Hello

For a start I can say IPDownloads is really well-crafted and would be even better if... Well no this is not the 'always want more' syndrom, but a real need in fact.

We would like to use IPD in such a way that we can offer many categories and manage permissions on an individual basis.

So far it can be done by:
-creating as many permission sets as necessary (almost one for each category in our case)
-creating a member group for each permission set
-selecting the appropriate groups for each member

However this method is obviously not appropriate for a large number of permission sets and member groups (lets say hundreds, maybe thousands in the long term):
-not very practical to handle with the current admin interface
-might raise server load issues at some point (?)

So my question: would there be another way to do that? If some custom development is needed, does is mean a few adaptations or a bigger revamp?

Thanks

Handling any sort of permissions on a per-user basis is not viable for a large number of sites - imagine having 100,000 members and assigning permissions individually?

There may be a way to do this in a future version, I'm just not sure of the 'best' way to handle this.

OK let's be more specific then

First, I am wondering if having lots of categories groups and permission sets could raise server load issues. If not we can start that way maybe with minor mods in the admin interface (make members' multi-group selection easer for instance).

From a functional standpoint, the ability to deal with permissions differently would be useful both in IPB and IPD. I would suggest the following:
-define 'typical' permission sets (not linked to a category)
-associate a member to a typical permission AND a category (once or as many times as necessary)
It might be slightly confusing in addition to the current system but much more flexible and up to each admin to use it or not!

Is it realistic from a technical standpoint?

Well, the more data, the more stuff there is in memory, but you're likely not going to notice any load differences between 5 groups and 20 groups.

Between 5 groups and 100 there might be some differences.

Right now, IP.Downloads builds off of IPB, so I'm afraid from this module's standpoint I can't really change how member's are assigned to permission sets. The best I could do is something like Gallery, where you look up a member and specify some individual permissions that override their category/group permissions. Problems:

1) You then have to query the database to gather this info on each page load (extra query which I don't feel is really necessary)
2) This would then be global for that member, not per-category

Essentially, any method used to implement permissions, someone is going to find a situation where they would like to have more/different control - I have to find a balance between possibilities, ease of use, scalability, etc.

Thanks for the explanation.

Shall I guess that we'd better not create hundreds of groups and permission sets (not all at once but...)? I know it may sound crazy but there is a real purpose behind that: we want to use the forum & download manager to give exclusive access to many different kinds of discussions and contents.

I have not purchased a Gallery license so far (maybe in the future) so cannot check but yes it still seems too limited.

As I said, I would consider this feature: 'associate a member to a typical permission AND a category (once or as many times as necessary)' as the most flexible solution, if combined with the current groups/permissions system.

However I can neither evaluate the technical feasibility (ain't no developer sadly), nor your interest in doing that. Haven't you had any similar request until now?

Maybe I'll ask the good guys at Metalaxe for a quote.

anyway thanks again!

Creating lots of permission sets likely won't be an issue. Creating lots of groups could be depending upon exactly how many you create, your server specs, etc. and so on.