Download module with contact form

[pidot68]

Hi there,

i'm searching for a download module with a form before the download. So anyone who wants to download a file have to fill a form with his contacts before downloading.

Exists a module of this kind ?

If not - how can i do it by myself...

Thanks...
Peter

[DGEC]

Easiest way would be to make the contact form the "download page" on the menu, then have a hidden page which is the actual download page.

You'd have to do something to validate the input though, I guess.

Ah. Make the contact page the actual "signup" page, and make the download page a members only page. Validates they have a good email too.

NOTE: you will not get as many people though. Any time you make it harder to get something, you will loose people.  Companies with big or confusing signup forms have found that the few things you make people do, the more people will get to the "meat".

[Argos]

I need this kind of function too. Many larger companies want you to fill in some personal details (name, email) before actually given permission to download stuff like white papers and such. I have a client who wants this too. I made the download page a member page, and hoped to get away with it, but it wasn't accepted. They want visitors being able to see all downloads, and only having to fill in their email when they click the link. They don't want hidden member pages, and no signing up, and membership stuff. It would be great to have this function, but I am no coder, so cannot do it myself. I guess I have to use an external script or somethign in the meantime.

[Luckyluke]

Hi,

This is possible. You can make a form with name and e-mail address. Make them both obligatorily.
In the form setup, you have a "thank you" page. If you link this thank-you page to an invisible download page, the solution is solved.
There is one problem, you have to use Form Modul v2.6.2.0, available in the Core Module Replacements. You can even get an e-mail when somebody accept the form.
I hope this will help.

Luc

[Argos]

Thanks Luc, that's a clever solution! Much better than using the membership / account method!

It's not quite yet what I had in mind, though. It could be simpler, and only a few seconds before I got your post, I just found a script that does what I want (amazing coincidence!) on http://www.zenutech.com/software/scripts. There is a free script called "Zenutech Download Manager (ZDM)". I have not tired it yet, but it sounds like the right solution. Would be even nicer if someone could make a WB module out of it

I prefer the DirList module above the Download module to use for downloads, it's easier for most clients. Just upload stuff into the Media/Download directory, and that's it. So a ready to use combination of DirlIst and the Zenutech script would be very nice. But first find out if the script does what I want...

---------------------------ADDITION-------------

I tried the Zenutech script, but don't quite understand how it works. I'll use Lucs solution for the time being I guess..

[DGEC]

Actually, I'm not sure that Luke's method would work the desired way, unless he left out a couple steps in his description. It wouldn't list the files before the contact form. And people don't like to give personal information before seeing what they can get.

However, since the download gallery module now uses that script counter and goes to another page, you should be able to just intercept the called page and put the form on that.  Then you could send the thank you page out with the hidden page with actual download links.  Be nice if you passed the filename through so they didn't have to click on it again though. Maybe add it as a hidden field to the email form.

A slight variation would be to put the download link in the email, so they can redownload it if necessary without generating a duplicate record in your (I must assume) requestor database.

About the dirlist - it's better if you have a changing list of files, but if you're just uploading a file or two at a time and keeping them there, the gallery works ok, mostly.
I was uploading a few dozen files though so I had to use the media upload page and then add them to the gallery page. blech. There's a lot of things I'd like to improve about this module if I ever get the time to dig in, including making it dynamic like the dirlist.

Don't forget to "remind" your clients about their privacy policy (undoubtedly also on the site) which would especially apply to things like name, email etc.   I was interested to read that is some countries, email is specifically identified as protected personal information.