Digital Downloads [How to set up digital PDF files for download after purchase?]

[carolyn@10541]

i am creating an ecommerce website in Adobe Dreamweaver Bootstrap with digital downloads. I am fine creating the website, however, does anyone know how to set up digital pdf files on an ecommerce website that can be downloaded after purchasing the file? My client also,wants to limit the number of downloads to one.

Thank you.

[Rob Hecker2]

I believe PayPal has a process for selling and delivering digital media that does not require you to do any programming. You should look into that.

If you don't use a canned solution, like the PayPal one, then you will have to do some back end coding with a language like PHP. You must process credit card payment and forward the buyer to the download process only if payment was successful. The download process must be protected from unauthorized downloading. So unless you are a good PHP coder, you really want to use a canned solution.

The problem with a canned solution is that it may not provide the process exactly the way the client envisions it. It also probably won't seamlessly integrate with the design of the website. So compromises would have to be made.

[osgood_]

https://forums.adobe.com/people/Rob+Hecker2  wrote

The problem with a canned solution is that it may not provide the process exactly the way the client envisions it. It also probably won't seamlessly integrate with the design of the website. So compromises would have to be made.

For anything decent this can get pretty tricky as you start to drill down into what is required to protect the download and maybe send the user to different pages/products based on what is purchased. I don't know if Paypals canned solution can even protect a download page other than to bury it knee deep in a folder and hope no one happens to come upon it and then what if the nice buyer decides it would be fun to share that download url on a public forum or even upload the pdf for download..........hummmm. I guess there's only so much you can do to protect a digital download and its a matter of how far do you go to protect it and is it worth the extra work, which ultimately will end in failure if the buyer is hell bent on freely sharing it.

I've never tried it but I suppose Paypal IPN would be an option as you can show the download link AFTER the payment has been made.

if(payment == complete) {

Do stuff here if payment has been made.

}

You can only have one IPN though so the bit of code might get complex if you want to show specific download links for specific products which have been purchased

if($_POST['item_name'] == "My big red book")) {

echo "<a href="digital_products/my_big_red_book.zip">Download Link</a>"

}

if($_POST['item_name'] == "My big green book")) {

echo "<a href="digital_products/my_big_green_book.zip">Download Link</a>"

}

Just saying, done correctly there's a bit more to it than might initially be thought, unless you want to take the 'cheap' way out.

[pziecina]

There is a w3c specification, and an api to use for digital rights managment, (drm) but as with many of such items they require more knowledge than the avarage Dw user is accredited with, so Dw has no support.

If it is for a text document(s) then the Adobe digital rights managment api, (for digital editions) as used by many e-readers may be worth looking at, but again a good working knowledge of javascript, and a server side method of processing payments is required.

read - http://electricbookworks.com/kb/simple-ebook-operational-issues/adobe-drm-a-guide-for-publishers/

[osgood_]

pziecina  wrote

There is a w3c specification, and an api to use for digital rights managment, (drm) but as with many of such items they require more knowledge than the avarage Dw user is accredited with, so Dw has no support.

If it is for a text document(s) then the Adobe digital rights managment api, (for digital editions) as used by many e-readers may be worth looking at, but again a good working knowledge of javascript, and a server side method of processing payments is required.

read - http://electricbookworks.com/kb/simple-ebook-operational-issues/adobe-drm-a-guide-for-publ ishers/

Humm.......interesting reading but what happens if Joe Blogs (who has bought the ebook legitmately has copied the ebook onto a usb stick as back-up) His comupter then has a hissy fit and doesnt work any longer. He buys a new computer and copies the ebook onto the new computer - it doesn't sound as though its giong to work 'as is' because the new computer doesn't have an Adobe id. That's sh*******te. Its like selling a car to someone and only allowing the car to work if its in a certain postcode area - poor solution  for a consumer in my opinion if Im reading it correctly. I know developers copyrights needs as much protection as is possible but sometimes I think its now taking things to far to lock a person out of a product they have legitimately bought unless it's in some kind of linked key chain.

I can see why the recommendation is NOT to use this method. in my opinion it infringes upon the purchases rights to use a product they have legitimately bought unless its attached to certain criteras, these may be too restrictive. One can only hope companies that choose to usethis method make it plainly clear to the purchaser. I'm willing to bet they don't as custom will drop like a stone.

[Rob Hecker2]

Maybe the best tech-simple solution would be to publish via Kindle (or similar) and create a little Amazon embedded store in the client website.

[pziecina]

The drm method is the one used by apple and amazon for their e-readers.

I only used the Adobe method as an example, as it allows the user to have a copy of the file on any device registered to them and with the digital editions e-reader. Should the computer crash then the user can deregister their previous instalation and reinstal everything on the new computer, much the same as would happen when buying a new iOS device, and scrapping the old iOS device.

one can of course offer drm free e-books or pdf's, and advertise as such, as to many i am sure that would be a selling point, but then the seller looses all control over what they sell being copied.

[osgood_]

pziecina  wrote

The drm method is the one used by apple and amazon for their e-readers.

I only used the Adobe method as an example, as it allows the user to have a copy of the file on any device registered to them and with the digital editions e-reader. Should the computer crash then the user can deregister their previous instalation and reinstal everything on the new computer, much the same as would happen when buying a new iOS device, and scrapping the old iOS device.

But just to read a F••••••G poxy recipe book??????????

I can understand if its software which is being used as part of a continous workflow and is key to ones working process.

[pziecina]

I didn't create the problem, but it's no different to someone using web fonts and solutions like typekit.

Authors and content creators want to be paid for their work, though i wonder if they think drm is a good idea, as the purchaser cannot even lend a copy to a friend, unless they lend the actual reading device itself.

[osgood_]

pziecina  wrote

I didn't create the problem, but it's no different to someone using web fonts and solutions like typekit.

Authors and content creators want to be paid for their work, though i wonder if they think drm is a good idea, as the purchaser cannot even lend a copy to a friend, unless they lend the actual reading device itself.

Well if the link I posted to (now removed) works its only a few steps and you can remove the drm and share it around as you see fit. It's pretty much impossible for anything digital to be truely protected, someone will always find a way around it if they are hell bent on being distruptive or a computer hacker.

[pziecina]

That has always been the case with everything on the web. If someone knows what they are doing copying is always possible.

[osgood_]

Huhhh...... seems like a kid in wet pants can crack that:

Edited:

Best to remove that link but it doesnt seem too difficult to remove the drm from the pdf!!!!! why bother???????

[Rob Hecker2]

I think it would be easier to protect the document from unauthorized download than from what the buyer does with it after they have it.

Download protection

A single copy of the file could be stored on the server, in a protected directory, but the link path would change for each purchase. The link would contain an id that would be verified. Then the path could be rejected either after download or after 24 hours. Maybe PayPal provides this process in their canned solution. If the digital files have to be uploaded to Paypal then they probably do.

This could be done with just PHP. It would not require, for example, creating an alias path in apache. Then single use url to the file download would be something like buyMYpdf.com/25sse456214wQyTz145. Then the database could have a boolean column that indicates that the file has been downloaded, and reject further uses of the same url afterwards.

Post-sale protection

Would have to use a DRM method, as Paula described. Since the downloads are PDFs, this would be possible, though could cause frustrations for the purchaser.

[pziecina]

I wonder if we could do a, 'this file will self destruct after reading' method.

aka - mission impossible drm

[osgood_]

pziecina  wrote

I wonder if we could do a, 'this file will self destruct after reading' method.

aka - mission impossible drm

WTF is going on. Worlds gone crazy or me just getting old!

It's food for thought though. Maybe all product producers should start producing products which only work based on the dna of the person buying them......that would stop all the lending and swapping..........humm.....madness.

[osgood_]

https://forums.adobe.com/people/Rob+Hecker2  wrote

I think it would be easier to protect the document from unauthorized download than from what the buyer does with it after they have it.

Download protection

A single copy of the file could be stored on the server, in a protected directory, but the link path would change for each purchase. The link would contain an id that would be verified. Then the path could be rejected either after download or after 24 hours. Maybe PayPal provides this process in their canned solution. If the digital files have to be uploaded to Paypal then they probably do.

I was thinking something along similar lines, its still complex for a novice coder. You don't upload anything to Paypal, all the files are stored on your own server. They are a payment gateway and dont really care about the protection of your digital downloads apart from giving you the option to do what you like via IPN.

[osgood_]

https://forums.adobe.com/people/Rob+Hecker2  wrote

Post-sale protection

Would have to use a DRM method, as Paula described. Since the downloads are PDFs, this would be possible, though could cause frustrations for the purchaser.

Yeah read my response. Might be good for the the person who has copyright but for the consumer a killer - too far in my opinion.

[carolyn@10541]

Thank you.

Sent from my iPhone

[Nancy OShea · Accepted solution]

I built a digital media delivery system integrated with a 3rd party shopping cart.

After customers complete their credit card transaction on the PCI compliant shopping cart, they are redirected to a download page on our servers that gets created dynamically with PHP code.  The links contain heavily encrypted code to digital product(s) hosted on outside servers that are NOT publicly accessible.  In other words, to download the files you must have the secret sauce or it won't work.  Any attempts to share links with other people will fail because the downloads must originate from our servers. 

As a fallback, customers also get an auto generated email with the download links.  They have 3 days to complete their downloads after which the links are auto disabled.

This system contains many server-side & client side scripts.  If you are a skilled coder, it's doable.  If not, you may need to outsource this to a 3rd party.   Start with your shopping cart as they may already have solutions available for you to use.

Good luck!

Nancy

[osgood_]

carolyn@10541  wrote

i am creating an ecommerce website in Adobe Dreamweaver Bootstrap with digital downloads. I am fine creating the website, however, does anyone know how to set up digital pdf files on an ecommerce website that can be downloaded after purchasing the file? My client also,wants to limit the number of downloads to one.

Thank you.

There's plenty of information available about using Paypal digital downloads on youtube which should be helpful

Search for:

digital download using paypal