Manual Upload

[TresPasser]

OK. Here's the thing: yesterday I was visiting my website via FTP and noticed that the Digital Download files have a numeric prefix which was added by Actinic. I also noticed that with each "Refresh site" these prefixes change. My question is: if I make a manual update of the web site, will it affect the Digital Download functionality? I would be very thankful if somebody could explain to me why does Actinic adds these prefixes to the DD filenames so I will understeand better how Actinic works. Cheers.

[I-CC]

The additional information being added is conducted randomly each time a refresh is done, so that a would-be grabber can not link to your site and grab the files from the DD folder, as the folder will not list the files it contains, just a blank index page.

So, if a customer does buy from you, and then a week later says to a friend 'go and get this from this link' which might be valid when he ordered, if you have refreshed the website, then the filename will have changed and he can not get to it... or something like that anyway..

The main thing is that it is done so that the files uploaded for digital download are not easily located and collected without going through your checkout and paying for them..

[jont]

So, if a customer does buy from you, and then a week later says to a friend 'go and get this from this link' which might be valid when he ordered, if you have refreshed the website, then the filename will have changed and he can not get to it... or something like that anyway.

Not that I use DD at the moment but have been toying with a new venture which would use them. What does the file download expiry time setting do under Business Settings? I always presumed this made it a time limited download? Can anyone clarify the situation with DD - if someone buys and downloads there and then is the link to the DD still available for anyone else to use?

[TresPasser]

And also:
a) can I manually upload the DD files withouth any prefix (original filename)?
b) if I mannually upload the site will Actinic add the prefixes to the DD files?

[jont]

You can upload anything to the site via FTP.

If you don't use Actinic to upload it will not assign the random number and you will not be able to use as a DD. If it is a free file you can always point a link to it and it will be downloaded without charge.

[TresPasser]

I currently use Actinic with 2 Network settings:
a) local settings (my pc) - which I use to modify the templates design
b) web settings (www.graphicana.com) - which I use to update te web site

When I change from local to web settings and hit "Update" Actinic does not make an "Update", but a "Refresh" of the site. I'm sure of that because it takes 2 days to do that and on the progress window I can see that it uploads the DD files. So I want to ask 2 questions about that:

a) why doesn't Actinic just rename the DD files?
b) if Actinic uploads the DD files, why doesn't it delete the new files? After 2 months of designing and switching - updating I ended up with 8 copies of each DD file with different prefixes on the server. This is not much now when I currently have 100 DD. But when I'll have 1000 it will be a big problem.

I understeand that Actinic gets confused when switching from local settings to the web settings. Perhaps Actinic sees each of the sites as a "new born" site each time I change the network settings.Ok. But why not delete the old DD files? If it really does a refresh instead of an update why not delete everythig old?

I'm asking all these questions because I really want to understead how Actinic works so I'll be able to solve by my owm the future problems. Cheers.

[jont]

Why do you need to change the network settings to modify the templates?

[TresPasser]

I'm modifying templates design and site functionality. I add javascript and php coding. So I can't preview from Actinic and I can't go with the "beta" site live until I fix all the bugs.