Customer Uploaded Files - List and Download

There are 4 files that go into your ZC installation (in addition, there are also license.txt and readme.txt files that you read, rather than installing):

admin -> includes -> boxes -> extra_boxes -> uploads_customers_dhtml.php
admin -> includes -> extra_datafiles -> uploads_filenames.php
admin -> includes -> languages -> english -> extra_definitions -> uploads.php
admin -> uploads.php

So, yes, you're missing some files.

It works as promised but is almost useless for any long term use if you have lots and lot of uploads on a daily basis unless you are of a mind to edit your database very frequently. It has no function to delete uploads so they just pile up. Eventually you have to manually delete the files off the server. it uses a numerical ordering procedure so if you do delete files then new uploads will be somewhere within the many pages and pages of uploads and you have to dig around to find them. And of course, when you do delete files off the server, you need to also go into the data base and edit the table. otherwise, you have pages and pages of the uploads. Over time this can be HUGE.

I have been using this mod for a bit and since we sell a product that is about custom printing we have about 5-15 or so customers uploading images daily and it adds up very fast.

Right now we have over 20 pages of uploads and because of the way it orders them they are not even in order of received.

Not being a programmer is there anyone out there willing to take a look at this mod and make it more better? I'd be willing to pay for a functional mod in this category that is admin friendly.

As I'm the author of this mod, I'll respond to your well expressed frustrations with it.

I had a client, a print shop, that wanted to explore having an eCommerce site. I used ZC to build a pilot for them. Wanting to show them how customer uploads would look, I created this mod. Turns out they didn't go forward with their plans, so I had no immediate incentive to refine it into a full-featured mod.

Nonetheless, in the spirit of open source software, I contributed this mod to the community, even though I knew it wasn't complete. One possibility was that somebody else would build on my work and add major features to it.

I'd be willing to discuss doing more work on this.

Seems like it should be a relatively simple process for someone well versed in coding with sql and php. I say that because I know enough to be dangerous.

It needs to order by order# not id# (regardless of whether subsequent records have been deleted or not).

It needs to have a link connected to each record in zc admin to delete the record from zc admin which also deletes record from the database and at the same time it deletes said record from admin and db also deletes the graphic connected to said record from the server images/uploads folder.

For me, I think that would make it truly functional as a mod.

For others, so I have heard, and I agree, an added plus would be if it actually connected the image to the order confirmation sent to the client as well as to admin. That would be understandably, a more complex coding issue. But too- if it did have this feature, would be preferred if it could be turned on or off or coded so it could be removed from the source file without affecting anything else as some might not want that feature.

I guess no one has any answers here with respect to making this module a workable module so that you can delete uploaded files, and search for them by order number or customer name without having to be a certified database administrator or php coder?

As mentioned, as it stands you cannot delete the files it saves that a customer uploads without going directly to the server and even then you must have root access, cannot delete the records it makes in the database without going into the database, cannot search for a customers upload by order number or customer name or any method at all, and it does not order them in a way that makes it easy for you in the case of where you have thousands of uploads from thousands of customers and need to search for a particular order and in fact does not order them by order received making it near impossible to find the one you need in the case of many orders daily.

No one else is interested in having this module work as it should?

Not to take away from the original designer as I understand his original reason for doing what he did ie why he created the module and why it has its limitations per his explanation of that, but it seems apparent he doesn't wish to support it beyond that. He did private message me about making it do what I was asking for a fee of which I replied I was interested but never heard anything further so I must assume it isn't a priority.

However, let it be known I do appreciate him making it available as it is and do appreciate it at least getting us this far.
I am just saying, it really needs to go a little bit further in order to be truly functional.

So my question is, are there others using this module and or interested in having it work in a way that would be beneficial?

Reason I ask is I am going to hire a PHP programmer outside of this forum to make it work right. We've had 30+ pages of customers with uploads since I installed this module and its great for what we need since the majority of them need to upload a graphic with their order but its deficiencies from an administrative perspective make it hugely cumbersome and almost (I said almost) useless.

Just like thomaswhiteeagle I use this mod for customer uploads of photographs for banners which can have up to 6 photos each. It was good when first installed 3 months ago but now with 25 pages of uploads the latest ones are appearing around page 15 or 16 because the sort order is by ID rather than by Order Number.

The best and simplest solution would be to sort by order number so the latest upload was on page 1. I do not see any need for a search option if the files were displayed in this way.

I delete the uploaded files manually on a weekly basis from the image uploads folder but the fact that the names stay in the uploads admin is frustrating, so if within the admin it was possible to remove the file names it would be much better.

Having said that the mod itself, even with these limitation, is very useful. There are far less chances of making a mistake and getting the wrong photo printed on a banner than with the basic Zen numbering of uploads.

So if anyone can do this update it would be gratefully received.

This mod works ok for me except I noticed that if the customer image is taged as .JPG it fails to pick up the image, stating that smith.JPG does not exist.

If I ise my FTP and change the file name to smith.jpg then tha mod is happy.

Apart from asking customer to ensure the correct naming (I guess) how can I eith enshure Zen labels the file in lower case OR get this mod to accept both??

Have I missed something??

Thanks

Anyone???

Try the solution in post 17 on page 2 in this forum it worked for me with both jpg and JPG file extensions showing up.

Aaaawh!! Dont know how I missed that lol.

Thanks for the pointer... seems to have sorted it nicely.

Thanks

Oh... And I will add my vote for the DELETE button. Then were all happy!

Rizla

I've got $100 to put into this if someone can fix this script so it works to be able to order by order number and to be able to delete records both from the database and corresponding upload from the server once the record is no longer needed.

Attached please find a new uploads.php.

I have rearranged the columns to be more logical, given them a border to be more usable and resorted the downloads by the order number instead of the upload ID.

~Melanie

Thank you, the new uploads.php is so much easier to use.

As I manually delete the uploaded files from the images folder every week it does not matter that they cannot be deleted from Admin, but do you have any ideas as to how to delete the names of the uploaded files from the Admin? I currently have 40 pages of them. The only way I have found is to delete all trace of the order from the database.

No, I had thought about looking in to deleted them, but it's really not a big deal anymore, as the array only pulls the max search results which is currently set at 25. So you are only querying the orders on the page you are on... and since the old ones are in the back now....

~Melanie

You are right it is not worth worrying about deleting the references to the files. Uploads in the admin is so much easier to use now and only need to go to first 2 pages to find the files to download. One minor change which I have managed to make for myself is that it is very useful to keep the customers file name included within the downloaded file name. If I need to contact the customer about a problem picture I can give them their file name, the orders I get usually have 5 or 6 photos on each personalised banner.

Thank you for doing this update.

mprough:

No, I had thought about looking in to deleted them, but it's really not a big deal anymore, as the array only pulls the max search results which is currently set at 25. So you are only querying the orders on the page you are on... and since the old ones are in the back now....

~Melanie

Well I still think it is an important function to be able to delete files and records related to the uploads. Because the upload directory takes up a lot of space if you have a huge amount of uploads on a daily basis and otherwise it can get confusing if you manually go and delete files on the server as to which ones to delete and which ones might not have been processed yet, not to mention the technically challanged operator which might never have ftp'd to the server in their life and relies on being able to point and click within the admin panel.
Not to mention the database filling up with records related to the uploads which over time serve no function anymore once the order is processed.

Manually deleted them in FTP will not make them disappear in the admin... The records is what is displayed in the admin and is has nothing to do with your uploads directory which you should be pruning regularly.

~Melanie

mprough:

Manually deleted them in FTP will not make them disappear in the admin... The records is what is displayed in the admin and is has nothing to do with your uploads directory which you should be pruning regularly.

~Melanie

Yes understand what you are saying but it doesn't really have anything to do with what I was stating or the reasoning behind it.

Just noticed we have the same problem back again with the file naming..... .jpg v's .JPG

Attempted the mod in post 17 but refused to load.

Any ideas??

Thanks

Anyone know what uploads folder this is reading from?

It looks like admin/uploads

Currently, my uploads buttons upload to images/uploads

How can I change this to upload to admin/uploads?

Thanks,

Clay