How to allow site visitors to browse and download files

This isn’t the plugin solution you’re looking for (insert Jedi joke here) BUT …

These aren’t files already included in your blog is it? They’re just a bunch of files in a folder?

If so, sadly you’re looking for something like this: https://code.tutsplus.com/tutorials/how-to-use-amazon-s3-php-to-dynamically-store-and-manage-files-with-ease–net-31

That MIGHT be able to do what you’re looking for if I understand it correctly. If not, let me know, I’m happy to see if I can untangle this ??

Hello,

Thank you for helping, even though this particular plugin isn’t the solution. I really appreciate it.

The files are currently part of the WordPress blog via a download management plugin, but I can easily trash that plugin, and do something else. All of the files are in one main folder on the server, with organizational sub-folders.

I checked out the tutorial you linked to. I don’t want users to be able to upload files, so I’m not sure if that is the best solution? I just want people to be able to download the files via a simple directory interface on the web site.

Ideally, I just want people to be able to browse the contents of the folder, and sub-folders, and download any of the files. That’s how the web site is currently set up. But, Dreamhost wants me to move the media files from the regular web server to either DreamObjects, or some other file storage-type service. I have no idea how to accomplish what I want to do with DreamObjects.

I guess if I have to, I can just use Microsoft OneDrive, Google Drive, or something, and make public folders and subfolders. I’d rather have the files be a part of my web site, though, instead of sending site visitors to a folder on OneDrive or Google Drive. I’d also rather pay Dreamhost for the file storage, rather than give my money to Microsoft or Google. I don’t see an easy solution with Dreamobjects,though.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you,
Heather

The files are currently part of the WordPress blog via a download management plugin,

That should be permitted to remain on your site then, per DreamHosts’ TOS (I recall we sent out “Hey, stop storing files on your server if they’re not being used” for high disk usage folks). But that may depend on HOW you use them.

I checked out the tutorial you linked to. I don’t want users to be able to upload files, so I’m not sure if that is the best solution? I just want people to be able to download the files via a simple directory interface on the web site.

Oh sure, then just leave off the part about the upload ??

I made a quick fork of the S3.php file – https://github.com/Ipstenu/dreamobjets-php-class – so it’s already set up for DreamHost.

<?php

//include the S3 class
if (!class_exists('S3'))require_once('S3.php');

//AWS access info
if (!defined('awsAccessKey')) define('awsAccessKey', 'MYACCESSKEY');
if (!defined('awsSecretKey')) define('awsSecretKey', 'MYSECRETKEY');

//Bucket Info
$bucketName = 'MYBUCKETNAME';

/* STOP EDITING HERE */

//instantiate the class
$s3 = new S3(awsAccessKey, awsSecretKey);

// Get the contents of our bucket
$bucket_contents = $s3->getBucket($bucketName);

foreach ($bucket_contents as $file){

    $fname = $file['name'];
    $furl = 'https://'.$bucketName.'.objects.dreamhost.com/'.$fname;

    //output a link to the file
    echo '<a href=\'$furl\'>$fname</a><br />';
}

Looks like this from the user end: https://ipstenu.org/dreamobjects

Thank you. Hopefully I can do this. So, DreamObjects itself doesn’t have a browsable web interface for when a bucket is made public?

I really have no idea what to do with anything on that github page that you linked to. It’s Greek to me. I feel like I’m doomed to end up sharing the files from Google Drive, which is depressing and frustrating. I know html, and I can do minor tweaks to pre-made php programs (like WordPress), but I think this whole DreamObjects thing is a little over my head. I wish they would provide options for non-programmers. Dreamhost won’t let me keep the files as they are. I wish they would. So, I guess unless I can figure out this whole DreamObjects thing, it’s Google Drive for me.

Is it just a matter of creating a php page, and inserting the above code? I understand I’d have to amend it with the actual bucket names,etc.

I guess I’ll have to mess with it. Feeling stupid, and disheartened. I’ve had the site the way it is now for ten years, and am now having the rug pulled out from under me.

Thank you very much for your help.

If you download the S3.php file I linked you to on github and then take the code in my previous post and put that in an index.php file, and put them both in the same Location on your site, it’ll make a browsable listing.

But no, there isn’t a built in top-down browsable interface for visitors. You, yes, obviously, you’ve seen our admin. It’s a little more like Dropbox, in that the files are default to be private.

It’s kind of how Ceph (the underlying code base) works. The idea is that you have storage and link to it when you need it, not that it’s a browsable directory for anyone to surf and download.

Hi Mika,

I’m sure that I’m doing something wrong, but the S3.php file, and the above code are not working for me. In the above code, in this section:
//AWS access info
if (!defined(‘awsAccessKey’)) define(‘awsAccessKey’, ‘MYACCESSKEY’);
if (!defined(‘awsSecretKey’)) define(‘awsSecretKey’, ‘MYSECRETKEY’);

I’m replacing MYACCESSKEY with the S3 key in Dreamobjects, and replacing MYSECRETKEY with the key that shows up when you click “show secret key” in Dreamobjects.

Then, I replaced MYBUCKETNAME with the name of the bucked I created. That’s all I changed. Is that correct?

I created an index.php with the above code in it, and uploaded to a new test folder on my server which I created, along with the S3.php file. When I browse to it, I get a page with this text/links on it:
$fname
$fname
$fname
$fname
$fname
$fname

The links all point to the folder name/$furl

Do you know what I’ve done wrong?

Hello,
I just realized that, while the bucket is public, the files within were not. Does one have to click on every single file in a bucket,and make them public? Is there a way to set it so that everything in a bucket is public automatically?

I changed all of the files to be public, and refreshed the page, and now I have a new problem. The page is showing php errors:

Warning: S3::getBucket(): [403] Unexpected HTTP status in (path to file)/S3.php on line 355

Warning: Invalid argument supplied for foreach() in (path to file)index.php on line 21

What client are you using to do the uploads? There should be a way to set the public/private value in there.

Is the s3 file named S3.php with the capital S?

Hello,

I’m just using the Dreamobjects web interface right now. I only have a handful of files in the bucket to test it out. Just trying to figure out how to make this work before I put all the files in there. Once I get a web interface working to display the files, I’ll pick out a client, etc. That’s good that the clients have ability to set the public/private values! I was worried that I was going to have to manually set values for every single file.

Yes, the S3.php file has a capital S.

I’m honestly not sure, and it’s not really an aspect of the plugin. The code works on my setup…

Is the bucket listed as private? That’s about the only thing I can think of.

Hi Mika,

The bucket is public. I just re-tried to set up the above S3.php and index page files, and now the resulting web page is just completely blank. I feel like I’m just doing something wrong, but don’t know what. Would you be willing to tell me specifically what steps I should take in order to get the S3.php file working, please? I completely understand if you don’t want to, or don’t have time.

As far as downloading the S3.php file, is there a better way to do it instead of copying and pasting the code? When I go to this page https://github.com/Ipstenu/dreamobjects-php-class

I tried right clicking on the S3.php link, and selected download as, and saved the S3.php file. When I browsed to the folder I uploaded that S3.php file to and the index. php file, it was a duplicate of the https://github.com/Ipstenu/dreamobjects-php-class page.

Next, I went to this page https://github.com/Ipstenu/dreamobjects-php-class/blob/master/S3.php

and copied the 2361 lines, and pasted them into a blank file, and saved as S3.php, and that’s when I get the blank web page.

Should I be editing any of the S3.php code?

For the index page, In the above code which you posted, in this section:
//AWS access info
if (!defined(‘awsAccessKey’)) define(‘awsAccessKey’, ‘MYACCESSKEY’);
if (!defined(‘awsSecretKey’)) define(‘awsSecretKey’, ‘MYSECRETKEY’);

I’m replacing MYACCESSKEY with the S3 key in Dreamobjects, and replacing MYSECRETKEY with the key that shows up when you click “show secret key” in Dreamobjects.

Then, I replaced MYBUCKETNAME with the name of the bucked I created. I’m not changing anything else.

Should I have html headers in these files? Or is it ok for them to start right out with <?php ?

Sincerely,
Heather

It’s fine to have the page start with <?php. And no, you shouldn’t need to edit the S#.php file.

At this point, you’d want to check your PHP error logs (on DreamHost they’re at /home/user/logs/domain.com/http/error.log ) and see if something about that page shows up.