Group Settings on Upgrade

[cyberhorse]

There does not appear to be any way to import the group settings for users in v9.1.2.11 when upgrading to v3.2. Surely there should have been some process in the import where Jdownloads asks which Joomla user group should be associated with each of the groups set up in the old version?

I'm also totally confused as to how to set a particular user group so only its members can access a particular download category. I've read and reread all the documentation and its all gobbledegook.

My need is very simple. I have a subset of Registered users (category-x users) who are allowed to download any files in Category-x. There is no limit on how many they can download.

I have another subset of Registered users (category-y users) who are allowed to download any files in Category-y. There is no limit on how many they can download.

I have another subset of Registered users (category-z users) who are allowed to download any files in Category-z. There is no limit on how many they can download.

According to the documentation each these ACL groups have a ranking of zero but because they are all a subset of Registered they have a ranking of 20. So how do I differentiate between them in terms of access control?

And finally when I set up the new menu items for each set of downloads the linked page says "No valid layout found for Categories!No valid layout found for Category!No valid layout found for files!"

What is that all about?

[ColinM]

Hi
I will try to help.  First please make no assumptions that the old jD1.9 series has any relationship to the new jD3.2 series in regard to who can or cannot download from where..

Next thing to appreciate  is that all of the access and download permission is controlled by the Joomla! permissions system as jD needs to be compliant with Joomla!

From the jD part I assume you create three top level Categories called here CatX, CatY and CatZ.  These may have whatever sub categories you need.  All downloads for users X are in CatX or a subcat, or a sus sub cat etc of CatX.  Similarly for the other two top level categories.

Create User Groups UGX, UGY and UGZ. Also create View Access Level ViewX with its sole member as UGX. Similarly ViewY wioh UGY as its only member, and same idea for ViewZ.

If you have been playing or maybe puzzling over the permissions goto jD Tools and use the Reset Permissions for Downloads and the one for Categories

You probably have had Permissions set at the Component level when first installing jd 3.2.  So go to the jD Control Panel and select Options in the tool bar.  Check that every User Group, except Super User has the Download permission set to Inherit. NEVER use Deny as it has unintended consequences. Youi need to do a Save for the permissions to show their new value.  So after Saving recheck that no one except Super User is allowed to Download.  At this juncture no one except SU will be able to download.

Now goto jD CatX and set its Access to ViewX.  This means that only users in UGX will be able to see the X set of Downloads,  Whilst at CatX select Permissions and in those permissions select user group UGX and give it Allowed for Download permission.  Do not be tempted to set Deny for other user groups.

Repeat as appropriate for CatY and CatZ.

All is now done

The jD User Groups setting are used for two purposes, one of which is to select what questions an Uploader from front end is asked.  The other is to set up some restrictions on downloladers, whether a UG needs to answer a Captcha and so on.  It al;so set type and size of file a frontend Uploader can use.  It is for Uploaders that one needs a Ranking Value.

Hope this helps.

Colin

[cyberhorse]

OK Colin that much is now clear. It may be worth mentioning prominently in the documentation that the User Group Settings are only for uploaders and for setting volume limits for downloaders. Fact is that when you click on the User Group Settings link the screen is dominated by access to and statistics on groups when the access permission settings are hidden behind the tiny little Options button in the top right hand corner.

Most Jdownloads users would want to do the simple permissions thing (like me) and would only put in limits and restrictions on uers once they had got that part working. In my opinion you need two links at the Control Panel level :-
1. Set Group Access permissions (which goes to where the Options button does now) and
2. Set Advanced Group Access parameters (which goes to the existing destination).

In effect you sent me on at least a half day detour while I tried to figure out how the current User Group Settings page with rankings etc could be used to set permissions.

Two further questions though.

1. I have 22,000 users who belonged to various groups in my old version of Jdownloads. Do I have to manually select which group they belong to in the new version? Surely there is a tool to import their group setting to JD3.2?
2. What causes the message "No valid layout found for Categories!No valid layout found for Category!No valid layout found for files!" when I click on a category link in the front end?

[ColinM]

Hi
This is just a quick reply as I only have a few minutes - will respond more later.

The Options Button in User Groups Settings takes you to the Component permissions. Quote below from
http://www.jdownloads.net/documentations/item/controlled-access-to-categories-and-downloads

The jDownloads Component Permissions are readily available by using the toolbar Options  button, which looks something like   or  dependent on version, on either the jDownloads Control page or the User Group Settings page.

Another quote from the same document

Except for the very simplest schemes, Permissions are best set at the top level categories, that is set the Component permissions to Inherit for all User Groups.

These are points 2 and 3 quite early in the document.

Basically I would re-iterate that one should only set permissions on the top level jD Categories, not at Component level.

Colin
PS Article below deals specifically with User Groups Settings
http://www.jdownloads.net/documentations/item/introduction-to-user-group-settings

[cyberhorse]

Still don't have an answer about importing group members on upgrade.

Also there are not any category or categories layouts after the upgrade. Where do I get them from?

[Arno]

Have you check this in the layout manager? It can be that you must for every layout type activate a new one.

Early created User groups from the old version can not be imported in the newer release. This supported only the Joomla User Groups. So you must create this manually in Joomla.

[ColinM]

http://www.jdownloads.net/documentations/item/editing-a-layout?category_id=36Hi
I have been very busy testing out the new layouts ready for the v4.2 release - and also writing more documentation!
Colin
PS there are some documentation notes about Layouts!! For example
http://www.jdownloads.net/documentations/item/editing-a-layout?category_id=36