a link to the thread created could also be included in the linkbit. (hope that makes sense).

There's a small problem of timing with this - the autothread create needs to know the linkid of the new entry, so the plugin is triggered after the contents of the linkbit have already been stored in the database. We can work round this, at the cost of another database access, but it should be possible. Bear in mind that these actions are 'once and for all' - if someone subsequently deletes an entry in LDM, the autothread is not removed - so too if we provide a connection in the linkbit to the thread, that connection will 'break' if the thread gets deleted.

Originally Posted by tamborinegal

And also, since we can use bbcode and smilies in the description field, is there any way that the standard controls could also be added to the "add a link" template? Most of my members don't know the bbcode offhand and use the controls when they need to add something in.

I'll take a look - this is a good idea which I had never got round to.

[tamborinegal]

Your support is incredible Andrew. Do you ever sleep?

Originally Posted by AndrewD

There's a small problem of timing with this - the autothread create needs to know the linkid of the new entry, so the plugin is triggered after the contents of the linkbit have already been stored in the database. We can work round this, at the cost of another database access, but it should be possible. Bear in mind that these actions are 'once and for all' - if someone subsequently deletes an entry in LDM, the autothread is not removed - so too if we provide a connection in the linkbit to the thread, that connection will 'break' if the thread gets deleted.

Yeah I see what you mean. I guess this could be avoided by not allowing members to delete the links or threads created, but I guess they could always edit the link and that would cause a break. Is there any way to prevent users from editing their links altogether? If not, that's ok. I could live with the odd break here and there. I don't think it would be a major problem.

I would just use the comment system if it was set up with the standard controls and if it had the same "auto-notification" sent if a new post "comment" was added to all users subscribed to a thread (link)... but that would make it more like a forum and I'm not sure if that makes sense to do especially since the auto-create thread is already a plugin and works really well.

Originally Posted by AndrewD

I'll take a look - this is a good idea which I had never got round to.

That would be so great.

Thanks again for all your help and time.

Clancy

[AndrewD]

Originally Posted by kira

I guess to keep it flexible so that others besides me would find such a plugin useful, maybe the best format would be a straightforward table, looking much like a vbadvanced block. Or even better, an unordered list? They're so easily styled through css, if one chooses.

Kira, try these for size. You need to import the xml plugin, then patch the forumhome template to display $links['new'] and $links['hot'] - these each contain tables without the top and bottom table tags. The attached forumhome.txt shows one way to do this, and the attached links_vbalinks.txt gives a modified template for the individual table rows which adds the link description to the name/number of hits.

[kira]

You're amazing, AndrewD. I'll give it a try and report back.

Thank you so much!

[EasyTarget]

hey kira, could you post some ss too please?

[kira]

Hey Andrew, I tried it out -- works perfectly! I tweaked the code to use an unordered list (just so it matches the rest of my sidebar). Easy peasy. Thanks a million!

I just noticed that for some reason the hit counter isn't working on either this "top list" addon or the regular directory listings pages. Can you think of what might cause such a problem?

Originally Posted by EasyTarget

hey kira, could you post some ss too please?

Sure thing! My setup is very different as I've moved all the "what's going on" stuff to a sidebar. So you can get a better picture of what this would look like on a standard setup, I re-added the what's going on section and took a screenshot. (See #1.)

The second screenshot shows my CSS-ized sidebar version without the description or hits.

[AndrewD]

Originally Posted by kira

I just noticed that for some reason the hit counter isn't working on either this "top list" addon or the regular directory listings pages. Can you think of what might cause such a problem?

seems to be working to me - I visited your New York Times link, used it to visit the NYT then Nature, the hit countersd went up by one and the 'Most Popular Links' box appeared on your front page with these two entries in it.

[kira]

Oh, whoops, I didn't realize visits from admins apparently don't get counted. When I log out, or if I login as a member test account, the hits do indeed increase. Yay!

[AndrewD]

Originally Posted by kira

Oh, whoops, I didn't realize visits from admins apparently don't get counted. When I log out, or if I login as a member test account, the hits do indeed increase. Yay!

Admin visits do get counted, unless you've given this group 'can_bypass_hit_recording' permission on the LDM admin/permissions page

Anyway, glad to hear that all is well.