Sharing directories

[Paddington Bear]

Hi there,

I have two shop sites that sell the same MP3s as digital downloads.

I would like to have both sites access the same MP3s on my computer rather than having copies, so that any changes to the MP3s are kept consistent. (They will create seperate directories on the web but that's fine)

I'm sure there are several ways of doing this, but has anyone tried it and come up with a winner?

[Duncan Rounding]

Think aloud...
Perhaps an htaccess file in the root of one redirecting to the DD directory in the other, although I'm not sure if the special file names would be a problem.

[leehack]

Although it is not advised to hold files used on a site outside of the site folder, the reality is that it can happen, you also have design > additional files as a backup just in case I guess. So, store the files in the site folder of one site and then change all references in the other site to point to the same place. If you have a common directory structure, you would be able to do it with a very simple find and replace in the database on the image path.

[Paddington Bear]

Thank you

I may be wrong but I think Duncan's idea would have one set on the web side, which I'm not so concerned about. It's one set on the PC that I want to maintain.

I will look into Lee's answer and report back if it works.

[NormanRouxel]

As I read this it's nothing to do with servers. You want a common folder on your desktop PC that holds all your MP3's. You will have 2 separate sites that, only for these digital download items, will point to that common folder for the files. Change a file there and both sites will see the change and update to it.

If this is the case, no server tinkering is needed. You just need a common folder for these DD items on your back-office PC.

If all your files are in (say) an "MP3" folder within Site1, then why not simply make a shortcut (also called "MP3") from Site 2 to MP3 on Site1.

Snapshots will need some consideration. Both sites should now be able to Snapshot, if you need to, as all files will appear to be local to their respective site folders. Only risk is that re-importing a Snapshot will change the common MP3 location so it may be worthwhile keeping a separate backup of that folder, just in case...

[Paddington Bear]

Tried that!

Thank you Norman but this I did try as it seemed the simplest solution. I deleted (read: renamed) the existing directory with all the MP3s, and copied in a shortcut from the other set which I gave the same name.

Unfortunately it didnt work. Sellerdeck didn't seem to recognise it.

If I missed something then please let me know.

[leehack]

That's what i was also saying Norman, or at least how i read it. Phil to try it easily, put a file in a folder in one site and then open up the other site and find that same file and reference it on the alternate site, you will then have two paths to the file in question, one on the master site shall we call it and one on the slave site.

Compare the two paths, they will be considerably different.

[Paddington Bear]

Will do

Yes, I will do this.

It's not my day job, so I will get to it when I can.

Thanks for the help.

[I-CC]

Hi Phil,

The problem with a shortcut is its not a virtual representation of the folder, its a shortcut for Windows usage and not file path, so a shortcut wont work.

The method used on Nix system is a symlink, for which there are tools available that create Symbolic links within Windows system that can achieve the same result, where the folder structure looks identical as if it were physically in existance, but the reality is its linking to the alternate site.

Posssibly the easiest method would be to keep the primary sites MP3 folder in tact as the master, then within the secondary site change all of the digital download file paths to (assuming the primary site is called Site1):

..\Site1\mp3-retail\mp3-filename.mp3

One time change and then they all are sourced from the Primary site.

Regards, Ian

[NormanRouxel]

I tested using a Shortcut and it works.

With 2 Explorer windows open, I simply right-clicked an "Images" folder in one site (Magic Zoom Plus V2-MZPV4), dragged it into the other site (Accordion JQ V1), let go the mouse and chose Create shortcuts here. The other site (Accordion JQ V1) now has an "Images - Shortcut" folder.

I've set up a product in each site to use the same image as the product image, each accessed via their local Images / Images - Shortcut folder. Now if I edit the image in one folder it changes on both sites.

A quirk is that once you've browsed to the image via the Images - Shortcut link, the entry in SD changes to the full pathname. E.g. although I'm in site folder Accordion JQ V1 and choose its Images - Shortcut folder, the path becomes D:\Data\SellerDeck V12 Sites\Magic Zoom Plus V2-MZPV4\Images\tallskinnyship.jpg which is where the real Images folder lives.

Snapshotting the site that's using the shortcut creates (within the .acd file) a CATALOG_INSTALL folder that contains the path from the Sites folder to the other sites files and has a copy of the other sites images. All quite usable.

So although the shortcut works, it's real use is to get quickly to the other sites folder.

[Paddington Bear]

Thank you

Thank you Ian for your comments, which seem to agree with the 'change directory path strings' type methods.

Norman, did you try an upload from the site with the shortcut? That was the real test.

Phil

[NormanRouxel]

Yes. Did an upload from site using shortcut with no problems.

[Paddington Bear]

Confused

Hmm. That failed when I tried it.

You appear to be on v12. I'm on v11. Do you think that could be the difference?

I will try it again just the same, when I get a chance.

[NormanRouxel]

I cannot see why V11 should act any differently.

[I-CC]

The varient of Windows possibly being the difference.