email direct or create pages?

[muzzer]

I'm developing a site for a client which involves (non-logged in) users submitting resources which other anonymous users can then view or download.

The final downloadable resources will be produced by my client from files and text (up to 10 files  - pdfs, spreadsheets, images etc) uploaded by the user. So the flow goes something like this:

1. User submits a frontend form containing a description of the resource, eg typical resource may be  "Study of sustainability of commercial fishing in area X", along with a number of files, for example, shaded maps (image), spreadsheet of data, word or open document of evidence, and a number of other images.
2. Files and text descriptions are emailed to my client
3. Client reads through and organises the files and text into one or more PDFs.
4. Client creates a new PW page, adds a description of resource, and uploads PDF(s) to the page
5. Users then view the PW page and can download or view the accompanying PDFs

Pretty simple kind of scenario. However, I'm conflicted as to how the upload/emailing of images should proceed; I could either:

1. email the uploaded resources (up to 10 of) direct to the client, or
2. use the API to create a PW page, add the uploaded resources to the page, save page, email resources from the page to the client, and then finally delete the page.

Option 1 is simple, but there may be issues? - email failure would result in loss of the resources - large email (10 attachments of up to possibly 5Mb each) could be seen as spam? etc.

Option 2 is a little more complex but allows resources to be maintained - in case of email failure resources could be downloaded manually

I'm looking for suggestions here, which option would you choose to implement, or an alternative path altogether?

[muzzer]

Or perhaps another path would be to send files to dropbox or similar and the simply email client the dropbox link?

[adrian]

I have done something similar, but rather than email the client the uploaded resources, the email just contains a link to the automatically created PW page with the uploaded resources. Be sure to make the page unavailable to guest users. When they view this page they see a list of available resources, each with their own download link, as well as a zip download button which zips all the files on-the-fly into one downloadable zip. This way, the files are always available on the server, you are not emailing huge files, and you are not relying on a 3rd party service.

Hope that helps a little!

[horst]

In addition to @adrian:

I would create a page and save all uploaded files to it. Then I would send an email to the user via WireMail and an SMTP extension of it! This way you or your client have control over the email account. (< regarding false spam detection)

The rest depends on the client, if he would like to get all files right with the mail, I would send copies this to him. At least with the WireMailSMTP this is doable out of the box and works like a charm! (shameless, I know!)

You can make this configurable for your client. e.g. if he has normal workdays he can tip a checkbox somewhere on his personal boss-settings page to get all files as attachments with the emails. If he want go for holiday he untip the box and only get notifications without attachments (to his handy!)

Don't forget to offer this to him as a premium feature!

Edited November 26, 2014 by horst
added premium feature

[muzzer]

Thx guys. I went with Adrians idea. Once the form is filled a new page is created via the API (man this is so easy in PW, love this API !), a zip file is added for download, and the administrator gets an email to advise a new resource has been submitted. Works really nicely, stoked with result. Cheers for the advise.

 

I was tempted to email the resources as attachments but I personally hate having massive attachments bogging down my email client. Also, depending on the email client it's often easier to extract a zip of ten files than have to extract the files from an email.