I am developing a Joomla Component which will allow visitors to download a sound file (be it mp3, or wave, does not matter). Those files are managed in the admin interface and can be unpublished in there.
Therefore, it seems that placing them in the assets section is not an option, as it would make them accessible directly from the server. I want to avoid direct access and only serve them through my MVC structure (usnig RAW document type) after verifying that the requested file is published.
Are there any conventions on the placement of those files inside my component’s directory structure?
My first idea is to create a folder inside the administrator/components/com_mycomponent and keep the files there. Do I need to restrict access to this new folder with a new .htaccess file, or is it already taken care of by Joomla with a global .htaccess?
you should place the files in the media directory. It is supported by the installer and is much better place. The logic is to have code in com_mycomponent for site and admin and both of those will share media (images/css/js), downloads, etc…
/media/com_mycomponent/
Restrictions are up to you.
Here is Joomla installation structure, http://docs.joomla.org/Components:xml_installfile