Joomla Extensions, Components, Modules, Plugins

Download Link Protection v.2.0.1

Protect the links used for downloading files like zip, pdf, mp3, csv, jpg etc. The protected links work only to the users who click them through your website.

The real link of the file to be downloaded is hidden by a random link that is unique per user and visit.

Joomla! 5.x Joomla! 4.x Joomla! 3.x Plugin

Download Link Protection

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We are happy to announce that our extension Download Link Protection is used by the Joomla Project in the website https://exam.joomla.org.
You can see our company among the Joomla! Extension Partners.

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Download Link Protection

The Download Link Protection plugin provides a very simple but practical way to hide the real URLs for files from being displayed and accessed directly. The real URLs are replaced with incomprehensible URLs that do not reveal anything about the file to be downloaded. So the user will never find the real URL of the downloaded file.

The operation of the protected links is limited only to the users that can click to them through the website. The protected links don't work outside the website. When a person gives the protected URL (through an email or forum or anything else) to another person, the link is not working. Furthermore, the protected URL will work only as long as the session of the first person is alive. After the person has left the website, the protected links stop to work. He has to visit the website again and click to a new protected link that will download the same file again.

The protected URLs are consisted of the URL to the homepage of the website and a random number as parameter. If the protected URL is accessed by a person outside the website, then he ends up to the homepage of the website.

Download Link Protection can protect normal links that point to standard external web pages. But the actual URL will be revealed after it is open as a normal page and appear in the address bar.

What this plugin can do:

  • Hides the real URLs for files with protected URLs.
  • Does not reveal the real URL of the downloaded file in any way.
  • Limits the protected URLs to be working only for the person who is able to click to them through the website.
  • Does not allow the protected URLs to work anywhere else outside the website.
  • Creates different protected URLS for each user and in different visits of the same user.
  • Displays a special message if the file does not exist.
  • Opens the files in the browser or downloads them as typical files.
  • Demo of Download Link Protection
  • Buy Download Link Protection
  • Documentation of Download Link Protection
  • Technical Information of Download Link Protection
  • Change Log of Download Link Protection

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Demo 1

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    Download Link Protection

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Subscription Instructions

In order to download the extension you have to subscribe to the above subscription. The subscription process requires from you:

  1. To create an account or to login using an existing one if you already have.
  2. To be redirected to PayPal for the payment.

After you return to this website from PayPal, you will be already logged in and you will receive an email with information about your subscription.

Being logged in with your account you will be able to download the extension a) through the page of the extension or in the 'Downloads' area or from your account by selecting 'My Downloads'.

As long as the subscription is active, you will be able to log in and download any possible updates of the extension from this website.

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Installation

Joomla 3:

  1. Download the plugin "Download Link Protection".
  2. In the Joomla control panel select: "Extensions" > "Manage" > "Install".
  3. In the "Upload Package File" tab click "Browse for file" and locate the file "download-link-protection-2.0.0.zip".

Joomla 4 and 5:

  1. Download the plugin "Download Link Protection".
  2. In the Home Dashboard of the Joomla administration select "System" and then in the "Install" section select "Extensions".
  3. In the Upload Package File section, click Browse for file and locate the file "download-link-protection-2.0.0.zip".
  4. Congratulations, the extension is installed

Download Link Protection will not work if the plugin 'System - Page Cache' is enabled, unless you exclude the pages that contain the protected links.

 

How To Use

Rules about the links to be protected

The links that refer to files and will be protected by Download Link Protection must follow the following rules:

  1. The path to the file should be relative starting from the Joomla's installation folder. e.g. "images/pdf/brochure.pdf"
  2. The path to the file should NOT be a URL or an absolute path (starting from the root folder).
  3. The path to the file should be consisted by latin characters (a-z), numbers (0-9), middle dash (-), underscore (_). Spaces or special characters are not allowed and may cause problems.

Protect a link that is accesible throught the editor

In order to protect the URL of a link, the only thing you need to do is to enable the plugin and add the word 'downloadlinkprotection' as class of the link. While editing the text that contains the link, use your editor in order to add 'downloadlinkprotection' as class of the link (without the quotes).

Joomla's standard editor (TinyMCE) does not support the capability to define the class of a link. You have to use another free editor like JCE Editor or Ark Editor.

Demo - Protect link in article

Protect a link or many links massively that are specified by a CSS selector

If you want to protect more links that are not editable through the editor, then you can add more CSS selectors in the field "CSS Selectors" of the extension. Example: .downloadlinkprotection, .pdf a, #client .download-link

Steps for Joomla 3:
  1. In the Joomla control panel, select: "Extensions" > "Plugins" > "System - Download Link Protection".
  2. In the field 'CSS Selectors' add the selector from your links. See below the example for more details.
  3. Save the plugin.
Steps for Joomla 4 and 5:
  1. In the Joomla home dashboard, select: "System".
  2. Select "Plugins" in the "Manage" section.
  3. Locate in the list the line with name "System - Download Link Protection" where the column 'Type' is equal to 'System' and click to it.
  4. In the field 'CSS Selectors' add the selector from your links. See below the example for more details.
  5. Save the plugin.

Example: Let's suppose that there is an area in your website containing links to be protected. If this area has the class 'safe-links', the links in this area will be selected by the selector '.safe-links a'. You have to add this selector in the field 'CSS Selectors' of the plugin. So it will be like this: '.downloadlinkprotection, .safe-links a'.

 

Screenshots

Plugin Parameters

 

Parameters

  • CSS Selectors: The CSS selectors for the links to be protected. You can change the default class or add more selectors in order to select massively the links to be protected. Example: .downloadlinkprotection, .pdf a, #client .download-link
  • Download Extensions: This field defines which file types will be downloaded and not opened through the browser. You can add more file types or remove some.
  • Link Parameter Name: This field defines the URL parameter of the protected URL that holds the identification number for the real URL. Example: https://www.domain.com?[link_parameter_name]=1234567890
  • No File: Message to appear when the file doesn't exist. HTML is allowed.
  • Show in Browser: The usual types of files, that the browser can handle, will open in the browser instead of being downloaded.
  • Lock Icon: This parameter shows the lock symbol at the left of the text of the link in order to be easier for the user and admin to distinguish which link is protected. In order this to work, the template must load the Font Awesome toolkit.

 

Automatic Update

In order to be able to easily update the extension through the update system of Joomla, you need:

  • Your membership ID. This can be found in the email you received with the subscription information of this extension or in your profile in this website.
  • An active subscription of this extension. You can see your subscriptions in your profile as well.

Having the above fulfilled, do the following:

Joomla 3:

  1. In the Joomla control panel, select "Extensions > Plugins".
  2. Locate in the list the line with name "Installer - Download Link Protection" where the column 'Type' is equal to 'Installer' and click to it.
  3. Fill in your membership ID in the parameters, enable the plugin and save.

Joomla 4 and 5:

  • In the Joomla home dashboard, select "System".
  • Select "Plugins" in the "Manage" section.
  • Locate in the list the line with name "Installer - Download Link Protection" where the column 'Type' is equal to 'Installer' and click to it.
  • Fill in your membership ID in the parameters, enable the plugin and save.

Now you will be able to update the extension through the Joomla update system. But if you want, you can do it manually by downloading the latest version from this website.

 

Uninstall from Joomla

Joomla 3:

  1. In the Joomla control panel, select "Extensions > Manage > Manage".
  2. Locate in the list the line with name "Download Link Protection" where the column 'Type' is equal to 'Package'.
  3. Check the line and click "Uninstall". This will uninstall completely the extension.

Joomla 4 and 5:

  1. In the Joomla home dashboard, select "System".
  2. Select "Extensions" in the "Manage" section.
  3. Locate in the list the line with name "Download Link Protection" where the column 'Type' is equal to 'Package'.
  4. Check the line and click "Uninstall". This will uninstall completely the extension.
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  • Extension version: 2.0.1
  • Extension type: Plugin (System, Installer)
  • Extension technologies: PHP 5.4+, simplehtmldom, phpUri
  • Compatible Joomla version: 3.10.x, 4.x, 5.x
  • Compatible browsers: Chrome, Firefox, Opera, Edge, Safari
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  • 1.0.5:
    • Option to open the common files in the browser.
    • More file types added in order to be downloaded.
  • 1.0.4:
    • Elements using the 'src' attribute are also included.
  • 1.0.3:
    • File names with empty spaces are supported.
  • 1.0.2:
    • More security. The files to be downloaded are copied to the 'tmp' folder of Joomla with a unique name in order to be downloaded from there and then deleted automatically.
  • 1.0.1:
    • Fix of deprecated method.
  • 1.0.0:
    • First release of the Download Link Protection extension.
  • 2.0.0:
    • Compatible with Joomla 4 and Joomla 3.10.x.
    • New PHP DOM parser.
    • Fix on full URLs and absolute paths.
    • The new "Font Awesome 5" font family is used for the lock icon in Joomla 4.
  • 2.0.1:
    • Compatible with Joomla 5.
    • The new "Font Awesome 6" font family is used for the lock icon in Joomla 5.
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