Help with Drop-Down list of downloadable PDF files

Hi rkrueger,

Sorry for the delay on this, thank you for your patience.  To do this I recommend creating a view of files - you can specify a certain type of files.  Make sure that under Edit Page Details > Format you have selected Jump Menu for the format and Show: Fields.  Under fields you'll want File: Path and File: Name.  Exclude the File: Path from display.  Then click the settings next to Format: Jump Menu and change the path field to the File: Path. Views can be tricky so if you're having trouble with this please let me know, I can help you.

Don't hesitate if you have questions!

Sara,

Can you tell me more about the first step, "view of files". Are you talking about creating a simple view?

Is there a step-by-step procedure for creating this type of drop down list for pdf files?

Thanks

Hi ct103stu0,

To achieve this functionality you will actually need to create a "view" this is like a more complicated and detailed version of "simple view."  You will first need to go to your Modules page and enable the "view" module.  Once that is done, If you go to Structure you will see that you now have a Views option.  There is no step by step documentation for a pdf jump menu specifically but there is Views Documentation and Videos.  If you explore views a bit and revisit the instructions that I provided above, you may be able to figure this out - views is a very powerful tool and becoming familiar with it will certainly enhance your site making abilities.  

If you're still having trouble, I'd be happy to help! 

Hi,

Came across this thread while researching how to build a library / resource center of all downloadable files on one of my DG sites (mostly PDFs). See www.grsproadsafety.org.

I need to categorize the files (Annual Reports, Technical Reports, etc.) so figure I would have to tag them and then use Views to display them on a page. Correct? Just noticed there is no way to go back and tag a media file once it has been uploaded. Does this mean I would need to re-upload?

Is there any out of the box functionality available or planned for document management in DG? It would be so nice to be able to easily add PDFs to a basic page or block without having to go through the pain of finding the path /sites/....

It would also be great if adding a new version of a file to the system enabled you to automatically update all references (links) to that file.

I don't want to waste time on the wrong approach, so any guidance on building this resource center would be most helpful.

FYI ... I have looked into using the Collections feature of Google Docs but they don't provide an embed option in the sharing options.

Given the tagging issue, I get the sinking feeling that the most foolproof and flexible way to build this would be to do it by hand.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Hi jefe_juan,

That's correct, you can't tag the media files once they are already uploaded into the media library.

Moving forward, you could create a content type called "PDF docs" that could have a title, body, file upload field, and a tags field using the term_reference field. Then every time you create one of these nodes and upload the pdf, you can simultaneously assign a tag as well.

In addition, once you have these fields set up for your new content type, you will then be able to create a view where you can filter by the pdf files and the tags. Here's a screenshot of how your fields for this content type might look:

https://skitch.com/e-stacywray/g6uxh/pdf-field-settings

Currently, we don't have a system in place for document management within Gardens; however, we do have an existing feature request in our system for making it easier to add inline PDF's to a block or content node using the media browser. We're tracking this suggestion internally at DG-2842, and I've added your comments above to the discussion we're following for this feature.

It's true that re-uploading a document with the same name won't replace the existing one, but create a new one with a numeric suffix (-0, -1, etc.). I've created an additional feature request based your suggestion that we're tracking at DG-2843.

Hopefully, this provides a bit more clarity, but I think creating the new content type specifically around the file type plus adding the tag field will help, plus then you have the flexibility to create all kinds of Views based on those fields.

In addition, if you're feeling constrained by the organization element, you can always export your site and use a regular D7 installation where you can organize files into different directories.

Let me know if this info helps at all. Thanks!

Best regards,