«Restricted Files» plugin (version 2.1, 2016-12-11)

Discontinued Plugins
1

The «Restricted Files» plugin allows you to restrict access to downloads (attached files) so only users of permitted groups can download files from your Discourse forum.
So you can sell digital content through your Discourse forum.
To receive payments from your customers you can use my another Discourse plugin «PayPal Buy Now».
Also you can offer your digital content for free, but only to members of permitted groups / trust levels.
So you can motivate your forum members to achieve the specified trust level to gain access to the downloads.

1. Changelog

2015-06-08 Version 1.0
2015-06-29 Version 1.1
2015-07-02 Version 1.2
2015-07-19 Version 1.2.1
2015-08-17 Version 2.0
2016-12-11 Version 2.1

2. Live example

The files below are restricted:
Text File.txt (791.1 KB)
Music.mp3 (3.3 MB)
Archive.zip (303.0 KB)
Design.psd (122.5 KB)

They can not be downloaded neither by the anonymous nor by the simple registered customers.
You can try it yourself either by registering on the forum or by just using the prepared customer test account without download permissions:
username: test_bob
password: 123456

At the same time there is the customer with download permissions:
username: test_john
password: 654321

3. How to buy

Use the PayPal form below:

Take a notice that the form is built using my another Discourse plugin «PayPal Buy Now».

4. How to works

4.1 A case with an anonymous visitor

4.2 A case with a registered but not willing to pay forum member

4.3 A case with a paid forum member

5. How to install

You can order the installation service (see the form above) or just install the plugin yourself in the standard way through app.yml.

6. How to setup

6.1 Setup a user group with download access.

Alternatively, you can use an authomatic group:

For example, you can give download access to users with a specified trust level:

6.2 Add paid customers to the group with download access

You can do it either on the group page or on the customer page.

6.2.1 Adding from the group page:

6.2.2 Adding from the customer page:

6.3 Adjust the «Restrict Files» plugin settings

2

Version 1.1 is out!
Admin interface has been improved.
Now, the access control lists suggests user groups automatically:

3

Version 1.2 is out!
Admin interface has been improved.
Now, the messages for unauthenticated and unauthorized users can be edited in WYSIWYG editor with support for HTML tags, BBCodes and Markdown:

4

Version 1.2.1 is out.
The plugin has been updated to be compatible with the upload changes introduced in Discourse v1.4.0.beta5 and v1.4.0.beta6.

5

Version 2.0 is out!
Now, the plugin logs all the download events for the restricted files.
The report is avaliable for forum administrators with information about download events:

  • time
  • file
  • customer
  • forum topic

6

The version 2.1 is released.
The plugin is updated to be compatible with the latest Discourse version (v1.7.0.beta9).