Only a few more days . I am currently finished up the third release candidate, which should be out later this week and include all improvements. This will be hopefully the last release candidate before the final release

indeed. Here's hoping it's done soon.

Only a few more days . I am currently finished up the third release candidate, which should be out later this week and include all improvements. This will be hopefully the last release candidate before the final release

Could you please post this? I'ts taken me years just to get that site filled with data and work around various ST shortcomings, I'd like to switch to CT (yes even in beta), since it finally brings some much needed improvements over ST, but I can't.

I rewrote the PAD module yesterday. Something like that should no longer happens with the new PAD module, after there are now additional checks.

If the remote PAD file no longer exists, it creates entries for the wrong file, and everything turns into a mess, it inserts the update into the next record instead of the current one.

Updating the wrong file

Here a modified admincheckpadupdates.php that overwrite everything with the data in the PAD file. You need to place it in the /cadmin/files directory.
   admincheckpadupdates_mod.zip

As I posted before, the PAD update script will only get update related information but not descriptions etc. after the fields are usual filled at this point in the database. Files that are in this table are already live on the website, so it very unlikely that half of the information are missing.

The script was not made to handle data that was added with an unofficial 3rd party tool. The only way to get the PAD updater working that way you like is a modification of admincheckpadupdates.php.

You may want to add your forums username in the Contentteller member area to get access to the private customer forum. There are already 11 patches available for the commercial RC2 release.

Ah, I see. that wasn't available to me.

If you like to add a new PAD file, then you need to use the PAD submission form or Add New PAD Source. Both will get all information from the PAD file.
Existing files have usual description and the other fields filled.

No they don't.
I wans't talking about adding a new PAD file. I clearly said, even the picture shows, that I was talking about updating a file which had no PAD file, because it got lost in the import process (the PAD URL was stored in ST in the download_extra18 field), so the "file_pad" field was left empty. I added the PADs manually using an edited CSV with all the downloads, thinking that, now that I had the PAD URL, it would update all the fields that were left empty by the import process. Except it doesn't work.

It doesn't do anything. It says it runs every five minutes. It doesn't. And yes it is on.

Automated tasks need visitors. Basically, the "Managed with" image is the automated tasks script. Every time this image is viewed in a browser the automated tasks script will run scheduled scripts in the background. Images are a common way to emulate cron jobs in PHP scripts.

And I wasn't talking about timeouts, I was talking about handling MISSING PAD files. If the remote PAD file is missing, there's no warning at all.

I will look into it

And about Check pad updates under cadmin: if you're gonna tell me that's how it's supposed to work, by ignoring information, then I don't know what else to say. you're gonna tell me I should fill in the description and all the missing fields manually by opening the PAD file in the browser and copy/ pasting everything? That's what the manual submission form is for and that's the way I would do it for files that don't use PAD files.
If you're gonna make something not work right, don't make it at all. Don't try to convince me it works ok, that's just rude.

The PAD update script is only for updating existing files in the database and not for creating new entries. It will pull only update related information such as versions number, change log, and download locations.

Existing files have usual description and the other fields filled. Some download sites are even using customized descriptions or information.

If you like to add a new PAD file, then you need to use the PAD submission form or Add New PAD Source. Both will get all information from the PAD file.

Looks like there a lot of files where the table esselbach_ct_files is called esselbach_ct_filesdownloads. Maybe that's why it's not working.

Odd. How many tables have your installation? The full install of Contentteller has 119 tables and yes there is actually a table called esselbach_ct_filesdownloads.

To recreate the missing table with phpMyAdmin:

 CREATE TABLE esselbach_ct_filesdownloads (

                      filedownload_id int(12) NOT NULL auto_increment,

                      filedownload_file int(12) NOT NULL,

                      filedownload_num tinyint(2) NOT NULL,

                      filedownload_name varchar(255) default '',

                      filedownload_url varchar(255) default '',

                      filedownload_downloads int(12) default '0',

                      filedownload_position int(12) NOT NULL default '1',

                      filedownload_activity datetime NOT NULL,

                      filedownload_postip varchar(16) NOT NULL default '::1',

                      filedownload_editip varchar(16) NOT NULL default '::1',

                      filedownload_editadmin varchar(255) default '',

                      PRIMARY KEY (filedownload_id),

                      KEY filedownload_file (filedownload_file)                                      

                      );

After doing a search and replace in Dreamweaver and uploading the changed files to use the correct table name I get the following error:

A bug in the RC2 version of Contentteller causes the second SQL error. This is fixed in the upcoming RC3 version. A patch is also available for customers in the bug fix forum.

You may want to add your forums username in the Contentteller member area to get access to the private customer forum. There are already 11 patches available for the commercial RC2 release.

Query: SELECT filedownload_id, filedownload_file, filedownload_num, filedownload_name, filedownload_url, filedownload_downloads, filedownload_position FROM esselbach_ct_filesdownloads WHERE filedownload_file = '18055' ORDER BY filedownload_position
Error: 1146 Table esselbach_ct_filesdownloads' doesn't exist

Looks like there a lot of files where the table esselbach_ct_files is called esselbach_ct_filesdownloads. Maybe that's why it's not working.

After doing a search and replace in Dreamweaver and uploading the changed files to use the correct table name I get the following error:

Query: SELECT filedownload_id, filedownload_file, filedownload_num, filedownload_name, filedownload_url, filedownload_downloads, filedownload_position FROM esselbach_ct_files WHERE filedownload_file = '3' ORDER BY filedownload_position
Error: 1054 Unknown column 'filedownload_id' in 'field list'

   resultsreport.zip

I'm not looking for complete automation (as in listing them directly on the frontpage)!
And I'm well aware of that problem mentioned in the article, and that's not the kind of website I want to make. But let me worry about that.
But the point of the pad updater was to allow me to check all the files and whenever one of their pads was updated, it would be put into the queue, for me to review and manually approve the changes (I expect CT that if it finds any changes in the pad file from the information in the database

Main => Manage Automated Tasks => PAD File Import

It doesn't do anything. It says it runs every five minutes. It doesn't. And yes it is on.
And I wasn't talking about timeouts, I was talking about handling MISSING PAD files. If the remote PAD file is missing, there's no warning at all.
And about Check pad updates under cadmin: if you're gonna tell me that's how it's supposed to work, by ignoring information, then I don't know what else to say. you're gonna tell me I should fill in the description and all the missing fields manually by opening the PAD file in the browser and copy/ pasting everything? That's what the manual submission form is for and that's the way I would do it for files that don't use PAD files.
If you're gonna make something not work right, don't make it at all. Don't try to convince me it works ok, that's just rude.

I don't understand what you're saying. The script prompts me for each update, so it's not totally automated, but if you're gonna pull the fields from pad files,

Main => Manage Automated Tasks => PAD File Import

The automated tasks script may handle timeouts better after it updates only one file with each run.

However, it is not always a good idea to automate everything to much, see  The software awards scam Successful Software and awardmestars - Google Search

The PAD updater doesn't work right! And the automated PAD updater which supposedly updates every 5 minutes doesn't do anything.
Look at this PAD file for instance.
 http://www.inchwest.com/misc/smartbreak.xml

and look at this. Perhaps my English isn't fluent enough to get my point across.
 http://www.file-portal.net/temp/pad-updater.jpg

The main reason why the PAD update module is only updating a few fields is that it was written for professional download sites rather then mass download sites. Most professional sites are using customized descriptions so overwriting everything with each update is not an option.

The automated task script may work better with non-existing PAD files after there is a single process for each update.

Could you just change the PAD polling routine instead so it doesn't choke on empty fields or duplicate pad files? It would be easier than having to ask you for mods over and over again.
That way I could just insert the pad files into file_pad for each file, then go to "check for updates" and it would just update the wrong and empty fields for each file in turn.

It also doesn't seem to handle downloads whose PADs are no longer available very well.

Open cadmin/acquire/adminacquirefiles.php in an editor and replace:

                                    $database -> dbquery( "INSERT INTO " . DB_PREFIX . "esselbach_ct_files (file_id, file_author, file_website, file_category, file_name, file_version, file_seo, file_pad, file_paddate, file_rawsmalldescription, file_smalldescription, file_rawlongdescription, file_longdescription, file_description, file_keywords, file_tags, file_size, file_cost, file_company, file_homepage, file_email, file_language, file_os, file_changeinfo, file_agreement, file_teaser, file_comments, file_allowcomments, file_thread, file_frontpage, file_html, file_smilies, file_code, file_status, file_password, file_date, file_startdate, file_expiredate, file_neverexpire, file_fields, file_sticky, file_views, file_downloads, file_rating, file_votes, file_activity, file_postip, file_editip, file_editadmin) VALUES ('" . $input_file_id . "', '" . $input_file_author . "', '" . $input_website . "', '" . $input_file_category . "', '" . $input_file_name . "', '', '" . $input_file_seo . "', '', now(), '" . $input_file_smalldescription . "', '" . $input_file_smalldescription_parsed . "', '" . $input_file_longdescription . "', '" . $input_file_longdescription_parsed . "', '" . $input_file_description . "', '" . $input_file_keywords . "', '" . $input_file_tags . "', '', '', '', '', '', '1', '', '', '', '0', '" . $input_file_comments . "', '" . $input_file_allowcomments . "', '0', '1', '" . $input_html . "', '" . $input_smilies . "', '" . $input_blockcode . "', '" . $input_status . "', '', '" . $input_file_date . "', '" . $input_file_date . "', '" . $input_file_date . "', '1', '" . $input_fields_encoded . "', '0', '" . $input_file_views . "', '0', '0', '0', now(), '" . $input_file_postip . "', '" . $input_file_editip . "', '" . $login_username . "')" );

with:

                                    $database -> dbquery( "INSERT INTO " . DB_PREFIX . "esselbach_ct_files (file_id, file_author, file_website, file_category, file_name, file_version, file_seo, file_pad, file_paddate, file_rawsmalldescription, file_smalldescription, file_rawlongdescription, file_longdescription, file_description, file_keywords, file_tags, file_size, file_cost, file_company, file_homepage, file_email, file_language, file_os, file_changeinfo, file_agreement, file_teaser, file_comments, file_allowcomments, file_thread, file_frontpage, file_html, file_smilies, file_code, file_status, file_password, file_date, file_startdate, file_expiredate, file_neverexpire, file_fields, file_sticky, file_views, file_downloads, file_rating, file_votes, file_activity, file_postip, file_editip, file_editadmin) VALUES ('" . $input_file_id . "', '" . $input_file_author . "', '" . $input_website . "', '" . $input_file_category . "', '" . $input_file_name . "', '" . $database -> dbescape( $input_download_extra3 ) . "', '" . $input_file_seo . "', '" . $database -> dbescape( $input_download_extra18 ) . "', now(), '" . $input_file_smalldescription . "', '" . $input_file_smalldescription_parsed . "', '" . $input_file_longdescription . "', '" . $input_file_longdescription_parsed . "', '" . $input_file_description . "', '" . $input_file_keywords . "', '" . $input_file_tags . "', '', '', '', '', '', '1', '', '', '', '0', '" . $input_file_comments . "', '" . $input_file_allowcomments . "', '0', '1', '" . $input_html . "', '" . $input_smilies . "', '" . $input_blockcode . "', '" . $input_status . "', '', '" . $input_file_date . "', '" . $input_file_date . "', '" . $input_file_date . "', '1', '" . $input_fields_encoded . "', '0', '" . $input_file_views . "', '0', '0', '0', now(), '" . $input_file_postip . "', '" . $input_file_editip . "', '" . $login_username . "')" );