FAQ

How can I better protect the location of my source files?

For compatibility reasons, the plugin now redirects file requests to the source file instead of serving the file via script. For most people, the defaults settings are good enough for protecting your downloads. However, l33t haXors may be able to note the true location of a download by spying in on this redirect process. For added security, you can use our „ssdownloads_getfile_redirect“ hook to tell SS Downloads to serve files through a PHP script which will better mask the location of the source file, and even allow you to keep the source files outside of your sites root directory (so the URL of the file is not navigable at all). Note that there is no 100% solution to stop all pirating. (Every little bit helps though.)

To tell SS Downloads to serve files via PHP script, add code like the following to your functions.php file: (this code will not work on all servers, please test your setup after applying this code)

function my_ssdownloads_getfile_redirect($s)
{
return false; //tells SS Downloads to use the PHP script to serve the file instead of redirecting to the source file
}
add_action(„ssdownloads_getfile_redirect“, „my_ssdownloads_getfile_redirect“);

I get odd errors when browsing to a page with a shortcode on it.

You might be able to solve this by specifying „file_get_contents“ or „cURL“ as „Template Method“ in the SS Downloads settings, although the „Let WordPress Choose“ options should work best on most setups.

How can I change the look of the email or download forms?

To modify the templates:

1. Copy the .php file of the template you would like to customize to your active theme folder.
2. Name the file ssd-{template name}.php, e.g. ssd-download.php
3. Change the file as needed.

You can also modify the CSS file:

1. Copy the ss-downloads.css from the css folder of the plugin to your active theme folder.
2. Name the file ssd-ss-downloads.css
3. Change the file as needed.

I get „file not found“ or other include/require errors when using the plugin.

The plugin is probably having trouble finding your plugins directory or other files. This happens sometimes if your WordPress install is in a sub folder, or your plugins directory is in a different spot.

First, let me know at jason@strangerstudios.com or on the WP forums. Others may be having the same problem, and I may be able to tweak the plugin to support your case.

Second, try overriding the SSD_PLUGIN_URL constant using our „ssdownloads_plugins_url“ hook. Add this code to your functions.php:

function my_ssdownloads_plugins_url($url)
{
return „http://www.yoursite.com/wp-content/plugins/ss-downloads“; //change this to be the URL path to your ss-downloads plugin folder, no trailing slash
}
add_action(„ssdownloads_plugins_url“, „my_ssdownloads_plugins_url“);

Email me at jason@strangerstudios.com to ask a question

I will answer your question and post it here.