Installation
For
Windows and Unix web servers
NOTE - To install Link Protect you must have a CGI-BIN.
Once installed all you have to do is begin addressing your images
and pages via Link Protect. You can use any editor to address
your images and then later paste the prefix into the address lines.
Link Authorization
With no permissions set the default is that all links being served
must be from your web site. To allow linking to your content from
other web sites, you
can add and delete the site URLs in the script.
Custom Error Message
Bad-domain.gif is the image people will see if they try to access your files
from an invalid domain. You can change this image to anything
you want - the image provided is a plain and boring message, but
feel free to have some fun with it.
Bad-file.gif is the image people will see if you make a boo-boo
and create a link to a file that doesn't exist. Once again, you
can go for your life with customizing this image.
INSTALLATION
- After unzipping, make a back copy so the original files can
be recovered configuration if needed.
- Add acceptable domains to the domains.dat file using Notepad,
one url per line with a hard return.
- Upload the folder called "securefolder" to your web
site. It is better to rename this folder, but you will have to
make the change in the first lines of the cgi also. This folder
and all files in this folder need to be writable. The dat files
in the "admin' folder should be CHMOD 666.
- Edit the first few lines of each cgi and upload them to your
cgi-bin using ASCII. Then CHMOD them 755. Note the difference
between paths and urls - do not vary this. If a path is noted
in the example, always use the path. If a url is used, then you
can use the http:// links
- Once you have seen it working with your new configuration, then
it is advisable to change the admin password with Notepad.
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Using Link Protect
Once you have installed Link Protect files on your web server,
you are ready to start using it. All you need to do is place your
protected files in the Secure Folder and change the links on your
pages to point to Link Protect.
The standard way of calling a protected document is as follows:
<a href=/cgi-bin/protect.pl?File=filename.html>Click Here!</a>
where filename.html is the file you want to display (which can
be any type of file). You may have to adjust the reference to
the cgi-bin to match your system - you may even need to use an
absolute reference to a different domain.
If the protected file is meant to be downloaded rather than viewed
in the browser, you will want to supply the browser with a suggested
filename for users to save the file under (if you do not do this,
protect.pl will be the filename - even if they are downloading
a zip file). This is done by sending extended information to the
browser:
<a href=/cgi-bin/protect.pl/download.zip?File=download.zip>Click
Here!</a>
If you look carefully you will notice "/download.zip" after protect.pl
and before the ? This is the filename that the browser will prompt
the user to save the file with.
Link Protect can also be used to display an image on the page:
<img src=/cgi-bin/protect.pl?File=my-image.gif>
In this case, the file will have to be either a jpg or a gif so
that the browser can display it. Other tags within the <img>
can also be used, such as alt, border, etc.
Secure Folder
Only Link Protect knows the location of your Secure Folder. It
can be set to any folder on your site and contain sub folders
and so on. The Secure Folder is the root of the directories in
which your files can be placed - you can create subdirectories
of it to give you some ordered structure. When you do this you
simply need to include the subdirectory after the File= i.e.:
<a href=/cgi-bin/protect.pl?File=htmlfiles/mainsite/filename.html>Click
!</a>
The system is secure is long as no direct links are made from
any pages on site. It is the direct hyperlinks that spiders use
to trace the location. Also, the visitor can no longer find the
direct route to the content by following the source code.
The default setting for the protected folder is "securefolder"...
this should be changed and also altered in the CGIs otherwise
other users will know where the folder is.
Error images
The image that is displayed when an error is made or someone uses
an illegal link can be customized to anything your want to use.
If you make a new image, simply rename it to replace the ones
on the protected folder. If you don't change its location or name,
you won't have to modify the cgi.
Known Quirks
The two inserts below are space sensitive. Should you edit the
files that contain these inserts in a html editor they could be
corrupted by adding space around the inserts. There should be
no spaces before and after each insert and they should be hard
left to the margin as seen below...
<!INPUT VARIABLES>
<!INPUT DOMAINS>
Access denied
On some servers and services when the CGI is first installed and
tested even though the scripting and codes can be correctly set,
the Access Denied image is delivered. This can happen at first
even though everything is correct. We are not sure why it does
happen and can only guess that it has something to do with FrontPage
or proxy servers updating links. Whenever we have returned the
next day everything has then been seen to be working perfectly.
Image Distortion
When linking an image through the CGI from a page already served
by the CGI some editors will set the image size to the bad-domain.gif,
to overcome this you may have to remove any reference to the image
size in html and allow the image to be presented as is... at its
original size.
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