Downloads for specific user

[sapphireweb]

I have already downloaded and installed the plugin that allows me to assign download rights based on users in a Joomla Group and this is working well.  However we would like to be able to create private directories for specific users and give rights to that directory only to that user.  The only way that I can see to do that at the moment, is create specific user groups for each user that would only have that user in that group.  (Thats only 70 some groups... :p)   Is there another way to accomplish this??  If not, is this a feature that can be added?

[Arno]

Hi,
a 'private user area' functionality comes with the new jD 2.5 in the next weeks.
See pic from alpha pre-release.

[gelöscht durch Administrator]

[sapphireweb]

Two questions:

1.  If you need a beta tester, let me know.  Would love to do some testing for you.

2. Is it, or will it be possible to specify what categories show on the page.  I would like to be able to, in the "Back Office" to show only the "restricted files' and not the publicly downloadable files as well.  For example:  We have a "free reads" section where users can download a portion of the book to read to see if the want to buy it.  The authors have access to the back-office, where we have created private areas for them to download their royalty reports.  I'd rather not show the "Free Reads" in the back office, or show the private downloads, if they are not in the back office section.  (Ok, so I am tad OCD...)

- Daniel

[dpasini]

Hi,

I pigback on this topic. Is it possible to assign downloads rights of a single document to a specific user, rather than to a user group?

The specifice situatio I have id that jD is accessible only to registered user. Each user has 3 categories. Files in the categories available for download need to differ from user to user depending on what I need to make individually available to them (e.g. business proposals, contracts, etc..)

How could this be implemented?

Tnx in advance,
Davide

[ColinM]

Hi
jDownloads can only only operate within the confines of what Joomla offers!  User Groups (UGs) are the mechanism used by Joomla! So to implement a scheme as you need the only viable method is to use UGs with each user having their own UG and also most importantly in your case their own Access level to ensure one UG cannot see what downloads another UG has at its disposal.  Yes there is some extra effort setting up initially but thereafter it becomes quite straightforward.  Best to think of it as an 'advanced registration' process.

So with a new 'contact' one would set up as below.  For illustration I have called the new contact Colin.  As a preparation ensure all the permissions for Downloads in the component level (available via the Options button on the jD Control Panel) are all set to 'Inherit' for all existing UGs

1. Create newUG called Colin-UG with registered as parent
2. create new access level called Colin-View
3. create user called Colin as a member of Colin-UG  - this will also mean they are a member of registered as well even if you do not tick the Registered box
4. Create a new top level category in jD with name Colin-cat.
5 Set permissions of UG Colin-UG in Colin-cat to 'allow' for download  - all others will not be allowed to download as they will have inherited which will actually compute to Not Allowed as nothing has been set for them
6. set access level for Colin-cat to Colin-view so that no other users can see any of these downloads in front end.

Any sub categories of Colin-cat that you create such as Proposals will acquire the permissions  for each UG and access level from the parent
category.

This may seem a lot of things to do but you want super protection for both downloading and viewing so any such scheme needs this sort of setup.

If you need more  help please ask

Colin

[sapphireweb]

I was really hoping for a different work-around, as it is extremely unwieldy.  I want to be able to post Author's royalty reports for them. Currently have 150 Authors (and growing).  That is 150 groups with a single user.  The Joomla User groups is simply getting unmanageable at 60 groups.  I have seen other components that use both the Joomla groups, and also allow a category to be assigned to a specific user, which is what I still hold out hope for .  However I may need to give in and find another component to handle the user's royalty reports.

[ColinM]

Hi
If you are prepared to set the creator to the specific name then the list my downloads menu item will allow only the documents createded by the logged in user to be shown.

I will sort out an example.

Colin

[ColinM]

Hi
When using  the List My Downloads menu item jD will only show those downloads the were 'created' by the logged on User.  Note this is not the Author but the Creator.  Additionally the view access needs to be set so that the relevant user is able to see the Download.  Similarly the Permissions on the Download and any associated category need to be set to allow the download to occur.  So if we had say a dozen users in a user group called Music-UG  and a View Access level called Music-View then we could create a Top level category called Music-Cat and ensure that the only Download permission in that category was for user group Music-UG.

Multiple Downloads could be put into category Music-Cat.  Provided we ensure that the Creator of each Download is for a specific user then we have the necessary conditions to effectively have 'private user specific' Downloads within the same User Group.  A single menu item would service all the users.  This could also have the same Access Level as an extra precaution.

Colin

[sapphireweb]

Hrmm...

So what we have been doing.  We have a directory under the public_downloads, called, say, private, and have that folder (category) so that only "Back Office" group has access to that directory.  All of the authors belong to the back office group.  Then under that directory we have a folder for each author.  I have assigned each author, as the creator of their folder.  Then, when we release royalty reports, we use FTP to upload the appropriate files to the correct directory under private.   We then go into JDownloads so that it can scan the folders. 

Does JDownloads automatically assign new files such that they match the creator of the folder?  If not, can this be done? The problem I was running into, was that the individual files under each category were not reflecting that they were created by the user listed as the creator of the category.

[ColinM]

Hi
Yes the procedure for 'simulating' private directories is cumbersome.  I will discuss with Arno about this.  Also some time ago we had planned some additional tools that would assist people who uploaded by FTP or similar so these also need to be examined.

Colin

[sapphireweb]

 I had looked at another program that I tried that approached this problem, by having a setting under privileges where you could assign view / download rights either by group or user. I have no issue with setting the creator to the user in question.   Perhaps the easiest work around, rather than changing the 'creator' of all the files in the director to the creator directory (category) would be to add an 'owner' field to the category, and when using the "my downloads" it would just list all the files in any category where they were the owner. 

I chose not to use the other application because it was not as easy to use as JDownloads is.