Joomla amember and docman

Discussion in 'Troubleshooting' started by aelias, Apr 14, 2008.

  1. aelias

    aelias New Member

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    I have a joomla site set up using docman to allow users to download documents. I would like to setup a subscription using amember which I have already purchased, I have installed amember and setup the protection for the folder that docman uses to store all the documents, however amember is not protecting the folder, I can click on the download link setup thru docman and I am not redirected to a sign up page in the amember script which is what I predicted would happen,I have treid this from diffrent browsers and different computers but the login prompt from amember never shows up. I can see the .htacces file in the folder created by amember that I want to protect but the protection is not there.

    Any help and or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
  2. aelias

    aelias New Member

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    Alex? anybody?
  3. jenolan

    jenolan aMember Coder

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    In all likelyhood DocMan is loading the file using open() which is not protected by standard http:// access control (open is system http is apache).
  4. aelias

    aelias New Member

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    Thanks for replying,

    Not sure but I do know that amember will protect the entire site, but that is not what I am after I want allow users to browse through the files and only join when the have had a preview of what they could download kinda of like "window shopping" it just seem odd to me that amember will not protect the folder, there is nothing special about it, other than it is full of zip files. I'm guessing it has something to do with .htaccess file but I don't know what kind of edits I need to make to get it work correctly.
  5. aelias

    aelias New Member

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    CGI support nowwhere to be found

    "CGI-Central doesn't provide official support via this forum To get quick response to your question, please contact us using Trouble Tickets system"

    More like wait and we will get to you when we feel like it. No response from CGI support after two days and a almost $200 for a script that is not doing me any good.

    I'm debating on asking for a refund now. The support for amember is horrific.
  6. jenolan

    jenolan aMember Coder

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    Actually the support is quite good.

    You are raising a problem with a module widget that works within the Joomla! process. I went to look at DocMan but it is not 1.5 native so I will not even install it to test for you (my system policy is 1.5 native only).

    As I said in my original message I think you will find that DocMan is sending the file directly from within its own php scripts (using fopen) this means that if you want the downloads protected you will need to modify DocMan. aMember directory protection (ie .htaccess/mod rewrite) is not PHP level it is http level protection.

    Hope this clears up the matter.
  7. aelias

    aelias New Member

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    My issue was not with Docman, I don't expect for CGI to try and support 3rd party add ons, my issues was the lack of response. A simple reply "we are looking at your issue" would have made a world of difference. I will give Alex credit he did respond. I just needed to know if I needed to move on if there was noway I could get amember to protect the downloads.

    I just don't see a reason to keep the script, if I can not integrate it with Joomla and the Docman downloads.

    Form reading other post there seems to be issues with the Joomla plugin so I'm not really ready to drop $40 for it just to have to have come back here look through the forum again and then have to send support questions to CGI again.

    Bottom line is if support would have just replied in a timer manner 24 hours I would have the confidence to keep amember and purchase additional plugins.
  8. jenolan

    jenolan aMember Coder

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    To actually make it work (apart from modding DocMan) would be to add a group in the Joomla! ACL set that access onto the Docman stuff and then create a subscription product within aMember that would grant the person access. At the moment access levels in Joomla! are basic, they have hinted that they will be improving this with v1.6. Lack of user control facility within Joomla! is not aMember's fault.

    Depending on your own needs is whether Docman is the solution, aMember has a built-in option to send stuff to users a bit at a time (ie a serial publish system) there is also a small download widget add on as well that is easily setup. It is always easy to say it doesn't do what I/you/us want but one problem with software is that you should not get yourself too stuck on 'must run xxxx' especially when it actually doesn't do what you want.

    From reading what docman does and your aMember requirements to do with it, it seems (I am probably wrong) that you have something like a series of articles (tutorials et al) that you want people to pay for to access. The 'Incremental Content Plugin' seems to be what you need if this is the case, if you will specify your requirement as a non-software issue and let me know what it is you need (ie sub package gives access to blah etc) I will try and help you.

    Larry
  9. aelias

    aelias New Member

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    Alexander You Rock!

    Ok Alex got me fixed up, Thanks Alex!!, I will keep the script. When it works that way it's supposed to it's awesome piece of software.

    I just have one issue now, when users are sent to the amember sign up page and the test users that I have set up logs in, the login the "Your Membership Information" page the link to go the membership site is not hyperlinked, I can't click on it. I can see it but can't click on it to go to the membership site.

    Any body have ideas?
  10. jenolan

    jenolan aMember Coder

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    Set the 'Product URL' in the product and it will be a hyperlink, you can also add links using the 'Additional URLs' one just below.

    Glad you have a system you like now!

    Larry
  11. aelias

    aelias New Member

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    Thanks for replying

    Thanks don't know why I did not see that before. It's hyper linked now.

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