Thread

Has anyone here used DLGuard (http://www.dlguard.com)?  Looks like a good solution for ecommerce/digital downloads. Just looking for some thoughts.

Also, I found this tutorial(http://www.your-video-tutorials.com/dlg/product-setup/). It looks like DLGuard is great for people selling digital products. You can use EE to manage your products and DLGuard is strictly your shopping cart, subscription manager, and download manager.

I’ll keep you posted.

I downloaded it several months ago and have gotten sidetracked. It does look good. The backend interface is not as mature as what I would like to see. It is obvious the guy that made it is a good developer and not a designer. I will be honest though in that I have not taken the time to dive in. My impresion is that you can embed the code from the index.php file into your site template(not related to EE) and be up and running quite quickly. But please do keep us aprised as I will have need for this in a couple of weeks…

M.

Hi there mpyles,

Before you go and purchase anything like that can I just mention the use of LinkLok URL. I simply can’t say enough about this script. It is the most easiest script to set-up to allow you to place secure URLs on your page which can be made to expire after a certain amount of time or can be IP locked so that only the computer that created the link can download the file and quite a few other options.

I bought this script some time back now and the developer helped me out as it wasn’t quite working trying to include it into an EE template. Once he had worked his magic it all worked brilliantly in conjunction with EE.

I can now use all the power of EEs weblogs integrated with this script and offer 100% totally secure download links. It only costs $29.95 as well so I would definitely say download the manual as it’s free and take a look at what it can do first off. I have never seen DLGuard but it does seem like you have a separate admin area to store all the download links whereas using LinkLok URL in conjunction with EE allows you to keep everything in the one place.

If you do decide to purchase LinkLok URL then you would need to ask the developer for the EE version of the script after you have purchased it. He doesn’t actually sell that version online as there isn’t much call for it but I did say that I would let anyone know about it that they would need a slightly modified version and he said he was quite happy to let people have that version once they have paid.

Hope this helps.

Best wishes,

Mark

Thanks for the information Mark, but the one key difference I see is that DLGuard has a shopping cart and integrates with payment processors.  Linklok url seems to be just a download manager.

From their site:

Order Linklok URL
Linklok URL can be ordered for immediate download. The cost for use on one domain is just $29.95 which includes updates and support for one year. We also have ecommerce versions of Linklok for 2checkout.com, Paypal, Clickbank and Mals-e.

It might be worth looking into.

Hi Sue,

Thanks for posting that here. I meant to mention about those versions as well. I personally have only ever used the LinkLok URL version as this can be integrated with any payment system at all with a bit of a prod.

I have used it on a site that is EE based and provides file downloads once the persons payment has gone through. I am also in the process of creating another site that is going to have over 10,000 products on it and will use the SCM (Simple Commerce Module) to handle the payments through PayPal and then with the use of a Plug-In that I have created myself and LinkLok URL I will be able to give people the downloads that they have previously purchased.

Definitely worth a look. Whilst DL Guard may have those features which does make it look quite attractive I did try out nearly 50 of these kinds of scripts (albeit not DLGuard itself) and a lot of them did have admin back-ends and cart features but trying to integrate them with EE was a complete nightmare.

Using the SCM and LinkLok URL together for me is an absolute joy and I have the freedom to create the site looking exactly the way I want.

May not be perfect for everyone but it can in the right hands and a small amount of programming become a very very powerful alternative. Plus it’s a lot cheaper also!!

Best wishes,

Mark

Thank for the response Mark and Sue. I took a look at LinkLok URL and it sounds pretty good. However, I’m still looking for that system that not only integrates with a payment system (like Authorize.net AIM), but also has a backend that manages the orders, show me show stats (although Google Analytics could take care of this).
Can I do all of that with LinkLok URL?

Of course I hate to buy anything if ExpressionEngine is going to release a professional commerce product, but we all know what the ETA of that is ....who knows???

Take a look at this tutorial - http://www.your-video-tutorials.com/dlg/product-setup/, I think DLGuard can be setup with EE easily (of course I don’t know unless I try it). For instance, the download file itself would be managed within an EE directory, and DLguard would just put to that URL. Also, product pages are managed within EE.

But again I am not fully sure until I try.  Do you have any other suggestions regarding products that possibly meet my requirements?

Also for you programmers out their looking for simple ecommerce scripts that help you integrate with your site with Authorize.net, I ran across this site -
http://www.authnetscripts.com/

I decide to scrap DL Guard and just go with a full fledge shopping cart—Ecommerce Templates (http://www.ecommercetemplates.com). I been looking at them for over 7 months and think they are the best bang for the buck. they seem to have a good product, great documentation (reminds me of EE) and a very strong user community.

I still have a few more questions for them, but this one looks like a go. Of course EE staff you can stop me anytime :cheese: ...just say the word…rick…leslie…sue…anyone…

OK, I think I want to go with the http://www.ecommercetemplates.com cart… Has anyone worked with this? It says that you need to create the pages as they have instructed (categories.php, cart.php, etc.) Would I need to enable PHP in my templates in order for this to work and how to I properly label the template if extensions are not needed?

I also wanted to mention that this is not for a “DOWNLOAD CONTENT” website. it’s for selling art. So I would have an original and then several sizes of a print of that original. I wanted to use the simple commerce module, but it only allows me to choose ONE sale item per entry and in this case I need to create a table that allows me to sell the original and the prints of the same entry. If I could do that I would be GOLDEN! Can you?

Thanks!

Wish I could answer your questions, but I’m buying the cart right before Christmas. I’ll be on vacation for 2 weeks and I plan to focus on commerce development during that time. Plus I want to capitalize of their 1 month return policy if needed.

I’ll let you know how thing go.

rooster, you have anything to report?

I decided to also scrap http://www.ecommercetemplates.com. I did buy it and I liked it, but I had a free copy of Avactis and found out the newest version does everything I want. So returned ECT. I also like Avactis templating system a little better - it’s similar to EE.

I’m REALLY HOPING that on March 08 Rick and crew will announce a new ecommerce module that works with EE 1.62 and above. But if not, I really like avactis and you can add your design in it without much effort. The only thing you have to do is point users to a details page made in avactis. I’ve already designed a way to do this pretty easy.

I have a weblog for products. There are two importanta custom fields - one that says product available (y/n) and another field that holds the link to the external ecommerce details page. So, on my product summary pages, the “view more details” link points to the correct details page depending on the Available -Y/N field value (the correct link is displayed based on IF statements—Conditionals are the best!). If Available = Y, link points to external ecommerce details page. If Available = N, points to the EE details page. On the EE details page, I have a small form box user can fill out that says, please send me an email when product is available.  The main negative to this whole process is I have to keep product details in two places - EE and external ecommerce system.

Some what of a hack. Having to use two different systems, duplicate information, but it works no matter what ecommerce system you use. If had hundreds and hundred of products, i wouldn’t do it. I’d just hire a developer to create me something to run with EE.

I also really like ClickCartPro. You can basically send a post to the ClickCartPro cart using a form. So think about it. You create your product pages in EE and when the user clicks add to cart the correct information is sent to the ClickCartPro cart page. No more 2 product detail pages, but still have to maintain two dbs of product information.

Look for posts by StephenSlater. He talks about Clickcartpro. I went to their site and talked with their support and read some documentation. It looks very easy to use their API.

So do i have a fully running ecommerce site up and running no. Just the concept is working. But I still have a little more time before I start selling products (May 2008). So prayfully EE Pro Ecommerce comes up BIG for us in March or soon after. If not, there are some choices available.

You may also want to check out this thread - http://ellislab.com/forums/viewthread/65245/P0/

Hope that helps.