Keeping user files seperate and available for download

[Denver Martin]

Hi everyone!

I am new to the forums here so please bare with me if this is in the wrong forum. :)

Currently, I am using an <EMBED> tag to show a user a PDF file. The PDF plug-in gives users the option to download the file, but I want to do-away with the whole <EMBED> process and want to replace it by instead providing the user with a link to the file(s) available to them. These files would also need to be available to the user and their supervisor/manager. Programtically, I do have a permission list of who each user is allowed to see beyond themselves.

The prospect of setting up folders for each user and assigning local file permissions is obviously an administrative nightmare as well as sounding extra messy on many many levels.

My main thought is to create a temporary download area for the session, maybe something like this:

(session start) - a temp-folder would be created
(session start) - permissible files copied to the temp-folder
(session) - user requests a file list
(session ends) - temp-folder destroyed when the session ends


I am curious to know how others have handled or approached this type of problem.

I am not looking for code at this point, rather looking to explore options and ideas.

Thanks in advance. :cool:

~ Denver Martin ~

[ray326]

You can either set up the folders and control access through your app so as not to be a big admin problem or you can throw everything together in a single folder but sort access out using a database to map users to files. None of that temporary stuff is needed.