Downloadlink for downloadable products

[PG 0312]

Hi!

After installing Virtue Mart 2.0.6.,  I also installed the extension "Shipment for Virtual Products" to integrate downloadable products into the shop.

The upload of the downloadable products works, but by buying it, the customer doesn't get a downloadlink in the acknowledgement of receipt, even if the superuser sets the purchase order status on 'shipped'

Do you have any idea how to change this? So that the customer gets his downloadlink automatically when the superuser sets his purchase oder status on 'shipped'?

Thank you for your answers!

[celticwebs]

You are not alone there.  I had the exact same issue and I eventually gave up with the plugin for a couple of reasons and changed to the Digitoll Downloads system which gives far more control over the file downloads (time and download number settinsg and various other things).

One thing that I did notice which could help you is that we discovered if a customer click add to cart in the category view using a 3rd party theme (you can't add to art in category view in default themes), the product was added to the cart WITHOUT the plugin attributes.   But if it was added from the product details page it all worked properly.  So what you need to confirm is if the error is the same as that.  Place a test order from each from (separate orders probably best) and see what happens.  IF it turns out to be this it's a pretty simple fix really.  Especially if it's a Yagendoo theme   Let us know how you get on

[PG 0312]

Hi Celticwebs,

thanks for your answer! Its good to know that I'm not alone with my problem.

"Digitoll Software" seems to be a good solution for my problem. Did you install and use it?
My question to this program is still if the customer can get his download link when the superuser sets his status order on 'shipped'. Do you know anything about that?
I couldn't find that out with the information given on the webside of Digitoll Software.

I would be glad about your reply 

[celticwebs]

Hi PG0132,

I am using it on a website and I am extremely pleased with it, it's working brilliantly. 

You can set which status the download works for, so you can set it to allow downloads for different order status, so you can have it to allow downloads for confirmed and shipped.  If you set that it will not allow downloads for cancelled, pending or refunded. 

It really is a great bit of software for downloads.  I'm so glad I found it!

I was having so much trouble with the VM one that I was about to give up, then I was told about the Digitoll software and I've been happy since, the support has been 2nd to none! 

Excellent software with brilliant support.  It definitely does prove that you get what you pay for


http://www.digitollsoftware.com/  you will be much happier that you bought it than the other one if you've been having problems

[Milbo]

I was having so much trouble with the VM one that I was about to give up, then I was told about the Digitoll software and I've been happy since, the support has been 2nd to none! 

Lol, some things to put right here. First "with the VM one". Both are vm ones. One is written by me, the other is written by Steven Roberts, he is also part of the development team. Furthermore I was the one who told you about it.
Furthermore it costs 100$ and not 50$. Which is correct, it can a lot more. It was exactly meant that way.

You had two different problems. One problem is the thing with the 3rd party template of yagendoo, which provides an add to cart button in the category view (this is not vm2 native) and makes it possible to disable the fields of the product customfields (for whatever reason).

The problem we finally gave up, was that on your system the files were not found and on some of your servers it worked and on other servers not. We found out due you, that there is a problem in the core, which stores the path absolute, which makes it impossible to setup a store on a local host and then just to upload it. This is also already mentioned on the roadmap discussion, here http://forum.virtuemart.net/index.php?topic=103378.0


But back to the real question here. In your case it is
1. a 3rd party template, just disable the template overrides and try again. When it is your template override,  just ask the template maker, or look in the config of it.
2. you are running a wrong version, imho it is working for 2.0.6 and 2.0.7D. Some days ago someone used it with 2.0.7c, which is not compatible.

[celticwebs]

HI Milbo,

Firstly let me say I wasn't purposely being negative about your software, I was just quoting my experience and for my sites as you know we just couldn't get it to work.  With or without the template issue, as you know I also tried on brand new websites with basic versions of 2.5.4 Joomla and 2.06 VM.

Secondly I didn't realise that Stephen was on the development team for VM so I didn't realise his work was VM's work.  My apologies for that, I knew he was registered as a developer but I thought he was releasing the download plugin as 3rd party developer simply because it's not in VM extensions store.  It is $100 but like you say it has far more features than the VM extension store one so you get what you pay for. 

I totally agree you can't transfer the extension stores version of downloads plugin from server to server, I had to keep editing the SQL manually to change the path to files to get them to work.  Stephens however seems to allow transfers from server to server nicely so I assume his dose not use absolute path

Last thing, who's running 2.0.7?  OP said he was running 2.0.6 and so am I.  So I'm not sure where running 2.0.7 comes into it, I did upgrade to 2.0.7 once on your say so but like you said it didn't work so I reverted back to my backup which was 2.0.6

I must also add that support was offered when I had problems with VM extension stores version of the download plugin but unfortunately the errors could not be found.  I'm sure if Id asked for a refund at the time I'd have got one but I decided that although I couldn't actually use the plugin that I'd bought that it was only a small amount of money and leaving it in the bank account of the VM project would help a tiny bit towards further development on the core system.  VM2 is still in it's infancy and is already a very powerful and well optimized shopping cart system and I look forward to it developing into the best there is for Joomla

[stuffdone]

Do I understand correctly that VM no longer supports downloadable products unless you obtain a third party plug in.

[celticwebs]

Correct!

Came as a bit of a shock to me too.  Especially after I'd made the mistake of assuming that all features that were popular in the previous version would have at the very least have been the same if not bigger and better in the new version.  I'd set up a whole site on J2.5! designed the template etc then went to add downloads only to discover that I had thought wrong and it was not included in the VM2 package!  It was too late then, I had no choice, I had to buy a plugin to get the functionality.  To rub salt into the wound I then discovered that the download plugin didn't give me control of download limits so I went and spent out again on the Digitoll one to get the features I had originally assumed were standard.

Only then did I have equal / better download functionality to what I had had in a previous Virtuemart software as far as download ability was concerned

Overall though I do very much prefer VM2 over the old VM1, it's far superior so I think even if I had realised that VM2 didn't have a built in download functionality I'd still have used it, I'd have just charged extra for doing so to cover the costs of the plugins!

[Bill Bohn]

Correct!

Came as a bit of a shock to me too.  Especially after I'd made the mistake of assuming that all features that were popular in the previous version would have at the very least have been the same if not bigger and better in the new version.  I'd set up a whole site on J2.5! designed the template etc then went to add downloads only to discover that I had thought wrong and it was not included in the VM2 package!  It was too late then, I had no choice, I had to buy a plugin to get the functionality.  To rub salt into the wound I then discovered that the download plugin didn't give me control of download limits so I went and spent out again on the Digitoll one to get the features I had originally assumed were standard.

Only then did I have equal / better download functionality to what I had had in a previous Virtuemart software as far as download ability was concerned

Overall though I do very much prefer VM2 over the old VM1, it's far superior so I think even if I had realised that VM2 didn't have a built in download functionality I'd still have used it, I'd have just charged extra for doing so to cover the costs of the plugins!

I don't remember hearing anywhere in the hoopla about the new VM (2) that the core features would become optional paid features. I wouldn't be so mad if this is now coming as a supprise. What other supprises might I have to stumble over after I have the shop nearly set up, styled, and just about ready to go, before I find out that I will have to pay for them. Thanks VM2 for allowing me to plan (financially) for using your software.

[jenkinhill]

I guess you were not around to help during the development & beta testing of the first VM2 versions? The core had to be kept as tight as possible while being more powerful and configurable than previous versions, as it had to be installable on many cheaper type hosts where the user had no ability to increase PHP resources. So it was constructed to just contain the facilities used by the majority of VM users (which is to sell shippable goods) with further functions provided by plugins which can be separately installed.

When developers looked at virtual goods it was found that people want different capabilities and options when selling downloads. As a result there is plenty of choice of plugin from basic and free (as in the old VM) to sophisticated and paid for, but with the cost likely to be covered in the first few sales.

http://extensions.virtuemart.net/extensions-virtuemart-2/shipment-for-virtual-products-detail
http://forum.virtuemart.net/index.php?topic=103808.0
http://forum.virtuemart.net/index.php?topic=104883.0
http://forum.virtuemart.net/index.php?topic=109354.0
http://www.kainhofer.com/virtuemart-2-extensions/vm2-downloads-for-sale.html

[gba]

Hello all!

All the extensions mentioned before are for Joomla 2.5.

Here ist one for the current Joomla and VM versions:
http://extensions.joomla.org/extensions/extension-specific/virtuemart-extensions/virtuemart-shipping/27557

BTW: It's a pitty that neither VM core provides downloadable products, nor the few extension developers keep their extensions up-to-date. This makes VM for Joomla 3 nearly useless for online shops, which mainly sell virtual products. 

Best regards,
Gerald

[GJC Web Design]

VM3 hasn't even been officially released yet - it is still on test version 2.9.9b

If you want to be an early adopter you have to put up with some delays until all the extension providers have time to catch up

[jenkinhill]

The big majority of VirueMart stores sell real (shipped) products and not virtual products.

Plugin testing for VM3 was encouraged to start last June, http://virtuemart.net/news/latest-news/460-updates-about-virtuemart-3-support-membership but as VM3 is designed for use with J2.5 and J3.x it is up to the third party developers when (and if) they release a J3.x version. Most will wait for the release of VM3 stable.