[thelist] Perl? PHP? mySQL? required to download software from a web site - REPOST

[Sharon F. Malone]

It helped ... a whole bunch. Thank you so much, Hans. It is as I suspected not as simple as client thinks it is. Now I can present client with more specifics of what needs to be done...and how.(<8

Sharon
>
> For one, you need to organize your thoughts/process a little better,
> and realize that 'hscdl' doesn't mean anything - it's probably just
> some script someone wrote.
>
> For what I can see, each of you client's clients (sub client) buys
> software from your client, which is personalized in some form for them.
>  When they make the purchase, a unique ID is generated - good, this is
> all we need.  Now, your client needs to upload the customized software
> to his site, and make it available to the sub client - no problem.
>
> Using PHP and MySQL first whip up a little form for your client.  Read
> about PHP's handling of file uploads
> (http://www.php.net/manual/en/features.file-upload.php or just search
> google).  This form will simply let your client select the file he
> wants uploaded and the sub client's unique ID.  Make an obscurely named
> directory for this uploaded files, then write the file that is uploaded
> to the directory, changing the name of the uploaded file to the unique
> ID (and proper extension).
>
> So where does MySQL come in?  It might not have to.  But if I were you,
> I'd store metadata in MySQL (ie, original filename uploaded, when it
> was uploaded, size, unique id used, etc) that might come in handy at
> some point for account tracking, billing, whatever.
>
> Now, when the sub client needs to download their software, just point
> them to this unique URL.  If you do a good job generating the unique
> ID, things should hold up well.
>
> This is not the best/most secure/feature rich/ way of doing this, and
> there are many variations even on this scheme of doing it.  However, it
> is the simplest, and should get you started.
>
> Hope this helped,
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Sharon F. Malone
"web design and Internet writing services"
http://www.24caratdesign.com
sfmalo at 24caratdesign.com