Hi Scott,
Just hopped in here to list what you've requested in the DNN forum.. about how ppl are using the menu etc.
I haven't yet put the module into use, but I have been checking out each new release to see if I can.
My minimum requirements for putting it live are very basic:
Extended functionality in order of preference is:
I realise of course that the module may not always be meant to do what I'd like it to do. I'm only listing what I'm looking for and the module already handles several of the features.
The biggest deal breaker has always been DNN awareness of what the module does. I read the recent note about being able to sync a folder with DNN, but I'm still confused as to why it can't just act like the core file manager and other modules and do it for all content all the time. I'm assuming there must be some technical hurdle to overcome.. or perhaps some other feature of the module that makes it difficult to use a DNN file manager. I have another file manager module that, whilst it is too buggy to use otherwise, is permanently synced with DNN without further drama. I'm still using that module in production.
There is one other way that I can see I might want to use the module in future. I might have someone wanting a storage place for files that are shared in a work group. Because it might amount to hundreds of Mb of files and I don't want them in my daily backups, I'd normally set them up with an FTP account and a folder on the server, but it would certainly be handy for management of the service if I could let them use this module instead. I'll need to test it out and see if it will work in an easy fashion with the module as it is now. I'm guessing it probably does.
Of course, others may want to use the module in other ways, so it's all over to you Scott :)
Rob
Hey Rob,
There are a couple of key reasons why the module cannot always "sync" to DNN. Some of my customers have the module pointed to folders, where the files that arrive in these folders may or may not arrive via a DNN-related program. (Automated FTP, manually copied via Remote-Desktop, etc).
Your example of how you might use the module is similar to how some of my more active customers are using it.
Not requiring files and folders to be pre-stored in the database is a key feature of Access Manager. However, having the ability to have folders that do sync to the DNN database is just as useful.
Basically the solution to all of this is to allow a new folder-type (Normal, Autocreate, Synced (or something)). The synced folders will of course auto-sync to DNN...the more technical details I am still working out and changing, but things are very close. It will, when done, make the module much more useful. It will also open up a whole extra world of feature requests, but that's ok as I enjoy adding to this product. It's come quite a long way since 1.x DNN (Perhaps I'll publish the DNN 1.x version on a test site for kicks).
I'll be updating again soon with more hard-set details on the 1.5 release.