I run a school newspaper website, and I'm looking to post a PDF version of the newspaper that people can download. However, I'm really turned off by the mydownloads module. I don't need ratings, categories, platform/version information, or comments.

Before I drive myself crazy hacking the mydownloads module to remove all the features I don't need, I thought I'd ask and see if anybody has other download modules they use/recommend. All I need is a way to keep track of how many times a PDF has been downloaded. Everything beyond that is unnecessary.

Thanks for the help!

This is what I would do. Put the file into a new directory on the server off of root... we'll call it something like /pdf/ or something equally as simple. Now, create a new download that links directly to your PDF newspaper (http://yourdomain/pdf/newspaper1.pdf). Copy the link of the download location for the PDF and publish it in the news. You're done.

What would be nice if there was a way to handle inbound files rather than softlinked files. I don't know of a module with that feature outside of the standard XOOPS core.

Removal of features is easier than you think, as compared to adding. For your needs, it might just involve commenting out (<!-- -->) some template elements for the download (mydownloads_download.html) and the submit form (mydownloads_submit.html). Just add HTML comment tags to those you do not want.

You can keep the interface on the Admin side since only admins can see it. This way you can still keep the original functionalities, but hidden from the user interface. You might just need them later on as your site grows. If that happens, you can just 'un-comment' those features from the templates.

Good luck!