I have also checked the download limit, it's blank = no limit.

The logs show nothing untoward:

user 05/17/2008 - 01:39 Session closed for user2. user2
uc_file 05/17/2008 - 01:38 The user user2 has ... user2
user 05/17/2008 - 01:38 Session opened for user2. user2
user 05/17/2008 - 01:37 Session closed for superadmin. superadmin
user 05/17/2008 - 01:37 Session opened for superadmin. superadmin
user 05/17/2008 - 01:36 Session closed for user2. user2
user 05/17/2008 - 01:36 Session opened for user2. user2

User2 orders the download... i log in as superuser to switch the order status to complete (I am still just using Credit Card and Test Gateway), log out, log in User2... again, get the download once, then the error mesage, then can download, then the error...it alternates.

Doesnt really mess up the workings of my site but obviously dont want to be spitting meaningless errors at users.

Hope this makes my situation clearer if nothing else! Thanks!

Authenticated, Shop admin and site admin (superuser) have download file permission. Not anonymous.

Have tried view all downloads with authenticated both allowed and disallowed, same outcome. hmmm.....?

Actually, it's not - the "one-time use only" links are emailed to the customer, but the links in the My Files area are static. The key that is generated for the link (which becomes part of the link) is stored in the uc_file_users table. That's the main part of authentication, along with the uid-fid association.

So, the problem is that it seems to be failing the authentication, while at the same time passing it. It's almost like it's clicking two different links. I'm trying to think of what would cause that... Have you themed or overwritten the function for the user downloads area? are you using the link with a download manager of any type?

That might be a clue - is your temporary folder /tmp configured that way? In other words, is it configured with the leading slash and then "tmp"? If so, that would mean that you are configuring it with an absolute path, which is the normal scenario at least for dedicated servers. If you are on shared hosting, this might cause an issue. My guess is that the issue is not actually with the module itself but with some other server-side config that is just tripping an error, which the uc_file.module doesn't quite understand how to parse.

The next question is for your "private" folder - I don't believe you need to chmod it 777 but that's what I have done with our downloads folder on our dedicated box. Try doing that and see if it changes anything. You might also try the different configs - absolute path vs. relative path. I believe both are acceptable, but absolute path is always recommended. It should be something like...

/tmp (temporary folder)
/var/www/vhosts/example.com/downloads_folder (folder alongside webroot)

Not sure if this is out of your expertise as well - but try tinkering with some settings there, so long as you don't mind changing things. I don't want you to break anything on the site (But there is (almost) always a fix!)

Hmm, still not solved this one. Have moved my site onto production server, everything working ok (so far, i have only tested with a test gateway, will be using PayPal WPS soon). still getting the error message on every other click on a filename in the downloads area of account profiles.

it downloads fine every other time, alternating with the error message "the following URL is nor a valid download link". weird.

Anyone got any ideas? Cheers!

I always develop in Firefox, only use IE for testing. Have tried in IE7 with same results. Like I say, allows the download anyway if I click again - so it works, but probably not instilling a lot of faith in the customer (or my client!) if error messages pop up in the download process.

I suppose if it came to it I could remove the error message from wherever it's being called and print some white space, but that seems a bit dirty

EDIT

I've just realised this happens only when I try to download the file twice in succession -

e.g. if i download, then go to another page in my account say 'Orders', then go back to 'Downloads', the file is happy to be downloaded again, no error message. SO it only happens if I try to download the file twice consecutively whilst on the 'Downloads' page in 'My Account'.

Does this shed any light? Cheers!

One suggestion I have is to edit the headers function of the uc_file.module as per this comment:

http://www.ubercart.org/forum/support/4303/how_user_connects_their_file_...

It's basically changing the headers sent to the browser to be public and cacheable. I think this is mainly a browser issue and has only been observed in IE, but it's worth a shot and shouldn't have any side effects.