LDM Settings

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Introduction

The main parameters that control how LDM operates and behaves are set using the LDM->Administer->Settings page and the LDM->Add/Edit Category forms.

Values that are set using the LDM->Admin->Settings page apply throughout LDM, i.e have global scope. Some of these parameters, such as the main security settings, only have this global scope, which means that the value applies regardless of what is being displayed. Others can be given different values in specific categories, for example, parameters that determine how entries and categories are displayed. These local values are set using the Add/Edit Category form.

Parameter settings are inherited from parent to child, as follows:

  • If a local value has been set in the current category, this is used when displaying the category
  • Otherwise, LDM looks for a value in each of the category's parents in turn. It uses the value in the closest parent category it can find.
  • If none of the parent category has values that over-rided the global setting, the global setting is used.

The LDM->Admin->Settings page highlights those parameters that can be given local values; shows which of them currently have local values; and provides a mechanism for deleting ("reverting") all local settings to the global value.

The Edit Category forms display only those parameters that can be given local values; shows which have local values or values inherited from a parent; and provide the means to delete the local value. After deleting the local value, the category will revert to using either the closest parent value or the global value.

Parameters are presented grouped into logical sections. Only some of these settings are described in detail below, because the function of most should be obvious. Be aware that there are many options available and please be willing to search for the settings that do what you want to do.

The notes below describe the orgainsation of settings in LDM versions 3.0.x. This organisation differs from that used in versions 2.x, but the parameters themselves remain basically unchanged. Be aware that further sections of parameter may also become visible, for example, when optional Extras are installed.

Overall Security and Control Settings

Database Name

database_open  
Switching this setting off makes LDM unavailable other than by administrators. Useful for carrying out routine maintenace.
database_name  
Title of your LDM database, For example: "My Library". If unset, LDM uses the contents of the phrase ll_links_database (which is English is preset to "Links and Downloads Database").

File Storage Locations

These settings are used to define where key files such as uploads, icons and thumbnails, are stored. Take particular care with the first two, as you can expose your server to serious harm if you give inappropriate access to systems directories.

local_file_root 
Where files are found on the local server. Off: Specifications are relative to the web site. The first character on directories/filenames should be a slash i.e. /dir/file will be interpreted as http://site/dir/file ../file and dir/file will not be recognised On: specifications are relative to file system i.e. /dir/file will be interpreted as an absolute filename, etc. ../file will work correctly Default: Off. See also Where are files stored?
local_file_root_prefix 
Character string which is prefixed to the search for local files, includin uploads. Allows you to place files in a particular part of the directory tree, depending also on the setting of local_file_root. *Take care*: If you change this setting after making some local files available via LDM, you will need to manually edit their urls. Use admin/categories/mass edit for this purpose. Default: blank. See also Where are files stored?

LDM can only handle uploads if it is given access to storage space on your server. There is no option to store uploads in your database, because the files concerned are often large, indeed huge.

upload_dir 
Directory used to store uploaded files. Qualified by local_file_root and local_file_root_prefix. Default: /path/to/upload/directory

LDM uses its own icon library to annotate its displays. Three sets of icons are supplied with the standard release, one installed by default and two available as extras.

file_icons_dir 
Directory containing icons displayed in LDM screens. Directory must be within website and specified relative to the VB forum directory, e.g. /images/icons for directory http://yoursite/yourVBforum/images/icons. Setting is not modified by local_file_root and local_file_root_prefix.

The images associated with entries in the LDM database are presented as thumbnails, which can be cached or generated on the fly. If thumbs_dir is not set, thumbnails are generated on-the-fly, which works but can place a significant load on your server.

thumbs_dir  
Directory in which the image thumbnails are stored. This is interpreted relative to the web root, irrespective of the values of local_file_root or local_file_root_prefix. Ensure that this directory is writable by the web server (i.e. chmod 777 or similar. Default: unset

Forums-based Access Permissions

LDM's forum based access control is enabled and configured using the default_forumid setting. See also [Controlling Access].

default_forumid 
None: forum-based permissions system is turned off for new entries. Otherwise, the selected forum's permissions define category/entry viewing permissions. Users in groups with can_set_permissions can over-ride default_forumid in order to assign another forum to categories/entries. NB: The forums listed here exclude any for which Show this Forum and Child Forums on the Forum Jump Menu has been disabled on your vBulletin Admin Control Panel

Statistics Displays/Portal Features

These settings enable you to include various summary statistics on the main LDM displays

show_hit_parade 
0: Summary statistics are not shown on LDM home page; 1: LDM home page includes summary statistics including a hit parade of most popular entries, using the settings links_seen_on_portal and days_seen_on_portal; 2: As 1, and a hit parade is also included in each category. Default: 1
hit_parade_placement 
In which block to display statistics
hit_parade_placeorder 
Position within block
hit_parade_bullet 
(HTML) character(s) highlighting start of items in statistics listings
show_hp_top 
Display 'popular recent' hit parade
show_hp_topall 
Display 'all-time popular' hit parade
show_hp_new_summary 
Display 'number of new entries'
show_hp_new 
Display 'new entries' hit parade
show_hp_newcomment 
Display 'newly commented/rated' hit parade
show_hp_nominate 
Display winners of 'nominate entries' contests
show_hp_random 
Display 'random selection' hit parade
links_seen_on_portal 
Number of links displayed by the What's Hot selection and on vbAdvanced interface. Default: 10
days_seen_on_portal 
Number of days' new entries displayed by the What's New selection and by the interface with vbAdvanced. When 0, selects all new entries since the user's last visit. Default: 30

Category Synchronisation

Categories can be associated with directories on the webserver via the Add/Edit Category form. When category synchronisation is enabled, these categories track of the contents of directories on the server file system. These controls determine the behaviour of the category synchronisation features. See also Category Synchronisation.

Admin synchronisation settings
sync_enabled 
Category/Directory synchronisation enabled
sync_freq 
Resynchronisation frequency in seconds. If zero, manual resynchronisation only
sync_filetypes 
Filetypes synchronised. If blank, synchronises all filetypes listed in the vBulletin attachments table
sync_populate_categories 
During synchronisation, add/delete sub-directories as sub-categories
sync_populate_entries 
During synchronisation, add/delete files as entries in category
sync_username 
If set, entries created during synchronisations are assigned to this user. Otherwise, they are assigned to the user who created the category
sync_depth 
Depth of subcategory/directory to scan during resynchronisation pass
sync_flatten 
If set, files in subdirectories to a depth of sync_depth are placed in current category. If not set, files in subdirectories are placed in subcategories
monitor_template 
Template used to describe entries created during directory synchronisations and scans
sync_maxcpu_allowed 
Maximum cpu time allowed for autosynchronisations
sync_maxcpu_allowed_manual 
Maximum cpu time allowed for manual resynchronisations

Security Tags

Security tags are used to lock down the LDM's play and download urls to prevent leeching. When active, these urls will include an tag which encodes who can use the url and for how long. See also Speed, Security and Server_Load.

encrypt_lock_active 
Add security tags to LDM download and play urls
encrypt_lock_key 
Defines the site's encryption key, any alphanumeric sequence
encrypt_lock_expiry 
Minutes for which urls remain alive; 0=indefinite
encrypt_lock_userid 
Users to which urls are locked; 0/blank: any authorised user; USER: user currently viewing LDM; or comma separated list of userids
encrypt_lock_userip 
IP address lock: 0/blank: match any IP address; IPADDRESS: match user IP address at time of page generation; x.x.x.x: match IP address mask (1-4 parts)

Searches

Note that the LDM search infrastructure is not integrated with the new vBulletin search infrastructure provided in vBulletin 4.x. This may happen in future, but is not currently considered to be a priority.

As installed, LDM searches use the SQL fulltext method, look for any of the words entered in the search query, and search the title, description, keywords and additional attributes. Profile searching is disabled. Saved searches are not displayed on the Search drop-down menu.

match_using_like 
No: Searches are carried out using MySQL's full text method; Yes: searches are carried out using MySQL's LIKE method. Default: LDM uses full text searches.

MySQL's full text and LIKE search methods have different strengths and weaknesses in terms of which matches are found. For example, full text boolean mode searches ignore what are considered to be common words (so-called "stop words", see MySQL documentation) and (typically) words of three characters or less.

search_linkbit 
Template used to display entries within search results.
default_search_all 
Determines whether by default searches look for any or all the entered words; 1: Searches find entries in which any of the entered words appear; 2: Searches find entries in which all words appear; 3: Searches find entries containing the exact phrase. Default: 1
default_search_desc 
Determines where by default searches look for the entered words in entries' title and description. Default: yes
default_search_keys 
Determines where by default searches look for the entered words in entries' associated keywords. Default: yes
default_search_ents 
Determines where by default searches look for the entered words in entries' additional attributes. Default: yes

The following settings control the behaviour of the "Suggest Other Entries I Might Like" buttons in the LDM linkbits.

search_like_favwt 
Weight (integer, 0 or greater) given to overlapping favourites in "Suggest other entries I might like".
search_like_hitwt 
Weight (integer, 0 or greater) given to overlapping downloads in "Suggest other entries I might like".
search_like_keywt 
Weight (integer, 0 or greater) given to overlapping keywords in "Suggest other entries I might like".
search_like_num 
Number of similar entries to display in "Suggest other entries I might like". Set to zero to disable similarity searches.
search_like_own 
Include user's own hits and favourites in "Suggest other entries I might like".

Similarity is calculated using three factors:

  • the number of users who have accessed both entries: if everyone has accessed both, the hit similarity index is set to one, whereas if nobody who has accessed the first has also accessed the second, the hit similarity index is zero
  • the number of users who have set both entries as their favourites, also on a similar 0-1 scale, and
  • the number of keywords that the entries share in common, again on a 0-1 scale

The chosen entry is compared with other entries in the database. In each case, the three factors calculated, multipled by the corresponding weights given above, and then summed. LDM then displays the search_link_num most similar elements, in decreasing order of similarity.

show_searchmenu 
Display saved searches on search menu. Saved searches are always displayed on the Advanced Search page

Display Bit Caching

LDM has the facility to cache many of its page displays, so that successive users are presented with the pre-prepared information. This facility is still considered experimental, so is disabled by default. It involves making a trade off between memory use and cpu load on the server. It can speed up page generation considerably and reduce server load, provided the cache lifetime (bit_cache_bit_expiry) is longer than the page visit frequency. However, displayed results may not always match those shown when caching is disabled, e.g. when some ajax features are enabled, when there are complex permissions settings or users are members of multiple usergroups, etc.. See Speed, Security and Server Load for more details.

bit_cache_active 
Enable caching of display bits. Default: No
bit_cache_bit_expiry 
Lifetime in seconds of cached display bits.
bit_cache_maxsize 
Maximum memory (bytes) allocated to bitcache, e.g. 100K, 1M, etc.
bit_cache_usergroup_bypass 
Usergroupids which bypass the cache and always regenerate display bits.
bit_cache_bystyle 
Cache separately for different styles. Only required if LDM templates are differently customised in different styles.

Miscellaneous Settings

allow_http_ranges 
Accept 'Partial Range' requests. Disable to block download managers from making multiple simultaneous requests for files, thereby crippling your server
force_fopen 
Prevent use of cURL library for network file handling. Only meaningful when cURL library is installed. Do not change this setting unless you know what you are doing.
force_saveas 
Force an Open/Save As dialogue on download. When set to no, browser helper applications can take control. Setting to yes over-rides how the user has configured his browser.
secure_nullindexfile 
Create empty index.html files in upload directories to block directory browsing.
robots_meta_tag 
meta tag to specify how robots like Google treat the site. The default setting lets robots index your links but not access (i.e. download) them to see what they contain. Default: index, no follow
mod_rewrite 
File containing LDM rewriting rules for urls. NB: this is not a general-purpose replacement for the apache mod_rewrite facility. See Hacking LDM. Default: blank

Handling Uploads, Downloads and Images

File Uploads

When the file upload features are enabled, additional fields are provided on the Add/Edit Entry forms for the entry file and the entry images. The uploads take place silently after the user has completed the form and clicked on the Submit button.

Various website parameters [see Site Configuration] also affect the handling of uploads, and place limits in respect of maximum file size. LDM traps most attempts to upload files that go outside these limits.

Web form uploads are generally reliable for small to medium sized files, but are prone to errors with very large files (multimegabyte). Furthermore, a standard web form provides no feedback on progress to the user. An alternative Flash-based uploader is available (see swfupload in Extras) which includes a progress bar and better error handling. With this uploader, the user first locates and uploads the file within the Add/Edit Entry form, then clicks on Submit to complete the entry.

The following LDM admin settings control the fine details of uploading.

upload_enabled  
yes/no: Enable file uploads by authorised user groups. Default: no
upload_filetypes 
If unset, LDM accepts uploads of all file types in the vb attachments table. Otherwise, uploads are restricted to the filetypes that are specified both this (comma-separated) list and in the main VB attachment table, see Configuring Filetypes in vBulletin. Default: blank
upload_maxspace 
Maximum space (bytes) in total that uploads can occupy. Can be followed by G, M or K, e.g. 2M, 350K. New uploads will be allowed provided the current uploads have not consumed the available space (and provided the user in question has sufficient personal allowance available). If left blank or set to zero, no check is made on the total disk space used by uploads. Default: 0

On Linux servers, the upload_dir directory must exist and be writable by the userid running the web server. Windows-based servers will normally create the directory automatically. Take care if your site is running in safe mode. If possible, place uploads in a part of the server directory tree that is only used for this purposes - upload_dir is qualified in the usual way according to the settings of local_file_root and local_file_root_prefix.

Uploaded files are stored in subdirectories of the form upload_dir/each/digit/of/your/user/id/, and given a random filename to stop people from finding them by chance or subterfuge. The file recovers its original name (or the specified rename) when downloaded.

See also File Uploads

Download Handling and Hitr Recordng

Normally, LDM handles downloads by launching a new window which then processes the download, normally by presenting an Open/Save As dialogue. Links are also launched in a new window. In both cases, LDM will record a hit. The location of downloads is also normally kept secret. The following parameters adjust this behaviour.

force_redirect 
Specifies how file downloads are handled, 0: server reads/rewrites entries with known mime types, so that the file location is hidden and http headers can be controlled. 1: browser instructed to redirect to the source regardless of file type. Quicker and uses less bandwidth at a cost making the file location visible and losing header control. 2: standard html tags used. quickest, at expense of total visibility and loss of hit counts. Default setting: 0
force_accept 
When set, users will be asked to accept the standard terms shown in the links_agreement template and phrase before they can download entries from your database. Normally, these terms will be shown when the user first enters LDM, or (if set on a per-category basis) any category for which the setting applies. The user's agreement lasts for twenty four hours, after which she will be asked again. If, for any reason, a user attempts a download without having agreed to these terms (e.g. by trying to bypass the normal route into LDM), the download fails and the user is asked to close the browser and start again. Default setting: off
timeout_hit_allow 
If set, users cannot access another entry for this number of seconds after the previous hit Default: 0 (no limit set)
timeout_hit_recording 
Period during which hits by the same user on the same entry are not considered distinct Default: 60 seconds
open_local_links_newwindow
open_remote_links_newwindow 
Whether selected links open in the main LDM window open a new browser window/tab. open_local_links_newwindow applies to links to entries on the current site (i.e. with no url) and open_remote_links_newwindow applies to entries with a complete url. Default: links open in a new window
javascript_dl_trigger 
Use Javascript triggers to start downloads within current window. (Will not work if users disable Javascript)
prune_downloadtable 
Number of days hits are retained in the downloads table. Set to 0 to retain indefinitely. The cost of features such as generating LDM hit parade statistics grows according to the size of the downloads table.
perpage_downloadtable 
Default number of entries to show per page on admin/hits analyses.

Images and Icons

link_imagesize  
Size in pixels (along larger dimension) of thumbnail image shown within linkbit. Left blank: LDM uses the current value of Thumbnail Size from the VB admincp. 0 (default): No thumbnail displayed and data entry form does not offer image field.
link_imagemagsize 
Size in pixels of enlarged thumbnail image created with magnifier. Blank/0: Show image at full size.
create_thumbs_oninsert 
Yes: If thumbnails are enabled, thumbnails are created during initial data entry; No: Thumbnail creation is delayed until first display. This significantly speeds-up directory scans at cost of a short delay the first time the entry is displayed.
image_filetypes 
Filetypes recognised as images. Only change this setting if vBulletin is using ImageMagick as image processor
image_mediatypes 
Filetypes recognised as mediafiles containing image tags. Currently, only mp3 is available. Requires installation of the getid3 library provided as part of the id3tag-enhancements extra

Controls on What is Displayed and How

The layout and display of categories and their entries are highly configurable. A range of templates is available, suited for different types of content (music, documents, photos, etc.), and each template has a range of adustable settings. Combined with the settings described below, which apply to all templates, this makes it possible to customise displays extensively, on a per-category basis, giving the possibility to organise and present categories according to their contents. The Layout and Design page of this wiki describes the range of options available for customising displays.

Category and Entry Creation and Editing

These controls determine the allowed content of LDM categories and entries:

use_instructions 
This setting, which can be set on a per-category basis, contains a text message which will be displayed at the head of the Add/Edit Link form, to explain what type of link or download are considered suitable for the category. This text is 'advisory' - clearly, LDM itself cannot enforce the instructions.
allow_add_multi 
Maximum number of entries that can be created at one time using the Add Entry form. Set to 0 or 1 to allow creation of single entries only. NB: Do not use this option if you install the optional SWFUpload 'extra' or use the 'Additional Attribute' features in LDM - these currently require use of the single Add Entry form.
allow_remote_downloads 
When disabled, LDM will not accept or process entries that have full urls and point to downloadable files (i.e. files with recognised mimetypes). This prevents your server becoming overloaded by managing downloads from other servers.
allow_bbcode 
yes/no: Whether BBcodes are processed in links/category titles and descriptions. Default: yes
allow_html 
yes/no: Whether links/category titles and descriptions can contain raw html. Default: no
allow_images 
yes/no: Whether image bbcodes are processed in links/category titles and descriptions . Default: yes
allow_smilies 
yes/no: Whether smilies are processed in links/category titles and descriptions. Default: yes
allow_null_links 
yes/no: Whether an entry's url can be left unset. If not, empty links fields are flagged as errors during the add/edit link procedure. Default: no
allow_duplicates 
yes/no: Whether the same url can be entered more than once for different entries. Default: no
min_textlength
max_textlength 
Minimum and maximum length of link and category descriptions. These fields can hold up to a maximum of 65536 characters, and by default, will accept this number of characters.
validate_on_entry 
Whether or not to validate urls during data entry/edits. Default: yes
enable_doi 
Enable Document Object ID features.

Entry moderation, review and expiry

Moderating entries

Moderation is turned off by default. When enabled, new entries must be accepted by a moderator before becoming generally available to the rest of the user community. (Submitting users and administrators can always view new entries, even before moderation.) See also Moderating Entries

moderate_links 
yes/no: Whether new submissions from user groups *not* included in can_moderate_links must be moderated before becoming visible. Default: no
moderate_email_accept 
yes/no: Send confirmation emails to users when new links are accepted by the moderator. Default: no
moderate_email_submit 
yes/no: Send notification emails to moderators when new links are submitted. Default: no

Moderators are defined in two ways:

The LDM->Admin->Permissions, LDM->Admin->Settings and Add/Edit Categories pages control which users and usergroups can moderate LDM entries and categories: 

   * Members of usergroups who have been given LDM can_moderate_links permission, and
   * Specific users identified in the moderate_usernames setting

Since the permission and setting can be set globally on the relevant LDM->Admin page and also on a per-category basis using the Add/Edit Category page, you have the possibility to define different moderators for different parts of your LDM database. Permissions and settings are inherited in the normal way within the category tree.

In addition, users who are authorised as moderators of a vBulletin forum can moderate: 

   * all LDM categories associated with that forum and
   * all entries in these categories, regardless of the forums associated with the entries

Expiring entries

These controls are used to 'expire' entries, by hiding them or moving them to another category. The settings can take on different values in different categories, with child categories inheriting values from their parents and so on up to the base category. Values applicable to a category and its children are set by editing the category. Global values are edited using Admin/Settings.

When link_expiry_days is set, entries that are submitted post-dated (i.e. with a submission date and time in the future) will not become generally visible until that date and time.

links_expiry_days
If >0, entries only become visible after their marked submission date and stay visible for this number of days. Visibility of expired entries can be renewed by updating their submission dates. See also links_expired_catid
links_expired_catid 
If set, expired entries are moved automatically to the selected category and given the viewing permissions that apply to that category.
link_review_freq 
Default frequency (days) for moderator review of entries. 0: By default, no regular review required.

Favourites, Featured Sites and Starred Nominations

Favourites and featured Entries

Favourites are created by a user and appear at the top of that user's main displays. Featured sites are drawn from the favourites of selected users and then shown to all users.

favandfeat_entries_enabled 
Favourite and Featured Entries enabled
featured_all_categories  
Whether a given featured site can be selected for display at the head of all category listings or only in those categories in which it has been placed. This parameter can be set on an inheritable, per-category basis. Default: all categories
featured_user_favs 
If set to one or more usernames separated by semicolons, these users' favourites are treated as "featured sites" to be displayed at the head of each LDM page. Ajax-enabled: you will be prompted with possible usernames after entering the first three or so letters. Default: unset. [Inheritable, per-category]
featured_usergroup_favs 
Usergroupids for which users' favourites are treated as "Featured Sites"
featured_sites  
Integer, indicating the number of featured sites to be displayed at the head of each LDM page. Default: unset [Inheritable, per-category]
featured_linkbit 
Defines which linkbit will be used to display featured sites. Default: links_linkbit_featured. [Inheritable, per-category]

Starred Entries

Starred Entries allow you to set up rolling competitions for best entries

starred_entries_enabled 
"Starred Entry" nominations enabled
starred_entries_gather 
>0: Length of nominations period in days; 0: monthly, -1: yearly
starred_entries_pastperiods 
Number of previous periods for which to show winning entries
starred_entries_perpast 
Number of leading entries to show per past nomination period

Comments and Ratings

Users can comment on entries and rate these entries using a 0-5 star system.

The latest comments and ratings are displayed in the linkbit, which provides a link to show all comments and ratings. There are two ways in which these can laid out in the linkbit: either as a drop-down list, or in-line. The in-line display includes the possibility to add new comments and ratings in-line, by enabling its Ajax feature.

must_comment_and_rate 
If set, when users comment on an entry, they must also rate it. Otherwise, comments can be added without giving a rating.
hide_comment 
Comment box hidden. If must_comment_and_rate is set, users must rate the entry but cannot comment on it.
hide_rate 
Ratings hidden. Setting is ignored if hide_comment or must_comment_and_rate is set.
dropdown_comment_and_rate 
Number of most recent comments/ratings to display as dropdown list within the linkbit. Set this or inline_comment_and_rate
dropdown_width_comment_and_rate 
Character width of dropdown comments/ratings
dropdown_rows_comment_and_rate 
Lines shown in dropdown comments/ratings
inline_comment_and_rate 
Number of most recent comments/ratings to display within the linkbit. Set this or dropdown_comment_and_rate
inline_rows_comment_and_rate 
Lines shown in inline comments/ratings
inline_ajax_comment_and_rate 
Enable Ajax handling of inline comments and ratings
min_commentlength
max_commentlength 
Minimum and maximum number of characters in user comments

Media Files and the Jukebox

These settings provide basic control over LDM's Jukebox. Individual players are controlled by more detailed settings, which are adjusted on the LDM->Admin->Media Players page. There are a range of addin extras which modify the display of the Jukebox, for example creating in-line players instead of a pop-up Jukebox. These extras tend to add their own parameters to the LDM->Admin->Settings page. See Media Players for more information on using the Jukebox and for advanced information on adding and configuring the media players.

open_musicbox_newwindow 
Whether the Jukebox opens standalone in a new window or appears in the main LDM window. The standalone player displays just the current media track. The embedded player also lists other items that can be played. Default: standalone
musicbox_width 
Size of musicbox in player. Default: 760px
musicbox_default_sort_order 
Sort order for additional items displayed in the embedded player. Default: Hits, descending
musicbox_files_seen 
Number of additional items displayed per page in the embedded player. Default: 5
musicbox_standalone_width
musicbox_standalone_height 
Size of standalone player window. Default: 800px by 600px
musicbox_inline_comment_and_rate 
Number of most recent comments/ratings to display within the jukebox. Best used in combination with inline_ajax_comment_and_rate so that users can continue listening while they are commenting



Thread and Post Creation (Forum Announcements)

LDM can 'announce' new entries in your vBulletin forums by creating new posts that direct the user to the relevant entry. The following settings control how this happens. All the settings can be over-ridden on a per-category basis.

  • autocreate_active : Automatic forum announcement of new entries enabled
  • autocreate_both_ways : Link LDM entry to its thread as well as thread to entry
  • autocreate_sync_comments : Post new comments to entry's thread
  • autocreate_require_userok : If enabled, threads are only created when explictly requested by the submitting user. By default, if autocreate_active is active and a valid forum is provided, all new entries will trigger the creation of a new thread.
  • autocreate_require_moderate : If enabled, entries involving forum announcement will always be submitted for moderation
  • autocreate_forum : Forum in which to post thread. Leave blank to use category's associated forum. Be sure to select a forum that is open for posting by indicated users
autocreate_prefix 
Thread prefix. First set autocreate_forum, then revisit these settings to select a prefix available in that forum. Only available when autocreate_forum is used to specify the forum in which threads are posted.
autocreate_allow_userprefix 
Allow users to select thread prefix. Only available when autocreate_require_userok is also set, and is not available for entries that require moderation. Over-rides ll_perms_autocreate_prefix, if set
  • autocreate_username : Username used to post new threads. Leave blank to have thread posted by user who submits the new entry. Comments are always posted in the name of the submitting user.
  • autocreate_active_sync : Automatic forum announcement of entries created by manual and automatic directory syncs. Take great care when enabling this feature - it can swamp your forums

The title and contents of the announcements are created using vBulletin phrases as templates, and can be changed by editing the relevant phrase. The phrases include variables which are replaced by the appropriate text or link.

ldm_thread_create_body : Defines the message contents: 

{5}
A new entry has been added to {4}

Description: {2}

To check it out, rate it or add comments, visit [url={3}]{1}[/url]
The comments you make there will appear in the posts below.

Variables {1} to {5} are replaced as follows:

  • {1} : Entry name
  • {2} : Entry description
  • {3} : Link to entry
  • {4} : Database name
  • {5} : If the entry has an associated image, variable is replaced by a standard img bbcode pointing to the image. (This variable is not available if local_file_root is off, i.e. when files are being stored outside the web directory.))

Currently, vBulletin displays img bbcodes at their full size and large images can break your page layout. If you want to restrict the size of images dispplayed inyour forum, consider using the Image Resizer hack.

ldm_thread_create_title : Defines the message title: 

{1}

Three variables are available, although the default phrase only uses the first:

  • {1} : Entry name
  • {2} : Category name
  • {3} : Date added

If autocreate_both_ways is enabled, ldm_thread_create_relink defines the message which is added to the LDM entry description to take the user to the discussion forum: 

{1}

[thread={2}]Discussion Thread[/thread]



Display Bit Caching

See also Speed, Security and Server_Load.

bit_cache_active 
Enable per-usergroup/per-style caching of display bits. This can considerably speed up generation of certain pages (e.g. vBadvanced). However, (e.g. when there are complex permissions settings and/or users who are members of multiple usergroups) the displayed results may not always match those when caching is disabled
bit_cache_expiry 
Lifetime in minutes of cached display bits. Set to 0 to force page regeneration on every display.
bit_cache_usergroup_bypass 
Usergroupids which bypass the cache and always regenerate display bits.


Holding

profile_ldmactivity 
yes/no: Whether users' download activity is visible via their user profiles. See Controls on searches. Default: no

Enabling profile_ldmactivity adds a new field "My Recent LDM Hits" to the VBulletin profilefield table. When someone views the user's profile, they will see a record of the user's recent LDM activity. A user can keep his LDM activities private by entering anything in this field.

The "My Recent LDM Hits" record in the profilefield table and the corresponding fields in the userfield table are not deleted if profile_ldmactivity is turned off, but its "editable" flag is switched off so that the field becomes invisible to users.

profile_searchfield 
Defines whether LDM searches are actively integrated within the vBulletin User Profile system and which user profile fields are used to establish profile searches. Default: disabled.
show_profilesearchmenu 
Display profile searches on search menu. Profile searches are always displayed on the Advanced Search page
profile_search_all 
1: Separate profile searches provided for each of the words in selected profile fields; 2: profile searches find entries containing all words in selected profile fields; 3: profile searches find entries containing exact phrase in selected profile fields
Retrieved from "http://www.eirma.org/wikis/index.php/LDM_Settings"
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