Download File URL Documentation

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Sherry Lake

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Jan 18, 2018, 10:51:07 AM1/18/18
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Love the Download File URL (I assume when 4.9 is released with file DOIs, the DOI link will be the download URL).

But some files in UVa's dataverse did not have download URLs and I couldn't figure out why. So after some extensive searching found this Issue #3584 that said:

           If a file has no Terms of Use and there is no guestbook associated with the dataverse, provide a download URL on the file page.

Is this documented anywhere else? It would be great to include in the User Guide.

So now I have questions about who will be able to access files via the DOI link (when files get DOIs)? If I give a DOI-URL for a restricted file, will that person still have to log in to get (or ask) for access?

Thanks.
Sherry

Derek Murphy

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Jan 18, 2018, 1:52:36 PM1/18/18
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Hi Sherry,

Thanks for checking in about this. You've made us aware of this oversight in our guides, so I'm going to add a bit about this in there. 

Once 4.9 is released, the file download URL will incorporate the DOI, as in this example:

I'm checking with other team members about restricted file DOI-URLs. I'll get back to you soon, once I have an answer.

Hope this helps!

Best,

Derek Murphy
Usability Researcher, IQSS
Harvard University

Derek Murphy

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Jan 18, 2018, 2:58:22 PM1/18/18
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Hi Sherry,

Following up with an answer to your question about restricted file download URLs:

A restricted file will not list its file download URL on its file page. However, if a user does have that URL and tries to access the file that way via API, they will need to authenticate using an API token to prove that they have permission. If a user tries to download using that URL in-browser, it will only work if the user has added their API token to the URL (whether they're logged in or not).

Best,

Derek


On Thursday, January 18, 2018 at 10:51:07 AM UTC-5, Sherry Lake wrote:

Sherry Lake

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Jan 19, 2018, 10:01:39 AM1/19/18
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Adding this question on the Download URL thread, as to not start a new one....

Using the download URL, does not update the the "Download" count. I couldn't find an issue about this specifically, just issue about API and Guestbook #3331

Let me know if you want me to create an issue.

I see this counting problem becoming a bigger problem when files get DOIs, where counting will really matter.

Thanks.
Sherry

Philip Durbin

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Jan 19, 2018, 10:13:37 AM1/19/18
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You are welcome to create a new issue if you don't think #3331 is clear enough. The developer who opened that issue has moved on so I don't think it would hurt to have a issue expressed in the the words of an existing customer. The information you're probably missing is that download counts are recorded in the `guestbookresponse` database table. If you look at http://phoenix.dataverse.org/schemaspy/latest/tables/guestbookresponse.html you'll see there's a column called `downloadtype` that records whether the click was a download or an "explore" (such as by launching TwoRavens).

I hope this adds clarity and not confusion!

Phil

p.s. You can also see how the `guestbookresponse` table is used in many questions about download counts in the Google doc of SQL queries linked from https://github.com/IQSS/dataverse/issues/4169

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Sherry Lake

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Jan 19, 2018, 10:51:39 AM1/19/18
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Ok, I'll more info to #3331. I want to make sure "downloadtype" includes non-dataverse-clicking - like a person entering the DownloadURL in a browser window and "clicking go" from the browser.

Because what I see right now, if I copy/paste the download URL, view that URL in a browser window, that "download" is not counted.

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Durand, Gustavo

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Jan 19, 2018, 1:46:56 PM1/19/18
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I'm surprised that that url isn't registering because it should. Are you by chance looking at a draft dataset? Those do not count as downloads.

Also, be aware that when using this with restricted files:
a. we recommend you do not pass the token in the URL but rather as a part of the request header
b. if you are logged in and use a tokenless url in that same browser, you *will* get the file, as it will use your cookie.





On Fri, Jan 19, 2018 at 10:51 AM, Sherry Lake <shla...@gmail.com> wrote:
Ok, I'll more info to #3331. I want to make sure "downloadtype" includes non-dataverse-clicking - like a person entering the DownloadURL in a browser window and "clicking go" from the browser.

Because what I see right now, if I copy/paste the download URL, view that URL in a browser window, that "download" is not counted.

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Sherry

On Friday, January 19, 2018 at 10:13:37 AM UTC-5, Philip Durbin wrote:
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Sherry Lake

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Jan 19, 2018, 2:05:59 PM1/19/18
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It's a dataset (file) on our production server (still at 4.7.1, to be upgraded next week!!!):

Don't look at the files too closely. I have a meeting scheduled with the Grad student who uploaded these files about what constitutes "replication" and the fact that these copyrighted articles should not be there.... an other story.....

But for this particular file,

I clicked "download" button on the datafile AND then I copy/pasted the download URL in another browser. So it should have at least 2 downloads from this morning, but only 1 download is noted at the top of the file page (which appeared after clicking the download button).

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danny...@g.harvard.edu

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Jan 19, 2018, 5:11:20 PM1/19/18
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Sherry, thanks for the investigation here. This is an issue that was missed in my prioritization process. We'll get it fixed in the next sprint (if not before). 

Andréa Gonçalves

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Apr 12, 2022, 9:15:23 PM4/12/22
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Hi Derek, 

I am new to this list and I'm coming back to this issue as it was the closest I could find to my actual question, so I hope you or someone else can help us. 

At Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, we are trying to find a way to allow external users to download restricted files without having to log in (since we only issue login credentials to institutional users). Currently, we have set up a couple of logins with File Downloader permission and lending those to external users on demand. However, we are expecting this type of request to increase significantly as we officially launch our repository, so we need to think of a more sustainable solution. 

As you mention that:
"A restricted file will not list its file download URL on its file page. However, if a user does have that URL and tries to access the file that way via API, they will need to authenticate using an API token to prove that they have permission. If a user tries to download using that URL in-browser, it will only work if the user has added their API token to the URL (whether they're logged in or not)."

I understand that there is a way to download a restricted file with an URL in-browser if that URL carries an API token. Is that right? 

Access from the browser would be ideal as not all users will know how to deal with API code. So, we are looking for something like a Private URL but for published, restricted files. Does such a thing exist?

Thank you.

Andréa  

Andréa Gonçalves
Coordenação de Informação e Comunicação
Vice-Presidência de Educação, Informação e Comunicação (VPEIC) 

Fundação Oswaldo Cruz
Av. Brasil, 4365 | Manguinhos | CEP 21040-360
Rio de Janeiro | Brasil
www.portal.fiocruz.br 

Philip Durbin

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Apr 13, 2022, 10:33:12 AM4/13/22
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Hi Andréa,

Welcome! Thanks for writing in.

No, a Private URL for published, restricted files does not exist. Quite commonly, the data owners want to know who has access to restricted files so the person who wants access has to create an account and go through the process of requesting and being granted access.

I just took a peek at https://dadosdepesquisa.fiocruz.br and indeed you seem to be using institutional/Shibboleth login exclusively. As you've discovered, this works fine until you want to grant access to restricted files to outsiders. Or until you want to let outsiders be contributors to datasets. In practice, at this point, I think most installations allow builtin/local accounts to be created.

All that said, your idea of a Private URL for published, restricted files makes sense. Please feel free to create a feature request at https://github.com/IQSS/dataverse/issues if you like.

As to your API question, yes, you can pass an API token in the URL when downloading a restricted file using the "key=xxx" query parameter. As explained at https://guides.dataverse.org/en/5.10.1/api/auth.html we consider an alternate method of passing the API token in a header (X-Dataverse-key:xxx) to be more secure but both methods should work fine. The APIs for downloading files are documented here: https://guides.dataverse.org/en/5.10.1/api/dataaccess.html

Thanks,

Phil

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