The Downloads section of myPHPNuke is a nice piece of software. It allows you to fill a database with file references of files that are available somewhere on the web. There is no need to store the file (redundantly) on your own web space. You just provide the link to the file and a nice and complete description of the contents of the file. If you want to point to files on your own web space, you can do so, but you have to upload the files manually by using your own FTP-client or Secure Copy-client.
The first part of the Downloads Admin page is the Downloads control menu. We will discuss the contents of the menu later because they are only useful when you have entered one or more downloads in your web site's database. As long as there are no download entries in the database, every part of the menu will give you a small message stating that there is nothing to check.
The Downloads part of myPHPNuke gives you a lot of features that you can use. Downloads can easily be categorized by defining categories and subcategories.
Because dividing all the download on your web site into categories might not be enough, you can add an extra level of detail to the categories by adding sub categories to every category.
Here you enter all the details of the file that you make available for download.
Table 6.3. Download File Description Options
Program Name | The name of the program that the visitor can recognize. |
File Link | The URL that points to the location of the file. |
Category | A drop down list of the download categories that you made available on your web site. |
Description | A clear description of the contents of the download. Make sure you give the visitor enough information so that he/she can decide if this is the right file to download. |
Author's Name | The name of the author or company. |
Author's Email | The email address of the author or company. |
File size | The file size of the download in bytes. |
Version | The version of the download file. |
Home Page | The URL of the home page where the visitor can find more detailed information about the program or the author. |
Hits | The number of times this file is downloaded. You can enter a value here because you might be converting from a different download manager to myPHPNuke! |
When you click the Submit button, the form is saved to the downloads table in the database and a confirmation will be shown to you.
From time to time you might need to edit the details of a download. You need to enter the ID of the download.
You can not only edit the details of the download, you can also add an Editorial to the chosen download.
After submitting the Editorial, a confirmation with preview of the Editorial will be shown to you.
In this part of the Downloads page, you enter the settings about your Downloads system.
The settings you need to make are:
Table 6.4. Download System Parameters
Allow user to add to downloads | Do you want to allow your users to add downloads to your web site or not. |
Downloads per Page | The number of downloads that are shown per page. |
Hits to be Popular | The number of times a file needs to be downloaded to become listed as a popular download. |
Display in New Downloads | The maximum number of files that you want to be displayed as New Downloads. |
Downloads to display in Best Downloads Page | The maximum number of files that you want to be displayed in the Best Downloads Page. |
Downloads displayed in Search Page | The maximum number of files that you want to be displayed in the Search Results page. |
Block Unregistered users from Suggesting New Downloads | Allow unregistered users to add downloads to your web site? |
Number votes needed to make the 'top 10' list | The number of votes a download needs to get before it is listed in the Top 10 page. |
Block unregistered users from suggesting downloads changes | Do want unregistered visitors to suggest changes to you downloads? |
The Downloads Control Menu has four options.
When there is a number shown larger than zero, there are Broken Links reports entered by visitors. You need to check those reports and act as needed to restore the integrity of the Downloads.
When there is a number shown larger than zero, visitors have entered change requests for your downloads. You need to check those requests and act as necessary.
From time to time you need to check if all the listed download URL's are still valid. You can do so by using the Validate Downloads option in the Downloads Control Menu at the top of the Downloads Admin page. Choose the category you want to check.
During the check, the progress is presented to you on a web page.
