Downloads per page

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sn3p
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Downloads per page

Post by sn3p »

After posting this post I thought I should post here aswell because I think it would be a nice feature for CMSMS.

What I would like to see is a functionality which allows you to manage downloads per page.
It would be nice to have a download manager included in the "Edit Content" page in CMSMS as a tab (optional). Maybe only include it when you have a {tag} in your template.

Features:
- Allow users to add a {tag} in the page template which adds a download manager in the "Edit Content" section in CMSMS (as a tab).
- Option to set a path where downloads for that page are stored (relative to the CMSMS uploads directory). Default could be a directory structure similar to the page structure, where directories are named after the page-aliases.
- Options for automatic renaming/moving/deleting the page independant directories (and its content) when a page is moved/renamed/deleted.
- Furthermore I think it should have more-or-less the same functionality as the Uploads module (but with backend management only).


Maybe I'm asking to much but if someone has a similar solution for this I really like to hear about it!
I'm not much of a developer who builds his own modules, but making some modifications isn't a problem in most cases.

It prolly can be also done with the Uploads module but this wouldn't be user-friendly. You would have to create a category/directory for every page, set the chmod if necessary, and include the module manualy for every page. This is no problem for people with proper CMSMS know-how, but what if you like clients to use the CMS (they don't have the skills)?

Let me know what you think, thanks in advance!


PS. I noticed recently a new module called "Download Manager" started it's development. There is no release yet, but i'm eager to find out what it will bring us.

CMSMS 1.4.1 "Spring Garden"
Uploads module 1.3.1
Last edited by sn3p on Thu Aug 21, 2008 5:35 pm, edited 1 time in total.
simon.romin
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Re: Downloads per page

Post by simon.romin »

This is exactly what I need!

You have addressed all my requirements spot on, especially about the {tag} feature and creating an easy to use download manager for each specific page.

This will come in particularly useful when I want to attach a number of PDFs to specific pages.

Any idea if something like this has been implemented yet?

Simon
gdur
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Re: Downloads per page

Post by gdur »

It is there! Interesting to see you had to wait 2 years.
Just stick the tag into your page and assign a catagory which contains the docs you want. This catagory should be defined in downloadmanager and attach only the files you want to show to this specific page.
simon.romin
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Re: Downloads per page

Post by simon.romin »

Hi!

I did a quick search on the forums to see if there was a suitable Module and this thread came up, which made me believe there was nothing available!

What does your DownloadManager tag look like in your template?

I can't seem to activate a file browser in the content page editor... do you know how to activate this?

Hope you can help!

Simon
calguy1000
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Re: Downloads per page

Post by calguy1000 »

Something like this should provide a dropdown when editing content to select an Uploads module category.

Code: Select all

{content_module module="Uploads" block="uploads_category" type="categoryselect" assign='uploads_category_var'}
Then you could provide a file list for download capabilities like:

Code: Select all

{Uploads category=$uploads_category_var}
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simon.romin
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Re: Downloads per page

Post by simon.romin »

Hi Calguy1000,

Thanks for your response. I have tried the Uploads module, but I can't seem to get it to do any of these features:
sn3p wrote: - Allow users to add a {tag} in the page template which adds a download manager in the "Edit Content" section in CMSMS (as a tab).
- Option to set a path where downloads for that page are stored (relative to the CMSMS uploads directory). Default could be a directory structure similar to the page structure, where directories are named after the page-aliases.
- Furthermore I think it should have more-or-less the same functionality as the Uploads module (but with backend management only).

...

It prolly can be also done with the Uploads module but this wouldn't be user-friendly. You would have to create a category/directory for every page, set the chmod if necessary, and include the module manualy for every page. This is no problem for people with proper CMSMS know-how, but what if you like clients to use the CMS (they don't have the skills)?

Let me know what you think, thanks in advance!


PS. I noticed recently a new module called "Download Manager" started it's development. There is no release yet, but i'm eager to find out what it will bring us.
Essentially I want to add a content block called 'Downloads' to each page. From the back end, I want to be able to assign additional PDF files that are related to this page. I want to avoid creating a category in the Uploads module for every single page. Is there a more automated process?

Is it possible to do this with the 'Uploads' module?

Thanks,

Simon
Last edited by simon.romin on Sun Oct 03, 2010 2:05 pm, edited 1 time in total.
calguy1000
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Re: Downloads per page

Post by calguy1000 »

Oh come on, You're  using an OLD version of CMSMS and the various modules.

Your post is kinda like saying  My 1990 GM car would be uber useful to me if it had built in GPS navigation and onstar, can you add that please?  What's GM going to say?  They're simply gonna respond with 'Trade in your car for a newer model'.
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simon.romin
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Re: Downloads per page

Post by simon.romin »

Oh sorry, didn't realise I had quoted the last part of the original posters' message - I am using 1.8 "Madagascar".

Does this help?

Simon
simon.romin
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Re: Downloads per page

Post by simon.romin »

Well, I think I have solved this problem after some trial and error. Thought I should report back with my findings should anyone else have a similar requirement.

Step 1

Firstly I installed DownloadManager (available from Module Manager).

Step 2

Then I opened DownloadManager and created a Category (something human readable - in my case it was Prince Charlie's Signet Ring) and gave it an alias.

Alias is important here. The Download Manager alias must match the alias of the content page you want to associate the downloads with. In my case, the content page alias was 'prince-charlie', so I also gave the Category the alias of 'prince-charlie'.

Of course, your can call your Categories and aliases whatever you choose.

Step 3

Insert this code into your template:

Code: Select all

{cms_module module="DownloadManager" alias="$page_alias"}
Now you can see why it is important for the Category alias to match the page alias. This piece of custom code will look at the content page alias and match it with the Download Manager Category.

Step 4

Now I began uploading all my files to DownloadManager. All of my files are PDFs and a few Excel files, but I guess anything will work.

When uploading each file, you should set the file to 'visible' and check which categories you want the file to appear in.

Step 5

Check your page and hopefully it will be working.

I haven't totally finished my Downloads section and I am still working on tidying up the frankly revolting default template for DownloadManager. But so far so good. Just took a few evenings and a piece of custom coding.

It's just a shame that CMSMS doesn't have this feature as standard - it would be a lot easier to upload various files directly to the Content page without having to install separate Modules.

If anyone has anything else to add, please do so. Looking forward to further developments,

Simon
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Dr.CSS
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Re: Downloads per page

Post by Dr.CSS »

One of the reasons it's called the "core" is that it is the core, nothing extra, just what you need to get a site up...

Now if every request for some new functionality like this was added the 'core' would be so big it would take way too long to upload and install, hence 3rd party modules that do what you need while some even do what the developer never thought of...
davidabraham
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Re: Downloads per page

Post by davidabraham »

can you please give me some ideas to download the one or more pages becouse i feel irritation to do like that.

thanks
david
dathwa
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Re: Downloads per page

Post by dathwa »

Hi.
I am having a problem integrating the dropdown category option for the Uploads module.
It works fine if i have something like {Uploads category=test} but when i try use your suggestion below (basically the same idea as that suggested in the help for the uploads module) i get
Error: Insufficient parameters supplied to module!
Missing param is: category


it's like the content module block is just not kicking in, so no category is passed in to the uploads module.

using cmsms 1.9.2, all modules up to date.

any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thank-you.
calguy1000 wrote:Something like this should provide a dropdown when editing content to select an Uploads module category.

Code: Select all

{content_module module="Uploads" block="uploads_category" type="categoryselect" assign='uploads_category_var'}
Then you could provide a file list for download capabilities like:

Code: Select all

{Uploads category=$uploads_category_var}
simon.romin
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Re: Downloads per page

Post by simon.romin »

Latest developments on this thread!!!

Search for module called Attachments.

It is not the best solution, but it is working for me at the moment.

Still, I wish there was a way to easily upload files directly to content pages.
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