How can I have users upload files to a file repository? (and other questions)

By saepl on 4 Nov 2008 at 13:55 UTC

Hello,

I am using postnuke on my site but am seriously exploring switching over to drupal. I installed drupal 6.x a few days ago and I must say that I absolutely LOVE it but haven't quite figured out if it will offer everything I need in order to switch my site over.

My biggest concern is that I have a module in postnuke called updownload which allows users to upload files, admin then approves them and then they are available for download to the general public. I can't seem to figure out how to do something similar in drupal. I did a search here prior to posting but all the answers pertain to drupal 4.x or 5.x and are not applicable to 6.x. Is there a solution for 6.x?

Second concern is I have created a registration module in postnuke where the user can register and then pay for the event via paypal. The module is just a few php pages that writes to a database. Would it be very difficult to port this to drupal or maybe there is already a solution that would meet these requirements.

I would appreciate any guidance you can give me.

Thanks.

Comments

very easy but not so

rogerpfaff

he/his

German

Munich

commented 4 November 2008 at 14:24

very easy but not so convinient it is when you want to be informed about any new content. use upload, actions and triggers wich are included in D6. you'll have to activate upload and triggers. then create a new content type "file" and set it to unpublished in the workflow options. allow file attachements to it. create a new action for sending email to you. create a new trigger when content is saved and select 'sending email'. so everytime a file node is created you get an email about it. this is the fast shoot from the hip approach. with different modules you will get more comfort to the process.

for your second question i can tell you: yes there are solutions but i don't know them in detail right now.

------------------------------------------------------
Remember: I compute you!

Ok...I created the new

saepl commented 4 November 2008 at 15:47

Ok...I created the new content type as per your instructions...I created a new action...but when I go to triggers I don't have an option for when content is saved. The only options I have are:
1. When either saving a new post or updating an existing post
2. After saving a new post
3. After saving an updated post
4. After deleting a post
5. When content is viewed by an authenticated user

'post' is content. You add

WorldFallz commented 4 November 2008 at 18:08

'post' is content. You can add the action for when a post is new (probably what you want) or when it's new and updated. This will however, notify you on all posts of all content types. If you want more fine grained control of actions/triggers you should check out the http://drupal.org/project/rules module. It will allow you to be specific and setup a rule to email you only when a post of type "file" is created (by adding a condition for node type = file).

_{===

"Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime." - Lao Tzu

"God helps those who help themselves." - Ben Franklin

"Search is your best friend." - Worldfallz}

I have successfully uploaded

saepl commented 4 November 2008 at 16:05

I have successfully uploaded a spreadsheet file to the files node and approved it as the administrator (as per my previous post I am still trying to figure out how to get email notifications). How, now, can I view the file? What is the path to view all the files that have been uploaded?

There aren't lists created

WorldFallz commented 4 November 2008 at 18:07

There aren't lists created by content type by default. You can either use taxonomy to automatically get listings of the form '/taxonomy/term/[termid]' but i recommend using the http://drupal.org/project/views module for creating all sorts of content listings. You also may want to look at the http://drupal.org/project/pathauto module for automatically generating aliases of your nodes. See the Creating Hackable URLs (Index Aliases) Using Pathauto and Views video for an excellent explanation of how to create index urls (it's for d5 but the modules and concepts are the same).

Thanks. Do you recommend

saepl commented 7 November 2008 at 03:34

Thanks. Do you recommend using the projects module to display all the files that I want to make available for downloads?

project hasn't been updated

WorldFallz commented 7 November 2008 at 03:55

project hasn't been updated for d6 yet. Also, in it's current form it's pretty geared to software development-- it may be hard to adapt to another use case. When i last looked at it i found it to be overkill and inflexible for simple file/document management. But the best thing to do is load it up and try it out so you can judge for yourself if it meets your needs.

I tried to load it but it

saepl commented 7 November 2008 at 05:08

I tried to load it but it wouldn't load in d6.

What I am trying to do is replicate this in drupal.

So far I have been able to upload files and categories them using taxonomy tags. But I still don't know how can I create a view showing just the titles of each "section" like you see when you click on the link above.

D5 modules won't load in

WorldFallz commented 7 November 2008 at 14:54

D5 modules won't load in d6-- you'd have to create a d5 test site to check it out. But basically, the downloads section of this site is powered by the project module (and module issues are powered by the project issue tracking module).

As for your view-- it depends on what drupal item represents a 'section'. Is it the vocabulary name? Is it a parent in a hierarchical taxonomy?

I am not entirely familiar

saepl commented 7 November 2008 at 18:53

I am not entirely familiar with all the drupal terminology yet but I would say that I have setup each 'section' as a vocabulary name.

maybe if you take a look at my test site you will get a sense of how I set it up. Test file 3 was added to both the 'fun stuff' and 'games' sections

Once I figure out how to do this I want to do the same with user blogs (show a list of all bloggers->show a list of all blogs by that blogger).

Thanks for the link, that

WorldFallz commented 7 November 2008 at 19:34

Thanks for the link, that was helpful. You definitely don't need the project module for this.

From what I can see on your site, you're just using taxonomy terms. It's actually pretty simple. What you want is a page view using the 'grid style' (views basic settings). Then add the fields you want to appear in the view in the field settings box. Add a filter to filter for just nodes of your download type. For images i would recommend the http://drupal.org/project/taxonomy_image module. You could assign each term the same image (as in the example), or even slicker-- their own image (there's tons of free gpl graphics available on the net).

If that doesn't appear exactly the way you want you can theme every single part it. Check out the 'Theme: information' link in the basic settings box for your theme and the views advanced help on theming (at help/views/analyze-theme). There's also some good info on theming views here on d.o.

Thanks a lot I feel like I

saepl commented 7 November 2008 at 22:35

Thanks a lot I feel like I am really making some great progress - but I still can't get it! haha

I went into "views" under "site builder" and tried to create a new one, but I don't know how to do it. Would you be able to perhaps direct me to a tutorial on how to do this or give me a simple step by step to show me how to do it. How about an example to view all files that I have assigned a taxonomy id of 'fun stuff'

Also, once you have created the view, what URL do you use to actually view it?

Again,

Thanks for all your help.

be patient with yourself--

WorldFallz commented 8 November 2008 at 01:20

be patient with yourself-- views is a complex module, especially views2. For now, here's some links to videos i found helpful:

Start with those-- and I'll see if i can throw together a little step by step tomorrow.

Well I think I am on to

saepl commented 12 November 2008 at 00:48

Well I think I am on to something...check it out here How do I remove the bullets though?

Add the following to your

WorldFallz commented 12 November 2008 at 01:05

Add the following to your style.css:

div.view-MinistryExchangeMain ul li {
  list-style-type:none;
}

Thanks. So I guess that if I

saepl commented 12 November 2008 at 18:26

Thanks.

So I guess that if I wanted to put a border around it, etc I would do that all in the CSS for that bulleted list?

Yep-- you should do as much

WorldFallz commented 12 November 2008 at 22:38

Yep-- you should do as much appearance stuff as you can with css. I've very rarely ever found instances in drupal where I had to modify things to add classes/ids for styling with css.

Ok, sounds good. Can I

saepl commented 13 November 2008 at 00:28

Ok, sounds good. Can I specify another css style sheet so that I can add all the non-theme specific stuff in there and have that one load in addition the theme specific css sheet so that I were to change a theme these styles would still be applied?

That's a really good

WorldFallz commented 13 November 2008 at 01:18

That's a really good question. Off the top of my head, the only way i can think of to have such a style sheet loaded independent of any theme is to create a tiny little module and put a drupal_add_css statement in it.

you could use the import

rogerpfaff

he/his

German

Munich

commented 13 November 2008 at 07:45

you could use the import function in a css file. save your additional css in the same folder and use >> @import "yourstyle.css" <<

German

Munich

commented 14 November 2008 at 06:27

then i would recommend http://drupal.org/node/225868 as already said. perhaps the zen theme will help you some further. http://drupal.org/project/zen

How can I have users upload files to a file repository? (and other questions)

Comments

very easy but not so

Ok...I created the new

'post' is content. You add

I have successfully uploaded

There aren't lists created

Thanks. Do you recommend

project hasn't been updated

I tried to load it but it

D5 modules won't load in

I am not entirely familiar

Thanks for the link, that

Thanks a lot I feel like I

be patient with yourself--

Well I think I am on to

Add the following to your

Thanks. So I guess that if I

Yep-- you should do as much

Ok, sounds good. Can I

That's a really good

you could use the import

true-- but the @import will

I like this idea. It's

then i would recommend

New forum topics

News items

Our community

Documentation

Drupal code base

Governance of community