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Custom uploads directory - a big hole in AM2

 
 


air-ship
User

Jun 25, 2008, 1:41 PM

Post #1 of 22 (6079 views)
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Custom uploads directory - a big hole in AM2 Can't Post
Hi guys.

I'm perplexed! I've just discovered that AM2 cannot publish to a custom uploads directory as in AM1. I assumed this feature was still intact and chose AM specifically for its publishing flexibility.

I'm faced with a big, serious problem now. I need to be able to use that old feature of publishing into a custom uploads directory. My client expects it and I've sold the CMS on the back of this feature as well as others. The site is almost finished and is a culmination of three solid weeks development. I can't downgrade to AM1!

Can you advise me how to get out of this hole please. I notice you refer various people to changelog or ask them to watch this space. In understand why but that's not a solution to a problem.

Ordinarily, I wouldn't pursue something like this. Problem is, I may have to shelve the hole CMS aspect of an area of the site. Pretty serious stuff.

May I add that AM2 is a stunning upgrade with maximum flexibility. I'm just shocked and stunned that a feature many of us relied on is gone.

I look forward to your views and solution.

Rees.


Donna
Staff / Moderator


Jun 25, 2008, 1:48 PM

Post #2 of 22 (6078 views)
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Re: [air-ship] Custom uploads directory - a big hole in AM2 [In reply to] Can't Post
Hi there!

Just out of curiousity -- what are you planning on doing with the custom uploads directory? It's possible that we can come up with a solution that will work for you in some other way. :)

Donna

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air-ship
User

Jun 25, 2008, 3:34 PM

Post #3 of 22 (6073 views)
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Re: [Donna] Custom uploads directory - a big hole in AM2 [In reply to] Can't Post
Hi Donna,

I need to upload pictures (jpegs, gifs, pngs etc.), zip archives, excel, word, swf etc. These all have to be protected by our webmaster. He is using session based system to protect the directory for uploads and the publish directory. From memory you could set the publish and uploads directories as the same same folder. This is the way we want to do it.

is this enough info Donna. Incidentally, this is only pertinent to one category.

Rees.


Jake
Staff


Jun 26, 2008, 11:56 AM

Post #4 of 22 (5981 views)
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Re: [air-ship] Custom uploads directory - a big hole in AM2 [In reply to] Can't Post
Hi Rees,

If all of your uploads are destined for one category, would it be acceptable to just set the upload directory settings so that they point to a location within this category's published file directory?

Other than that, the only way to really swing this would be to upload files externally to the software and then link to them when creating the article, or to request custom programming from us to add this feature for you.

Let us know if you have any other questions!
-----------------------------------------------------------
Cheers,
Jake Swanson - Product Specialist
support@interactivetools.com

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air-ship
User

Jun 26, 2008, 1:05 PM

Post #5 of 22 (5978 views)
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Re: [Jake] Custom uploads directory - a big hole in AM2 [In reply to] Can't Post
Ouch Jake. Not the answer I was looking for.

No, there are many different uploads from different categories.

My client is uploading content, not me or my development team. I can't expect them to start sftp'ing and then link to every file manually. This defeats the object of a CMS.

It looks like you've got me cornered on the custom programming angle. I'm very unhappy about that. It still maintain that this feature existed in AM1 and by rights, should still be there. I'm not a happy bunny. Frown Frown Frown

So, please offer me some options and let's see where can go with it. Incidentally, this is very, very urgent now.

I haven't forgotten about the the blog feature Jake. I still need to schedule it in.

Regards,
Rees.


air-ship
User

Jun 30, 2008, 2:14 AM

Post #6 of 22 (5881 views)
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Re: [Jake] Custom uploads directory - a big hole in AM2 [In reply to] Can't Post
Hi Jake,

Did anyone in your team receive my response about this problem in AM2? I'm still waiting for a reply about a fix / solution.

Kind regards,
Rees.Unsure


Jake
Staff


Jun 30, 2008, 12:12 PM

Post #7 of 22 (5853 views)
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Re: [air-ship] Custom uploads directory - a big hole in AM2 [In reply to] Can't Post
Hi Rees,

It looks like our consulting team has been in touch with you about this. Was there anything else apart from the custom upload feature that you wanted to discuss?
-----------------------------------------------------------
Cheers,
Jake Swanson - Product Specialist
support@interactivetools.com

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Dave
Staff / Moderator


Jun 30, 2008, 1:31 PM

Post #8 of 22 (5849 views)
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Re: [air-ship] Custom uploads directory - a big hole in AM2 [In reply to] Can't Post
Hi Rees,

The problem is AM2 supports multiple categories, so because an article can be in multiple categories there's no way to determine which folder to store uploads in.

Feel free to email me directly at dave@interactivetools.com.

Dave Edis - Senior Developer
interactivetools.com


air-ship
User

Jun 30, 2008, 1:38 PM

Post #9 of 22 (5848 views)
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Re: [Dave] Custom uploads directory - a big hole in AM2 [In reply to] Can't Post
Hi Dave / Jake,

Thanks for your replies. I had a telcon with Ross about this earlier. He thinks he may have a custom solution for this.

Such a simple AM1 feature has now become a major issue.

Cheers,
Rees.


carminejg3
User

Jul 8, 2008, 4:34 PM

Post #10 of 22 (5707 views)
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Re: [air-ship] Custom uploads directory - a big hole in AM2 [In reply to] Can't Post
I agree that this becomes a problem. I am testing artman2 again with my current artman1 and I noticed this as well.

I have only one category which needs to be published into another section so its not that big of a problem, but I do think that the flexibility of putting files wherever you need them was a much bigger plus, then posting to multiple categories, due to the fact they would become dup content. same article in 2 or more categories unless the index page simply points to the articles main location.

Anyway I'm sure there was good reason in interactive doing this with artman2, they are a very talented group


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air-ship
User

Jul 9, 2008, 1:27 AM

Post #11 of 22 (5694 views)
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Re: [carminejg3] Custom uploads directory - a big hole in AM2 [In reply to] Can't Post
I agree about the AM team being a talented group and AM2 is awesome!!! On the whole, support is spot on.

It is a big hole in AM2 though and it needs to be addressed in future releases.

They have quoted me $400 to add in a customs uploads publishing feature. This would come out of my pocket rather than my clients. I sold this functionality to them knowing it was there in AM1.

I wonder whether another option would be to purchase an additional install of AM2 and mirror all the menus etc. then use server level redirects to move back to the original install of the site. This way you could have a different uploads folder (with session based / htaccess protection). A lot of work and extra cost if you have 40+ categories like I have. Just a thought.

Cheers,
Rees.


carminejg3
User

Jul 9, 2008, 7:12 AM

Post #12 of 22 (5676 views)
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Re: [air-ship] Custom uploads directory - a big hole in AM2 [In reply to] Can't Post
$400 is a bit steep I wonder if their is anyone else that needs this feature to split the cost with you. I'm still using artman 1 and am testing artman2 again. Everything came over quiet well except for any publishing to different folders or locations. So I'm trying to see how much work is involved in the move and the benefits to it. I just noticed that i could setup a publishing rule to publish the articles i want into different locations, But I'm running into some form of publishing error using the same pub id.

So i have to look into this. My real concern is the renaming of some of the articles that where in the root directory. I would have preferred that they got moved but kept their name, instead of naming the folder the old filename and sticking the index.shtml on the file. Since we could have set up a permin. redirect pointing to the file that might have had a seo name to it.

So i wonder if thats an option to have them be called the original name. This causes a problem when you have to check + articles.


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air-ship
User

Jul 10, 2008, 7:02 AM

Post #13 of 22 (5625 views)
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Re: [carminejg3] Custom uploads directory - a big hole in AM2 [In reply to] Can't Post
Hi there. I got a good suggestion from Ross on protected content in the uploads folder:

Quote
Was just talking with the developer and he had another idea. If you had a prefix on all on the files that needed to be password protected, we could use an .htaccess file on your server to protect them.

I am not quite sure how your protection method works though so I am not sure if this idea will work. Basically, just add something like "protected_" to the start of any file before you upload it.

Ex: let's say you want to protect a PDF called "July_08_meeting_minutes.pdf". All you do is rename that file to "protected_July_08_meeting_minutes.pdf" before you upload it and that would be all there is to it.

Does that sound like it's going to work? Let me know what you think :).

This seems like a great idea and we will give it a try!

Cheers,
Rees.


marys
User

Apr 21, 2009, 4:19 PM

Post #14 of 22 (3949 views)
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Re: [air-ship] Custom uploads directory - a big hole in AM2 [In reply to] Can't Post
Talk about throwing me a curve...

I need to password protect a custom uploads directory and didn't know AM2 won't let me do that.

Please tell me more about using the .htaccess file.

Would it need to be in the root directory or in the uploads directory?

Please provide sample code for the file.

On second thought, I don't think .htaccess will work. I need to protect uploaded files that can be accessed by members only, all of whom have their own password.

Do you have a solution?


(This post was edited by marys on Apr 21, 2009, 4:26 PM)


Donna
Staff / Moderator


Apr 22, 2009, 1:50 PM

Post #15 of 22 (3933 views)
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Re: [marys] Custom uploads directory - a big hole in AM2 [In reply to] Can't Post
Hi there,

For details on how to use an .htaccess, try contacting your hosting provider or hitting up Google -- they can generally give more more details on the specifics of password protecting specific content.

If your members have their own usernames & passwords, I'm assuming you have some form of user management already? Could you use your current method of user management to protect that directory as well?

Donna

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marys
User

Apr 22, 2009, 2:21 PM

Post #16 of 22 (3931 views)
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Re: [Donna] Custom uploads directory - a big hole in AM2 [In reply to] Can't Post
Thanks, Donna. This is what I'm working with:

<FilesMatch protect-*.*>
AuthName "Member Only"
AuthType Basic
AuthUserFile /html/username/.htpasswd
require valid-user
</FilesMatch>

I looked as using my user management program. While it protects certain sections of the site, other sections are accessible to anyone. I need to protect the uploads associated with the protected section of the site. AM2 uploads all uploads :-) to the same directory.


Donna
Staff / Moderator


Apr 24, 2009, 2:24 PM

Post #17 of 22 (3921 views)
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Re: [marys] Custom uploads directory - a big hole in AM2 [In reply to] Can't Post
Hi Marys,

This method would require that your files be named appropriately, but this appears to work:

AuthType Basic
AuthUserFile /server/path/to/.htpasswd
AuthName "Members Area"
Order deny,allow
<Files uploads*>
require valid-user
</Files>

What this basically says is that any file that starts with "uploads" (ie, "uploads_filename.jpg" or "uploads-randomdocument.pdf") is protected, but any other file name is not. This means that when you're uploading files to your protected articles, you would need to make sure the filenames have been changed to start with "uploads".

Would something like that work for you?

Donna

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marys
User

Apr 29, 2009, 2:10 PM

Post #18 of 22 (3727 views)
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Re: [Donna] Custom uploads directory - a big hole in AM2 [In reply to] Can't Post
I've spent so much time on this issue.

I'd forgotten that my member management program uses mod_rewrite, which means (I think) that I don't have an .htpasswd file.

Is that right? If so, do you have any other ideas as to how I might solve this problem?

Thanks, Donna.


Donna
Staff / Moderator


Apr 29, 2009, 3:15 PM

Post #19 of 22 (3717 views)
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Re: [marys] Custom uploads directory - a big hole in AM2 [In reply to] Can't Post
Hi there,

Hmm, not sure. Can you go into more detail about what you use for member management?

Donna

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marys
User

Apr 30, 2009, 10:20 AM

Post #20 of 22 (3679 views)
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Re: [Donna] Custom uploads directory - a big hole in AM2 [In reply to] Can't Post
Password Protector SD - http://www.passwordprotectorsd.com/

The program can secure entire folders only.


ross
Staff / Moderator


Apr 30, 2009, 4:09 PM

Post #21 of 22 (3667 views)
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Re: [marys] Custom uploads directory - a big hole in AM2 [In reply to] Can't Post
Hi Mary.

I had a look at the script but we I am just not sure what the options are going to be and we are really starting to hit the limits of our expertise on this one.

I don't quite follow you from Donna's previous post with the example .htaccess file.

Did that work at all? Or not at all?
-----------------------------------------------------------
Cheers,
Ross Fairbairn - Product Specialist
support@interactivetools.com

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marys
User

Jun 21, 2009, 3:28 PM

Post #22 of 22 (2847 views)
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Re: [ross] Custom uploads directory - a big hole in AM2 [In reply to] Can't Post
Wanted to let you know that a programmer with Password Protector SD used a mod re-write to protect the files.