[Pro] Downloadable image library?

Freeway
1

I’ve not really looked into it myself yet, but I wondered if anybody had an instant “no, you can’t do that” answer.

Put simply, I want create a password entry, simple site with a search feature, that allows users to locate and download images/PDFs of products to download for their own purposes - preferably purely with FW and no backend stuff.

Possible or not?

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2

Anything that rises to that level of complexity will require at a
minimum:

  • A database of some sort (could just be flat text files, like WebYep)
  • A server-side interpreted language (PHP, Ruby, etc) to run
    programmatic instructions (when this happens, you do that)
  • Some means of determining if the current visitor has already
    authenticated to the system (usually done with cookies or sessions,
    running under the PHP or Ruby script)

None of this is particularly hard to do if you understand programming,
but it’s devilishly hard to acquire that understanding in one whack –
particularly if someone is standing over you waiting for a finished
project.

Walter

On Sep 30, 2010, at 10:13 AM, neil.west1 wrote:

Put simply, I want create a password entry, simple site with a
search feature, that allows users to locate and download images/PDFs
of products to download for their own purposes - preferably purely
with FW and no backend stuff.

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3

Hmmm, sounds like a “no” then!

I’m conversant with WebYep, but not the programming side of things. I was kind of hoping that the new search function within FW might be able to do everything - obviously not!

Thanks for your speedy answer.

Neil

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4

The new search functions only work on static content – content which
you put into the page using your copy of Freeway. At the time that you
publish, the flat text HTML files that Freeway generates are crawled
for their text content, and that content is added to the search index.
So if you had the kind of time needed to make a completely static site
full of pictures, preferably with one picture on each page and an
assortment of keywords and descriptive text on the same page with each
picture, then yes, you could use that and it would work pretty much
like it says on the box.

That wouldn’t get you to the secure area, but that can be solved in a
couple of different ways: server side, using your hosting provider’s
control panel to set a password on the folder containing the images,
or Freeway side, using the Password Protect Action to do the same
thing. Just remember that the Freeway Password Action doesn’t really
protect anything. All it does is obfuscate the path to the completely
public content, and once that content is shown to someone, a bookmark
or copy of the URL will be enough for someone else to see it without
authenticating with the server.

Walter

On Sep 30, 2010, at 11:06 AM, neil.west1 wrote:

Hmmm, sounds like a “no” then!

I’m conversant with WebYep, but not the programming side of things.
I was kind of hoping that the new search function within FW might be
able to do everything - obviously not!

Thanks for your speedy answer.

Neil

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