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I have just uploaded 1.1.7 of MiniCard here and to the WordPress theme directory. This updates includes:
- New networks; xing, gowalla, yelp, foursquare, mobileme, google buzz
- A way to change link text and define multiple links of the same network
- A way to define your own custom links + icons
- Improved admin panel
Hope you like it, and don’t forget you can show your support by purchasing the premium pack from here.
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It’s been about two weeks now since I made the transition from a shared reseller hosting account to a VPS (Virtual Private Server) account – impressions so far, excellent performance but fiddly to configure.
The reason I wanted to change from shared hosting was the fact the server was always being hacked (even though ALL my scripts were secure), there was frequent downtime, support blamed me for problems every time, and it was slow as hell.
Those used to a shared hosting environment would probably not know where to start when faced with configuring a VPS. Luckily, a lot of it was pre-configured when I received my account – certainly some of the major security holes were patched. I was not satisfied with those however. As a victim of hacking in the past (previous host swears it was not there fault, something I don’t believe) I took extra care to secure it as a much I could – configuring brute force detection, the firewall, installing mod security (excellent rules for that here: http://www.atomicorp.com/wiki/index.php/Atomic_ModSecurity_Rules) and going though multiple guides (like this one: http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?t=468168) with a fine-tooth comb.
The result? My pages are loading at least 6 times faster, I have had no down time (or at least have not noticed any), and I feel in control and happy. No longer am I at the mercy of shared hosts 
If your interested, I chose ServInt as my provider as they offered a great deal, as well as being a managed service (so I’m not on my own if I screw things up). I was tempted by the bells and whistles of Media Temple, but felt the ServInt service was better value.
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Download Monitor has received some more love and has been updated. Here’s the change log from the new version:
- Small bugfix in uploader.php – cat ID
- Changed stats graph calculation – thanks lggemini
- Changes to headers in download.php to avoid caching
- File Browser fixes – $root was clashing with something….
- exclude_cat works in all sections of download_page now
- Removed hardcoding of /uploads/
- Added action to download.php – should be able to use it to stop a download if you want – maybe limiting downloads per day or something? Whatever you want…
- Made it so if you post new file on ‘edit’ screen, the post date is updated.
- Fixed the ‘blank meta’ section which blanks out custom field values when nothing is set.
- Moved ‘allow_url_fopen’ check.
- Someone said downloads don’t work with spaces in the name. They do! Wasting my time sonny…
- All work and no play make jolley a dull boy
- Had to rename capabilities so they work. Apologies if you have to set this up again! Cheers to Mark Dingemanse.
- {category_ID} custom format tag added. Useful if you want to send someone to its category on the DL page I guess. Also added {category_other} so when no category is set “other” is shown – this is because the download page can show an ‘other’ section if you want it to.
- You can now manually edit the post date on the edit download screen.
If you have edited capabilities for download monitor user permissions, you’ll have to again sorry! This is because I named them too long. Also, you should check your forced downloads still work because there was a logic error meaning they may not have been forced after-all…
Enjoy.
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Today I completed the update for the Wordpress Download Monitor Plugin – many tweaks, fixes, and features added. There were no changes to the database structure so people upgrading should be fine. Here is the list from the change log:
- {user} tag added for custom formats
- ‘autop’ option fix
- Download page buttons applied with CSS so they are easier to customise/translate.
- Fix for pagination bug after editing a download
- Category output fix on edit downloads screen
- Category urls on download page use ID rather than name to prevent errors when cats have the same names.
- exclude_cat added to download_page shortcode
- Localised ‘hits’ ‘date’ ‘title’ on download page
- Option to disable the download logging
- Read file ‘chunked’ some people found large files were corrupted so this should help (fingers crossed)
- Added show_tags option to download page – displays x amount of tags on the download page.
- File Browser root setting and download.php logic/mime types modified thanks to Jim Isaacs (jidd.jimisaacs.com)
- Interface Improvements
- Bulk edit categories, custom fields, tags, member only downloads
- Added roles for download monitor admin – should be able to use with a role manager plugin if you want anyone other than admin to access the admin section e.g. http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/capsman/
- Change redirect after add
- Edit Cat names/parents
- Dedicated tags and thumbnails fields (they still use meta table though)
And yes, those category link bugs are fixed at long last, and you can edit category names finally. Phew!
Matthäus says:
Hello,
I wanted to upload a file and had it already chosen. Then I clicked “Add custom field” which added the field form but killed the already chosed file. (Well I had to choose again which is quite annoying)
Two proposals for the next version:
* restrict download to members with a specific role (eg author)
* Well the second would have been to allow all file types. (in the end you can wrap everything in a zip) But that option apparently disappeared.
Thanks for your plugin, maybe you’ll receive a German localization soon…
Regards
Comment made on March 8, 2009 at 5:21 pm
Matthäus says:
I chose a wrong email address you better use this one if you want to contact me.
Thanks
Comment made on March 8, 2009 at 5:22 pm
Mike Jolley says:
@Matthäus: There is a reason for that (the file input thing). If it kept its value on refresh it would mean that I could populate the input with whatever I wanted (a system file for instance) and potentially steal your data. I guess a workaround would be to either use ajax to prevent page refresh or move the custom fields above the file input so that the sequence is clear.
Comment made on March 8, 2009 at 9:14 pm
darkangelwitch666 says:
Going to give this a try, I gave you this website has that what it will be on. If I lose all my files I’m going to kill you lol.
I’ll keep you updated
Comment made on March 9, 2009 at 6:52 pm
darkangelwitch666 says:
I did try this today and it would not upload any of my file so I had to go over to an older version. My directory was mark 777 so not sure what was up.
Now you said you work on it again? what changes did you make? Anything to do with files not uploading?
Comment made on March 9, 2009 at 10:14 pm
Mike Jolley says:
@darkangelwitch666: It uses the same uploader as wordpress now (same as image uploader) so if the wordpress one works, so should this.
Any ideas?
Comment made on March 9, 2009 at 10:22 pm
darkangelwitch666 says:
The upload is working and the older version is working as well, so I cannot see any reason why the 3.0 would not work? The file were small too. Tell you what I will back up tomorrow the DB and give it another try and get back to you.
So if you can think of anything else before then give me a shout on here or Twitter.
Comment made on March 9, 2009 at 11:14 pm
Ben says:
Hi Mike,
After reading the readme I’m a little confused as to how I get where I want to be. Let’s say I have three download categories and I want to create three Wordpress pages that have a list of downloads for their respective categories. I also want to sort them a certain way, (e.g. ascending for some, descending for others).
I can build my query just fine, but can’t find a way to make the shortcode recognize I’m using a category and want to use a query as well. What am I missing?
Thanks!
Ben
Comment made on March 11, 2009 at 5:00 pm
Mike Jolley says:
@Ben: You would use something like:
[downloads query="category=1&orderby=id&limit=5"]Thats what you want right?
Comment made on March 11, 2009 at 5:07 pm
Ben says:
Thanks, Mike! Perfect!
Websites really aren’t my gig, but I’m helping a non-profit/charity rebuild their website on top of Wordpress. It looks like your plugin is going to be the winner to handle a couple of pages like this for them. A small donation is on its way to you.
Thanks again!
Comment made on March 11, 2009 at 5:23 pm
Ben says:
Hi Mike,
I noticed that new files added after I upgraded to the beta are not showing the file size when I use {size} in my custom output format. No big deal, we don’t need that feature here, but if it’s a bug and not just something that broke on our website I thought you’d want to know before releasing this as the new stable version.
Ben
Comment made on March 11, 2009 at 5:46 pm
Mike Jolley says:
@Ben: Cheers Ben, and thanks for the bug report; Ill check it out.
Comment made on March 11, 2009 at 9:24 pm
Ted says:
Hi
I’ve installed Beta 3 on my website; previously used 2.? on a another site so semi-experienced with this plug-in.
Feedback:
1-Legacy tags
I think it is important to keep the so-called legacy tags. I tried putting some code directly into my page but Exec-Php spat it straight out. I’d suggest not to refer to them as ‘legacy’ tags.
2-[#advanced downloads].
I use this almost exclusively. I could not get it to create a hyerlink. Why, because in line 2804 the variable “$d->url” doesn’t have a value. I found that I chnaged it to “$downloadurl.$d->id” then it worked fine.
3-Custom URL
I reckon I’m a fairly advanced PC user but I cannot make head nor tail of this; I probably spent 2-3 hours today trying to make a custom url. In the end I have just gone with the old faithful “wp-content/plugins/download-monitor/download.php?id=x”.
4 – Advanced Download – files of logged-in users only
I don’t know if anyone else would be interested in this but…
My requirment is to show only the files of the logged-in user. So if you’re logged in, you only see “your” files rather than all the files.
I looked at specifying the category but I wanted something that I didn’t have to edit as I add/remove users. In the end it was pretty easy and the code is probably less than the pre-existing function.
Anyway, if anyone is interested I’d be happy to share.
Comment made on March 16, 2009 at 12:01 pm
Ted says:
Oh. I forgot.
Admin interface of beta is a BIG improvement.
Great work all round.
Comment made on March 16, 2009 at 12:03 pm
Mike Jolley says:
@Ted: Cheers ted. $d->url should have been populated, so ill try fixing this.
As for the ‘legacy’ tags Id like to depreciate their use if possible because the shortcode system works a lot better. I won’t be removing them though so no worries.
For custom URLs they are there to give your download links a different appearance only; e.g. I could put amazing_downloads/ in the field, and select ID from the dropdown – the url would then appear to be blue-anvil.com/amazing_downloads/1 (this just hides the fact it is going though download.php)
Comment made on March 16, 2009 at 2:14 pm
Ted says:
Hi Mike
OK, got rid of Exec-PHP!! force of habit to include it in the first place.
Must read up on diference between shortcodes (as per your plug-in) and non-shortcode, such as your legacy codes or the placeholder inserts in CForms.
I’ll save the custom url for another day
Ted
Comment made on March 17, 2009 at 2:08 am