Detailed Notes on User Group Settings

Introduction

It is important to note, as described below , that each user group is treated independently in User Group Settings.  Where a user belongs to multiple user groups jDownloads uses the Ranking values to determine which one should be used. Note that users automatically belong to the parent group, the grand parent group, and so on.

Another article, Controlled Access to Categories and Downloads (opens in new window/tab) shows the Permissions settings and how they are applied to categories and downloads for each group. These Joomla Permission and Access Level settings cascade through the Joomla User Groups as usual.
But by design the attributes set up in the jDownloads User Group Settings do not cascade. This allows each group to be customised individually. The notice below appears at the top of the User-Group Settings page to remind people. Personally I find it simpler to click on the User Group name itself.
CreateUploads02
These notes concentrate on the facilities available in the User-Group settings.  Further aspects on which user-group settings will be applied by jDownloads are dealt with in an additional article - Which User-Group is Used? (opens in a new window/tab) that discusses how jDownloads handles the situation when a user belongs to multiple user-groups.

However first we will illustrate how to create a User Group

Create a User Group

Click on  the V4 button system button, then in the Section user permissions section click on and then on V4 button groups. This shows a list of existing User Groups as illustrated opposite.

Next click on V4 button new at the top of the screen. This shows where you can add a suitable name and a pull down to specify the group parent. In this example User Group uploaderUG was created.

Normally for jDownloads one would use Registered as the Parent user group.
V4 create user group01

Access User Groups Setting in jDownloads



To access the User Group Settings  click on V4 button componentsthen V4 button jDownloads.

Next click on V4 button usergroups. This takes you to the list of User Groups as illustrated opposite.

There are nine standard User Groups but you can add your own. 

Typically, as noted above,  I add a User Group called uploaderUG and set it up for users who are allowed to create Downloads in the Front End.


V4 user groups list01

User Groups and Ranking

In the V4 button jDownloads02 panel, clicking on V4 button user groups setting gives a screen like the one below.  Note the important Ranking value and that an additional User Group 'uploaderUG' has been added. The ranking value for the uploaderUG is higher than that of any other usergroup.  That means a user who belongs to multiple usergroups, which includes uploaderUG, will use the jDownloads settings from uploaderUG.  This also applies to the Super Users group as its ranking value is lower.
user group settings 14
After clicking on V4 button user groups setting then click on the name of the User Group you wish to set up.

At the top is the name of the selected User Group and its ranking.

Below this are three tabs: Group Settings, Group Creation/Editting Settings and Limits. Each of these tabs is discussed below.


V4 usergroup Title RankingV4 user group tabs



  1. Group Settings which has some general settings;
  2. Group Creation/Editing Setting which controls the questions asked when creating or editting a Download from the Front End;
  3. Limits which controls items like how many Downloads a user may make each day.
Remember that setting up jDownloads parameters for one group has no effect on other groups!
Each User Group has to be done individually.

Group Settings

Use Captcha

If Yes is selected, users in this group must confirm that they are not a bot before they can download, upload files or report a Download.
Please note that you must activate a Joomla 'Captcha' plugin before you can use this feature in jDownloads.
See jDownloads documentation Using CAPTCHA in Joomla 4 & 5 (opens in new window/tab) for setting up the CAPTCHA plugin.

Show 'Report' Link


.

NOTE: You cannot select both Show 'Report' Link and Show 'Inquiry' Form at the same time. If you do it will create an error.

If Yes is selected to show a Report link then members of this group are enabled to 'report' a Download.  A link
V4 report download linkappears below each Download.

Clicking on the link generates an email message such as shown opposite.

To enable the link, it is essential that the active Downloads layout includes the placeholder {report_link}. Presently this placeholder is not in any of the standard Download layouts.

To include the link it is suggested adding the line
<div class="jd_clear">{report_link}</div> at the end of the main section of the layout.

To configure the email message see the jDownloads Configuration tab 'E-Mail' for more settings.

V4 report download email

Show 'Inquiry' Form


NOTE: You cannot select both Show 'Report' Link and Show 'Inquiry' Form at the same time. If you do it will create an error.

If set to Yes, members of this user group will be shown a form to request personal data before downloading or creating a new download.

First setup the email inquiry form in the V4 button e mails tab in the jDownloads V4 button options white as illustrated Opposite
An example of setting up the actual enquiry form is shown below.

The requested data will be sent to the e-mail addresses stored in the settings.
V4 inquiry form details
V4 email inqiry form

Set 'Waiting Time'

Allows you to set a time delay in seconds before the downloading of a file begins. Type in the number of seconds the user must wait.

The user will see the 'Waiting Time Message' with its countdown timer in the Summary page. The file becomes downloadable when the counter reaches zero. Setting the delay to zero disables the wait timer so there is no delay.

Requires the 'Summary' view so set Configuration - 'Downloads' TAB 'Activate direct-downloading' to No. 

Allows you to set the text for the 'Waiting Time Message'. A typical message is shown opposite. The situation here woud be that the Waiting time is set for Public members but Registered members would not wait.
The string variable %s must exist in the message so that it can be periodically updated with the remaining time. The message is displayed at the position where the placeholder variable {url_download} occurs in the layout.

Note that for a multilingual site language selectors may be used in the message. For example

{en-GB}Please wait. You can download the file in %s seconds.{/en-GB}{de-DE}Bitte warten. Sie können die Datei in %s Sekunden herunterladen.{/de-DE} 

V4 waiting time

View User Limits


This option is only applicable when one or more Limits have been set in the Limits tab as noted later in these notes.

If Yes is selected then members from this group are shown their details about downloading and uploading limitations.

The details are displayed in the 'summary' layout where the placeholder variable{view_user_limits_info} is included.

So ensure that in V4 button options white in the V4 button frontend tab tab that in section Download Sequence that option 'Activate direct-downloading' is set to No.


Alternatively can you also use the jDownloads View Limits module.
V4 limits summary view

Limits Message

The structure of the 'Limits Message' is shown opposite.  Setting the Limits is detailed later in the Limits tab Section.

Note that numerous placeholder variables must exist in this text as they will be replaced at execution time with appropriate labels and values. CSS classes, HTML code and arbitrary text may be included as you require.

The available placeholder variables are {msg_title}, {files_daily_label}, {files_weekly_label}, {files_monthly_label}, {volume_daily_label}, {volume_weekly_label}, {volume_monthly_label}, {upload_daily_label}, {remaining_label}, {files_daily_value}, {files_weekly_value}, {files_monthly_value}, {volume_daily_value}, {volume_weekly_value}, {volume_monthly_value}, {upload_daily_value}, {files_daily_rest_value}, {files_weekly_rest_value}, {files_monthly_rest_value}, {volume_daily_rest_value}, {volume_weekly_rest_value}, {volume_monthly_rest_value}, {upload_daily_rest_value}.
V4 limits message

Group Creation/Editing Setting

This section may be considered in two parts.

The first part is a regular set of options with typically Yes/No settings as illustrated below.
V4 data fields question type
The second part, Data Field Selection, is a series of 'tick boxes' as illustrated opposite.

Note that some items opposite have two tick boxes. 

If the second tick box is 'ticked' then it becomes a mandatory field.

V4 CreateUploads07

V4 data fields part all

Display add/upload icon.
When set to Yes then members of the user group are able to create/edit a Download in the Front End.

The image opposite shows the edit 'pencil' in an existing Download.

The Add button to create a new Download is also shown.
V4 create in fronrtend
V4 edit symbol

May select a different Category

If set to Yes then the Category pulldown box is shown in the create and the edit forms to allow selecting the jDownloads Category.
V4 select categorylist

Allow creating tags

When the 'tags' field in the section below Add internal link is enabled then this field, when set, allows creation of new Joomla! tags. If this field is unset then new tags cannot be created and only existing ones may be used. Please see Tags Support (opens in new window/tab) for more details. 

Use Editor for Text Fields

When selected a new Download created in the frontend will be published automatically.

Publish new Downloads

When selected the default system editor is used for entering text fields. Otherwise plain text, which may include simple html, is used. 

Use Tabs in Frontend Upload Form

Shows Download fields in a tabbed form or as a sequential List. A sequential list is useful if the user is only being asked for a few details. Default is Yes. Note: Self-created fields or field groups are always displayed within a tab.

Default Access View Level

When the 'access' field in the 'Data Field Selection' section below is 'unticked' then the Access Level given here will be used. If either the 'access' field below is 'ticked' or this field, the 'Default access view level' field, is left at '-Select Access-' then the Access Level in the Parent Category is used.

Note: as well as unticking the 'Access' field you must also untick the 'Single User Access' field in the Data Field Selection part.
V4 Default  Access Level

Allowed File Types

.  This specifies the file types (extensions) that may be uploaded. The default setting is zip,rar,pdf,txt.  The image opposite has added two further types.
V4 allowed file types

Allowed Preview File Types

A preview file is either an audio or a video file. Specify the individual file types that may be submitted as a comma separated list such as 'mp3,mp4,wav'.

Only the following file types are supported: audio types: mp3, wav, oga video types: mp4, flv, webm, ogv, ogg (note ogg type can be audio or video so it is assumed to be video) 
V4 allowed preview types

Maximum File Size

Allows setting the maximum file size as a multiple of kilobytes. The preset value is 5120, that is 5MB.
V4 max size

How many Images

Sets the maximum number of images that a member of this usergroup may add to a Download.V4 nos images

Text above the Form

This allows adding text above the Download Creation/Ediiting form.

The HTML code shown opposite was entered into the box.  The result is that the Download Add  or Edit form now has an heading text as shown below.
V4 demo text
V4 demo text html

Limits

For User Group Limits to work, it is essential that you activate jDownloads logging in V4 button options - V4 button global setting.

There are limits for downloading  on daily, weekly and monthly periods.  Similarly there are Megabyte limits for the same periods.  Each limit has an accompanying message that is available to be modified. There is a daily limit for the creation of Downloads.

If you set a limit to be zero then that limit is not used. A typical limit is shown below.
V4 activate log function

V4 daily download limit
Download Duration Restriction.
Allows you to set the duration (in minutes) in which a new download of the same file (and from the same user) is not counted as a 'new' Download. This value is important when Download manager software is being used, and also for the resuming interrupted Downloads. Change this value only if you are sure of the consequences! The default value is 60 minutes.
Transfer Speed Restriction.
Allows you to set if users from this user group are to have a downloading speed limit. For example if you set the value to 1024, then the downloading transfer speed is limited to a maximum of 1MB/sec. If you set it to 0 there is no limit. Note that this limit does not apply if the user is downloading external files.

ColinM, May 2012.-updated May 2015,May 2024

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