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Publisher
K.J. Strickland
Managing Editor
K.J. Strickland
Technical Editors
K.J. Strickland
Cover Designer
K.J. Strickland
Production
Raptor Services
4 EZ Realty 6.0x
Table of Contents
Foreword 7
Part I Introduction 9
1 Welcome
...................................................................................................................................
to EZ Realty 9
2 EZ Realty
...................................................................................................................................
features 9
3 System
...................................................................................................................................
requirements 12
4 Getting
...................................................................................................................................
help 12
5
6 EZ Realty 6.0x
3 The ...................................................................................................................................
EZ Realty Frontend user area 113
The EZ Panel.......................................................................................................................................................... 114
Manage profile..........................................................................................................................................................
settings 116
Manage shortlist
..........................................................................................................................................................
area 117
Add/edit listing
..........................................................................................................................................................
form 117
Index 0
I
Introduction 9
1 Introduction
Now into its 5th year of development, EZ Realty has undergone significant change and
improvement since its initial release. It just continues to grow and get better - and this is
due to the valuable feedback provided by customers. I'd like to say thank you - because
without your ideas and inspiration - EZ Realty would be a shadow of what it is. Your
ideas for new features keep my "todo" list well stocked with development work, so I'm
always busy learning new code and writing upgrades for new releases.
This help manual has been written to give you an overview of EZ Realty, how to install
and upgrade it, what the various settings and data management areas are, and how to
use it all on your site.
Quick Install
It takes a minute to install EZ Realty on your web server - and another couple to install
the multitude of modules available. Yes, it doesn't take long to get the packages installed
onto your Joomla site.
EZ Realty is designed to meet the needs of multiple business models - from the single
agent real estate business listing properties for sale, multi-agent businesses, and
community sales portals offering FSBO listing services. Simply configure it to meet the
needs of your business model.
Profiling System
EZ Realty allows your sellers to promote their business, and share their contact details.
Supports multiple contact methods, including direct contact, snail mail, email, telephone,
SMS via Clickatell, and 3 online messaging systems. New in version 5.2.0 are profile
privileges - enabling your members to manage more aspects of their listings such as
publish/unpublish, skip the paid listings process, reset the expiry date and more. Profiling
privileges are an excellent way to keep employees out of the backend - yet allow them
certain privileges normally only accessible via the admin area.
Turn your EZ Realty-powered site into a money-maker with the paid listings functionality.
Two sales levels allow you to charge for upgrades from free listings to "premium" and
"featured" listings - or run in paid listings only mode. Comes with a PayPal payment
plugin, and other payment processor plugins can be obtained from Rob Joyce at http://
www.osdcs.com
Limit your listings based on time - eg. 30 day listings. Easy to use "clean listings" function
to remove expired listings, and email notification for expired listings.
SEO
Our SEO Partner Denis Dulici also has a range of products to enhance your SEO goals -
with plugins for JoomSEF, sh404sef and Xmap.
Easy Layouts
Front-end templating system makes changing the layout of data on listing pages and the
full details page. Four different layouts are currently available for the listings pages, and 8
different layouts are available for the full details page - including tabbed pages, javascript
sliders, wide layouts, narrow page layouts. In addition to this - the image layouts/
systems are interchangeable with the full details page templates - enabling you to
achieve a layout and image system that suits your site needs and design dimensions.
Three different layouts are available for the EZ Realty opening page - a combo layout
combining search form and top localities, the standard category names layout or the main
search filter page layout. These are all easily configured via the EZ Realty admin
configuration area - and you can choose which one best suits your site needs and
preferences.
Version 5.2.0 introduced true multi-currency support. Run your site listings with a default
currency for all listings set via the EZ Realty configuration area - or allow your members
to list their properties in the currency of their choice.
In an industry where looks is everything, EZ Realty gives you a top-quality image display
system. Templates come with Javascript rollover images, and some have the slimbox/
lightbox image systems available. List up to 24 images with image descriptions - they're
uploaded, thumbnailed and resized during the save process. Version 5.2.0 introduced
image watermarking - to give your sold and featured listings a distinctive look.
Don't miss sales opportunities just because you don't have a listing people want. The VIP
Buyer's Register allows you to collect details of purchaser requirements, and display those
on the front-end as a "wanted properties" listing page. Communicate with other members
of the sales team on the status of a lead via the notes area, and send emails of listings
matching requirements via the VIP email notifications. Emails sent to people on the VIP
Buyer's Register contain a summary of key property information, an image and the seller
details - as well as a link to the property listing and an unsubscribe link. The email
notification process can be configured to be automatic when new properties are saved -
or manually triggered via the EZ Realty admin cPanel.
Mapping Support
Two RSS 2.0 feeds - new property listings and open house days.
Cross-component integration
Seamlessly tap into other components such as uddeIM for personal messaging, save
newsletter subscribers directly to the Letterman newsletter component and promote user
interactivity with the jReviews commenting and ratings system.
Customer Tools
Multi-Lingual
EZ Realty has multi-lingual support - meaning it is coded with language tags and has a
language file system to enable the translation of embedded page text. It also comes with
a set of JoomFish and NokKaew content element files to enable you to translate the
database content.
EZ Realty has search filters, zip/postcode radius search, find property by ID/MLS ID #,
agent/seller search and more.
Bonus Addons
EZ Realty comes with a range of modules to extend your site, including:- new property
listings, random property listings, single featured property listing, multiple featured
property listings, top localities, mortgage calculator, loan calculator, featured seller, latest
sellers, large search filter, agent/seller search by locality, and a jReviews plugin for
commenting and rating.
EZ Realty is not a "stand-alone" script - it's a component developed for use with the
Joomla! content management system. As a "database-driven" PHP script, EZ Realty
requires:-
II
14 EZ Realty 6.0x
Other activities
1. The new listings and open house listings RSS feeds have a placeholder image of the EZ
Realty logo - so you will want to personalize this with your own logo. Create an image
called rss_logo.jpg and upload it to the components/com_ezrealty/images directory.
Step 1
Step 2
Once EZ Realty is installed - follow the "Components" -> "EZ Realty" menu link and the EZ
Realty admin cPanel will open.
Step 3
Click the "Sync Members and Listings" button located in the "Maintenance Tools" section
of the EZ Realty cPanel. This will copy over site member details not already in the
Profiles table.
Step 4
Install the EZ Realty System Plugin and publish it. You should have downloaded this
package at the same time as you downloaded EZ Realty.
Step 5
Create a main menu link to EZ Realty using the Joomla menu manager system. Do this
step now.
Step 6
Return to the EZ Realty admin cPanel, click on the "Configuration Settings" button in the
"System Management Areas" section of the EZ Realty admin cPanel, review all of the
configuration settings and update them to reflect your needs. Click the save button
when done, and return to the EZ Realty admin cPanel.
Step 7
Review the various system management areas - eg. categories, localities, states,
countries, price list, profile manager and static content etc. Set this information up to
meet your site requirements and update the profile information. You may not need to
update all of these areas - as you may not be using all of these information areas on your
site - but you do need to review all of the information just to be certain.
Step 8
Make sure there are NO warnings in the "Checks" section of the EZ Realty admin cPanel.
If there are - fix them now.
Step 9
You can now create some property listings to test out the front-end operation of your
site.
Step 1
Backup your site's files and database. This is always the first thing to do, as you will
need these in case something goes wrong and you need to restore your site. You will
also need the property listing images, associated PDF files that were uploaded and any
seller profile images - so it is absolutely important that you've downloaded all of your site
files to your local computor's hard drive.
Step 2
FTP into your site - and the first place you'll be is the Joomla root directory. From there
you need to follow the administrator/components directory path - and once there you'll
see the com_ezrealty directory. Rename that directory to com_ezrealty-orig. Once
that's done - return to the root Joomla directory - and then go into the components
directory. You'll see the frontend component directories there - so rename the
com_ezrealty directory in that particular directory to com_ezrealty-orig. Now that you've
got the EZ Realty directories for the current installation renamed so they don't have any
files accidentally overwritten - it's time to move on to getting the new files uploaded.
Step 3
Before you begin uploading the new files and directories - there are two directories of files
that you do NOT need to upload as part of step 3. Those directories are the "lang" and
"sql" directories - as the sql directory is only used during the new installation process, and
if doing an upgrade - then the language files need to be uploaded separately.
Remain where you are in the frontend components directory - which should be viewable in
the main right window of your FTP programme. Use the left window of your FTP
programme to browse through your local file structure. Locate the directory that contains
the contents of the com_ezrealty_6.0.0rc1.zip package - and you should see directories
called "admin" and "component", and a file called com_ezrealty.xml. We'll just deal with
the directory called "component" at this stage - as it contains the files needed for the
frontend of your site. Return to the FTP browser window for your site - and remember
you should be in the frontend components directory. Create a new directory called
com_ezrealty and then open up that directory. Also open the "components" directory
located in your left FTP browser window - and upload the contents of that directory to
the site's new com_ezrealty directory. Once those files have been uploaded - return to
your site's root directory - and then FTP into the administrator/components directory.
Create a new com_ezrealty directory once you get there - and then use your local files
browser window to open up the "admin" directory of the zip package you opened earlier.
That directory contains the contents of the admin side of EZ Realty - so upload the
contents of that directory to the administrator/components/com_ezrealty directory.
Once you've uploaded the files - upload the com_ezrealty.xml file which was outside of
the "admin" and "components" directory. This takes care of the actual system files - now
it's time to deal with the images and pdf files etc.
Step 4
Return to your site's root directory - and then go into the components/com_ezrealty
directory. You will see directories called "ezrealty", "pdfs", "profiles" - and inside the
"ezrealty" directory is the thumbnails directory called "th". The site files that you
downloaded also contain those directories - so upload the image and PDF contents of
those directories up to the new directories - so your data will have the required images.
Alternatively - you can move the images and pdf files located within the renamed
com_ezrealty-orig directory across to the new directory.
Step 5
Running version 6 of EZ Realty on Joomla 1.5x also means that the language files are
located in a different place. You'll see the unzipped EZ Realty package contains a
directory called "lang" inside both the admin and components directories. These two
directories contain the EZ Realty language files - and they need to be uploaded to the
administrator/language/language type directory and the root language/language type
directory. Remember - each language has its own directory on Joomla 1.5x.
Step 6
once the new files have been uploaded, log into the admin area and follow the
"components"->"EZ Realty" menu link.
Step 7
when the page opens, you'll now be in the EZ Realty admin cPanel. First up click on the
"Upgrade Database" button.
Step 8
After upgrading the database, you may need to sync your site members with the EZ
Realty profiles database. You only need to do this if you're upgrading from one of the
older 4.x versions, and it only requires you to click on the "Synch" button.
Step 9
Now it's time to go and update the configuration area - so click on the "Configuration
Settings" button and update the settings. There have been a number of changes - so
make sure you read through everything - configure the settings to the way you need
them - and then click the "save" button.
Step 10
Return to the EZ Realty admin cPanel and click on the "Property Manager" button. Once
you've reached the list of properties - check through your listings and update any
information fields that require updating.
After you have installed the module, follow the Extensions->Module Manager admin area
menu link and configure the module parameters according to your site needs.
Step 1
Unzip the module package, and then browse the local file structure using your FTP
program until you find the unzipped directory. Move into this and you'll see the files and
any directories.
Step 2
Upload these using your FTP program to the root Joomla modules/module name directory,
and when asked about overwriting existing files/directories - select yes. When doing
upgrades - you must make sure that the files and directories you upload have
actually overwritten the files and directories on the server - otherwise the new
files and directories will not be in the correct place on the server and your upgrade
will not work correctly.
Step 3
Upload any language files associated with EZ Realty version 6 to the Joomla root language
directory. Do NOT upload the older php language files to this directory - ONLY the .ini
language files.
Step 4
Once the upload is complete, go into the module manager and open up the module you've
just updated. Configure the module parameters to your site's needs, and then click the
"save" button.
III
20 EZ Realty 6.0x
Maintenance Tools:-
The maintenance tools are press-button functions concerned with "housekeeping"
activities to keep your site squeaky clean. They include email tools to send out email
notifications associated with your site operation, and various database functions to
keep your tables in order.
Tabbed Extras:-
The tabbed pages in the cPanel are where you'll find some additional
information on the status of your site setup, and a form to easily import zip/
postcodes into your postcode reference table if using the zip/postcode radius
search.
Once you've downloaded the EZ Realty package and installed it and the various modules -
you'll be keen to start listing properties on your site. Before you can actually list a
property though - you must get EZ Realty ready for these listings.
This means taking your time with configuring EZ Realty, setting up the data, installing the
various modules, system mambot/plugin - AND making sure the essential bots/plugins and
modules are published correctly.
If you don't setup your data areas - you'll find you can't create the property listing
because you're missing essential data - or you'll find you can't save it because you're
missing profiles to assign the listing to ;-)
ID#:-
Selector checkbox:-
This column contains the checkboxes that allow you to select properties
for various functions. You can select individually by clicking a checkbox one
at a time, or you can bulk select by clicking the top checkbox that's beside
the "ID#" column heading.
Thumbnail image:-
Address:-
MLS#:-
This is the MLS# entered for the property listing if one is used.
Property type:-
This is the property type - ie. category such as house, apartment, vacant land
etc.
Listed price:-
This is the listed price of the property, and it also shows the currency sign.
Hits:-
This number represents the number of page impressions the full property details
page has had.
Published:-
Premium:-
This indicates whether or not the listing is free or a premium listing. Free listings
are grey, premium listings are orange.
Featured:-
This indicates whether or not the listing has had featured status assigned to it.
Seller:-
Sold?:-
This indicates the market status of the property listing - ie. whether it's available,
sold, under contract etc.
Date listed:-
Last update:-
Delete:-
This is the delete listing link. Click this link when you want to delete a listing, and
it will delete all images and attached PDF documents.
Print:-
Click this link if you need to print out a quick copy of the property listing.
This selector list allows you to reorder the property listings in the admin area
based on a number of different parameters.
You can filter and narrow the property listings by using these filters.
Publish button:-
If using this "publish" property button, you must first select a single listing
by clicking the selector checkbox - or you can do a bulk publish by clicking
the top checkbox beside the "ID#" column title. Clicking this one will select
all items on the page for publishing.
Unpublish button:-
The "unpublish" button works in the same way as the "publish" button.
Either select an individual property listing by marking the checkbox then
clicking the "unpublish" button, or click the top selector box next to the
"ID#" column title to select all page items - then click the "unpublish"
New button:-
Edit button:-
This is the "Edit" property listing button - simply select the property to be
edited by clicking the selector checkbox beside the ID#, and then click the
"Edit" button. Or - simply click on the property address - it's hyperlinked
and will take you to the "edit" page.
Copy button:-
Select the checkboxes of the property listings you want to duplicate - and
then click the copy button. Copying a listing will ONLY copy data - it will
not store the same image details for use in the copied listing. The
rationale behind this is you may end up with property listings that have no
images if one of the copies is deleted along with the images.
cPanel button:-
Clicking this button returns you to the main EZ Realty admin control panel.
Address data:-
Unit number:-
Not all addresses have a unit number/shop number/office number etc, but if it does
- this field is the one to use - as it will not interfere with the calculation of decimal
coordinates.
Street number:-
Street name:-
Country:-
State/Regional area:-
City/town/suburb:-
This field is for the seller's locality - eg. city, town, suburb, village -
however it's expressed in your part of the world.
Zip/Postcode:-
If you use zip/postcodes in your part of the world - this is the field for that value
when creating a seller address.
County/Municipality/Council:-
If you use zip/postcodes in your part of the world - this is the field for that value
when creating a seller address.
Clicking this button will open a pop-up map, and you can use it to locate
the coordinates for your seller address. Just click on the map where the
address is and the coordinates will be generated, then copy/paste those
coordinates into the latitude and longitude fields.
Decimal latitude:-
If you just let the mapping system auto-generate your decimal coordinates
- the decimal latitude will appear hear after saving the profile.
Decimal longitude:-
If you just let the mapping system auto-generate your decimal coordinates
- the decimal longitude will appear hear after saving the profile.
Display address:-
If you just let the mapping system auto-generate your decimal coordinates
- the decimal latitude will appear hear after saving the profile.
If you just let the mapping system auto-generate your decimal coordinates
- the decimal latitude will appear hear after saving the profile.
If you just let the mapping system auto-generate your decimal coordinates
- the decimal latitude will appear hear after saving the profile.
Bedrooms:-
Clicking this button will open a pop-up map, and you can use it to locate
the coordinates for your seller address. Just click on the map where the
Bathrooms:-
If you just let the mapping system auto-generate your decimal coordinates
- the decimal latitude will appear hear after saving the profile.
Total rooms:-
If you just let the mapping system auto-generate your decimal coordinates
- the decimal longitude will appear hear after saving the profile.
Living area:-
Clicking this button will open a pop-up map, and you can use it to locate
the coordinates for your seller address. Just click on the map where the
address is and the coordinates will be generated, then copy/paste those
coordinates into the latitude and longitude fields.
Parking:-
If you just let the mapping system auto-generate your decimal coordinates
- the decimal latitude will appear hear after saving the profile.
Stories:-
If you just let the mapping system auto-generate your decimal coordinates
- the decimal longitude will appear hear after saving the profile.
If you just let the mapping system auto-generate your decimal coordinates
- the decimal longitude will appear hear after saving the profile.
Marketing Details:-
This section of data enables you to setup the pricing of the property, its
classification and categorization, and associated information associated with
pricing such as whether to display the price, messages to display in place of the
price, and the sale price if the property has been sold.
This section of data contains general information about the land type/size/
measurements and building age.
Business Info:-
This section of data contains general information about any businesses that may
be listed for sale.
Rural Info:-
Custom Specifications:-
This section of data is for use if you have something special that needs inclusion in
your property listings. Rename the field labels by editing the EZ Realty language
files in the various Joomla language directories.
Features:-
Pre-defined features:-
The pre-defined features simply cover common property features people looking at
real estate may be interested in, and if the names do not suit your needs or
geographical area - edit the names via the EZ Realty language file in the
components/com_ezrealty/language directory.
Extra features:-
The extra features are available for you to name as you choose, and you need to
edit the language file to change these names to the ones you want..
Auction Details:-
If the property is for auction - you can include the auction date/time, as well as
some information such as the auction venue.
This section of data allows you to provide details of an open house inspection day
if one is being held.
Marketing Resources:-
This section of data allows you to provide various details and resources to aid in
your marketing efforts. Information such as a short catchy sales phrase, a short
introduction description of the property listing, a media file of some sort and a PDF
document containing property information.
Meta Tags:-
This section of data allows you to enhance the metatags in the page header, and
the 2 included here are the meta description and the meta keywords.
Admin:-
This section of data allows you to define the listing owner - ie. the seller profile
and ultimately the Joomla membership account that the listing is tied to, as well as
an associate seller. It's also where you assign whether this is a free listing,
premium listing or a featured listing. Remember when creating a featured listing -
it should also have premium status.
This section of data allows you to assign various reference/tracking numbers used
to identify the listing on other property listing systems, or your own internal office
system records.
If you have need of making private notes about a listing, this is where you can
record that information. Remember - information of a sensitive nature should not
be stored online.
Images:-
The images tab is where you manage the images for your property listing. You're
able to upload up to 24 images - and the images tab allows you to include an
image description, delete multiple images, preview the full image in a new window -
as well as re-order the images.
If you choose to upload 24 images at one time - this WILL place a strain on your
server - specifically the memory required to process the image upload, thumbnail
creation and main image creation. You must also take into account the combined
size of the images when doing the upload, as many php setup have a default
upload maximum size of about 2M, and as processing 24 images can be time-
consuming - it can take longer than normal for the function to be executed.
Depending on your server setup - you may receive an error message telling you
there was insufficient memory.
If you receive this type of error - go to the EZ Realty configuration area - and look
on the first images tab. There is a setting there to allow you to temporarily over-
ride the php.ini settings associated with memory. The over-ride will only happen
during the image upload process, and it may be necessary if you're using large
images.
Other approaches to solving the problem include modifying the .htaccess file to
increase the following php settings, as they're all involved in whether large uploads
are successful or not:-
Alternatively - you could get your web hosting technical support people to modify
your php.ini file to change those settings.
Adding a record:-
1. Starting from the EZ Realty admin cPanel, click the "Property Manager" icon.
2. This will open the "Manage Property Listings" page, and once there - click on the "New"
button up in the top right hand corner of your screen.
3. When the next screen opens - fill in the property details.
4. Click the "Save" button up in the top right hand corner of the page to save and exit the
record, or click the "Apply" button up in the top right hand corner of the page to save
the record and keep it open.
If you decide not to save the new record - simply click the "Cancel" button up in the top
right hand corner of the screen.
Editing a record:-
1. Starting from the EZ Realty admin cPanel, click the "Property Manager" icon.
2. This will open the "Manage Property Listings" page, and once there - click on the
hyperlinked property address you want to edit - or click the checkbox next to the
property you want to edit and then click the "Edit" button up in the top right hand
corner of your screen.
3. When the next screen opens - update the property details.
4. Click the "Save" button up in the top right hand corner of the page to save and exit the
record, or click the "Apply" button up in the top right hand corner of the page to save
the record and keep it open.
If you decide not to save the changes to the record - simply click the "Close" button up in
the top right hand corner of the screen.
3.1.1.1.4 Removing a property listing
1. Starting from the EZ Realty admin cPanel, click the "Property Manager" icon.
2. This will open the "Manage Property Listings" page.
3. Find the property you want to delete, and select the checkbox to the left of the
property image.
4. Click the delete button up in the top right hand corner of the screen.
1. Starting from the EZ Realty admin cPanel, click the "Property Manager" icon.
2. This will open the "Manage Property Listings" page.
3. Read through the list and decide on what items you want to delete.
4. Select the checkbox to the left of each image for the properties you want to delete.
5. Click the delete button up in the top right hand corner of the screen.
1. Starting from the EZ Realty admin cPanel, click the "Property Manager" icon.
1. Starting from the EZ Realty admin cPanel, click the "Property Manager" icon, and this
will open the "Manage Property Listings" page
2. Once the "Manage Property Listings" page opens, - click on the "publish/unpublish"
button graphic which is approximately in the center column, or click the checkbox to
the left of the property address and then click on the publish or unpublish button up in
the top right hand corner of your screen.
1. Starting from the EZ Realty admin cPanel, click the "Property Manager" icon, and this
will open the "Manage Property Listings" page
2. Once the "Manage Property Listings" page opens, - review the properties and decide
which ones you want to publish or unpublish, and then click the checkbox to the left of
the property addresses - then click on the publish or unpublish button up in the top
right hand corner of your screen.
1. Starting from the EZ Realty admin cPanel, click the "Property Manager" icon.
2. This will open the "Manage Property Listings" page.
3. Select the checkbox in the column headings title bar at the very left of this header
strip. This will auto-select all checkboxes for every property on the page.
4. Click the publish or unpublish button up in the top right hand corner of the screen
depending on whether you need to publish or unpublish the properties.
3.1.1.2 Categories
The "Property Category" manager is where you define the categories under which you list
properties for sale. This is your primary method of categorization, and common choices
include:- "Houses for Sale", "Flats & Units", "Vacant Land", "Farms & Pastoral", "Acreage",
"Rental Properties", "Holiday Lettings" etc. It's your choice - and you're only limited by
your imagination and property listings. When defining your property categories, give it a
name, include a short description, assign access rights, select it's order and decide on an
image representative of the category. Images are optional. Once you've finished entering
in the category details, press the "save" button in the top left corner of the screen. This
will save the details to database, then you need to "publish" the category before being
able to use it elsewhere on the site. Once saved and published, the categories you've
created will appear in "drop-down" selection boxes on the "Add/Edit Property Details" page
in the admin area and front-end member's listing area, show up on the front-end as a
category containing property listings as well as on the search page as a variable you can
Selector checkbox:-
This column contains the checkboxes that allow you to select categories
for various functions. You can select individually by clicking a checkbox
one at a time, or you can bulk select by clicking the top checkbox that's
beside the "Category" column heading.
Ordering:-
You can choose the display order of property categories simply by clicking
the up and down arrows.
If using this "publish" category button, you must first select a single
category name by clicking the selector checkbox - or you can do a bulk
publish by clicking the top checkbox beside the "Category" column title.
Clicking this one will select all items on the page for publishing.
The "unpublish" button works in the same way as the "publish" button.
Either select an individual category by marking the checkbox then clicking
the "unpublish" button, or click the top selector box next to the "category"
column title to select all page items - then click the "unpublish" button to
unpublish all of the page items.
This is the "Edit" category button - simply select the category to be edited
by clicking the selector checkbox beside the category name, and then click
the "Edit" button. Or - simply click on the category name - it's hyperlinked
and will take you to the "edit" page.
The "Delete" button will allow you to delete categories that have been
selected by clicking on the selector checkbox. You can delete categories
individually or you can delete multiple categories at the one time.
cPanel button:-
Clicking this button returns you to the main EZ Realty control panel.
This page opens when you add or edit property categories, and it has a number of fields
to be filled out, as well as an image.
Save button:-
Cancel button:-
Category name:-
This is where the property category name goes. For example, you may
have categories called:- houses, apartments, vacant land, commercial,
farms/pastoral etc.
Category description:-
You can enter a category description here, which will give site visitors an
idea as to the types of properties you have listed within this category.
Access level:-
Ordering:-
When a category image is selected, this is where the image preview will be
displayed.
Adding a record:-
1. Starting from the EZ Realty admin cPanel, click the "Manage Categories" icon.
2. This will open the "Property Category Manager" page, and once there - click on the
"New" button up in the top right hand corner of your screen.
3. When the next screen opens - fill in the category name, write a short description if you
want, assign any access privileges you may need, choose an image representative of
the category if desired, and select where in the order the entry should appear.
4. Click the "Save" button up in the top right hand corner of the page.
If you decide not to save the new record - simply click the "Cancel" button up in the top
right hand corner of the screen.
Editing a record:-
1. Starting from the EZ Realty admin cPanel, click the "Manage Categories" icon.
2. This will open the "Property Category Manager" page, and once there - click on the
hyperlinked category name you want to edit - or click the checkbox next to the
category name you want to edit and then click the "Edit" button up in the top right
hand corner of your screen.
3. When the next screen opens - update the category name, short description if you
want, change any access privileges you may need, choose a new image representative
of the category if desired, and select where in the order the entry should appear.
4. Click the "Save" button up in the top right hand corner of the page.
If you decide not to save the changes to the record - simply click the "Close" button up in
the top right hand corner of the screen.
1. Starting from the EZ Realty admin cPanel, click the "Manage Categories" icon.
2. This will open the "Property Category Manager" page.
3. Find the category you want to delete, and select the checkbox to the left of the
category name.
4. Click the delete button up in the top right hand corner of the screen.
1. Starting from the EZ Realty admin cPanel, click the "Manage Categories" icon.
2. This will open the "Property Category Manager" page.
3. Read through the list and decide on what items you want to delete.
4. Select the checkbox to the left of each category you want to delete.
5. Click the delete button up in the top right hand corner of the screen.
1. Starting from the EZ Realty admin cPanel, click the "Manage Categories" icon.
2. This will open the "Property Category Manager" page.
3. Select the checkbox in the column headings title bar next to the title "Category". This
will auto-select all checkboxes for every category listed on the page output.
4. Click the delete button up in the top right hand corner of the screen and all categories
will be deleted.
1. Starting from the EZ Realty admin cPanel, click the "Manage Categories" icon.
2. This will open the "Property Category Manager" page, and once there - click on the blue
"up" or "down" button graphic on the row of the entry you want to move. These
graphics are in the right hand column.
1. Starting from the EZ Realty admin cPanel, click the "Manage Categories" icon.
2. This will open the "Property Category Manager" page, and once there - click on the item
name to open up the next screen, or select the checkbox next to the item name and
then click on the "Edit" button in the top right hand corner of the screen.
3. Once the add/edit screen opens up - use the ordering select list to position the item
where you want it to be in relation to the other records.
3.1.1.2.6 Publishing/unpublishing categories
1. Starting from the EZ Realty admin cPanel, click the "Manage Categories" icon, and this
will open the "Property Category Manager" page
2. Once the "Property Category Manager" page opens, - click on the "publish/unpublish"
button graphic to the right of the category name, or click the checkbox to the left of
the category name and then click on the publish or unpublish button up in the top right
hand corner of your screen.
1. Starting from the EZ Realty admin cPanel, click the "Manage Categories" icon, and this
will open the "Property Category Manager" page
2. Once the "Property Category Manager" page opens, - review the categories and decide
which ones you want to publish or unpublish, and then click the checkbox to the left of
the category names - then click on the publish or unpublish button up in the top right
hand corner of your screen.
1. Starting from the EZ Realty admin cPanel, click the "Manage Categories" icon.
2. This will open the "Property Category Manager" page.
3. Select the checkbox in the column headings title bar next to the title "Category". This
will auto-select all checkboxes for every category shown on the page output.
4. Click the publish or unpublish button up in the top right hand corner of the screen
depending on whether you need to publish or unpublish the categories.
3.1.1.3 Localities
The "Locality" manager is where you define the names of suburbs, towns and cities used
in property addresses. Once created and published, these will then appear in the "drop-
down" selection box on the "Add/Edit Property Details" page and in the front-end on the
search page as a variable you can filter properties by. This is just to save you repetitive
entry if running your own listings. Site members just enter their property localities using a
text box, which avoids any problems associated with not having the necessary locality
listed for their use.
If using this "publish" locality button, you must first select a single locality
name by clicking the selector checkbox - or you can do a bulk publish by
clicking the top checkbox beside the "state" column title. Clicking this one
will select all items on the page for publishing.
The "unpublish" button works in the same way as the "publish" button.
Either select an individual locality by marking the checkbox then clicking
the "unpublish" button, or click the top selector box next to the "state"
column title to select all page items - then click the "unpublish" button to
unpublish all of the page items.
This is the "Edit" locality button - simply select the locality to be edited by
clicking the selector checkbox beside the locality name, and then click the
"Edit" button. Or - simply click on the locality name - it's hyperlinked and
will take you to the "edit" page.
The "Delete" button will allow you to delete localities that have been
selected by clicking on the selector checkbox. You can delete localities
individually or you can delete multiple localities at the one time.
Selector checkbox:-
This column contains the checkboxes that allow you to select localities for
various functions. You can select individually by clicking a checkbox one at
a time, or you can bulk select by clicking the top checkbox that's beside
the "state" column heading.
Locality names:-
This is the list of localities - ie. cities, towns, suburbs - contained in the
EZ Realty localities table. Click on the locality name, and that will also open
up the add/edit locality screen.
Reordering button:-
You can choose the display order of property localities simply by clicking
the up and down arrows.
Filter by states/countries:-
You can find localities that belong to a particular state or country by using
the dropdown filter list.
Admin ordering:-
To help locate localities in the admin area, you can also order entries using
the dropdown ordering list.
Locality name:-
Locality description:-
Each locality can now have a description, and this is then visible in the
frontend full property details page when you hover a mouse over the
locality name.
Save button:-
Press the save button to save a new entry or apply changes when
updating an entry.
Cancel button:-
Adding a record:-
1. Starting from the EZ Realty admin cPanel, click the "Manage Localities" icon.
2. This will open the "Manage city/town/suburb search/select list" page, and once there -
click on the "New" button up in the top right hand corner of your screen.
3. When the next screen opens - fill in the locality name, assign a state or country
(depending on how you have your chained selectors configured), write a short
description of the locality (if desired), and select where in the order the entry should
appear.
4. Click the "Save" button up in the top right hand corner of the page.
If you decide not to save the new record - simply click the "Cancel" button up in the top
right hand corner of the screen.
Editing a record:-
1. Starting from the EZ Realty admin cPanel, click the "Manage Localities" icon.
2. This will open the "Manage city/town/suburb search/select list" page, and once there -
click on the hyperlinked locality name you want to edit - or click the checkbox next to
the locality name you want to edit and then click the "Edit" button up in the top right
hand corner of your screen.
3. When the next screen opens - update the locality name, state or country (depending
on how you have your chained selectors configured), short description of the locality (if
desired), and select where in the order the entry should appear.
4. Click the "Save" button up in the top right hand corner of the page.
If you decide not to save the changes to the record - simply click the "Close" button up in
the top right hand corner of the screen.
3.1.1.3.4 Removing a locality
1. Starting from the EZ Realty admin cPanel, click the "Manage Localities" icon.
2. This will open the "Manage city/town/suburb search/select list" page.
3. Find the locality you want to delete, and select the checkbox to the left of the locality
name.
4. Click the delete button up in the top right hand corner of the screen.
1. Starting from the EZ Realty admin cPanel, click the "Manage Localities" icon.
2. This will open the "Manage city/town/suburb search/select list" page.
3. Read through the list and decide on what items you want to delete.
4. Select the checkbox to the left of each locality you want to delete.
5. Click the delete button up in the top right hand corner of the screen.
1. Starting from the EZ Realty admin cPanel, click the "Manage Localities" icon.
2. This will open the "Manage city/town/suburb search/select list" page.
3. Select the checkbox in the column headings title bar next to the title "State/Regional
Area" (if chaining localities to states/regions) or next to the title "Country" (if chaining
localities to countries). This will auto-select all checkboxes for every locality listed on
the page output.
4. Click the delete button up in the top right hand corner of the screen.
1. Starting from the EZ Realty admin cPanel, click the "Manage Localities" icon.
2. This will open the "Manage city/town/suburb search/select list" page, and once there -
click on the blue "up" or "down" button graphic on the row of the entry you want to
move. These graphics are in the right hand column.
1. Starting from the EZ Realty admin cPanel, click the "Manage Localities" icon.
2. This will open the "Manage city/town/suburb search/select list" page, and once there -
select the item to edit.
3. Once the add/edit screen opens up - use the ordering select list to position the item
where you want it to be in relation to the other records.
3.1.1.3.6 Publishing/unpublishing localities
1. Starting from the EZ Realty admin cPanel, click the "Manage Localities" icon, and this
will open the "Locality Manager" page
2. Once the "Manage city/town/suburb search/select list" page opens, - click on the
"publish/unpublish" button graphic to the right of the locality name, or click the
checkbox to the left of the locality name and then click on the publish or unpublish
button up in the top right hand corner of your screen.
1. Starting from the EZ Realty admin cPanel, click the "Manage Localities" icon, and this
will open the "Locality Manager" page
2. Once the "Manage city/town/suburb search/select list" page opens - review the
localities and decide which ones you want to publish or unpublish, and then click the
checkbox to the left of the locality names - then click on the publish or unpublish
button up in the top right hand corner of your screen.
1. Starting from the EZ Realty admin cPanel, click the "Manage Localities" icon.
2. This will open the "Manage city/town/suburb search/select list" page.
3. Select the checkbox in the column headings title bar next to the title "State/Regional
Area" (if chaining localities to states/regions) or next to the title "Country" (if chaining
localities to countries). This will auto-select all checkboxes for every locality shown on
the page output.
4. Click the publish or unpublish button up in the top right hand corner of the screen
depending on whether you need to publish or unpublish the localities.
3.1.1.4 States
The "States/Regional Area" manager is where you define the names of states or regional
areas used in property addresses. Once created and published, these will also appear in
the "drop-down" selection box on the "Add/Edit Property Details" page in the admin area
and the front-end member's area, as well as in the front-end on the search page as a
variable you can filter properties by.
3.1.1.4.1 Overview of the states manager screen
Selector checkbox:-
This column contains the checkboxes that allow you to select states for
various functions. You can select individually by clicking a checkbox one at
a time, or you can bulk select by clicking the top checkbox that's beside
the "Country" name column heading.
Country name
This column contains the country name that the state/regional area is associated
with if you're using countries and states/regional areas. If you have not enabled
use of countries - then you will not see this column.
unpublished, and a small page icon with green tick when the item is
published. You're able to click on these icons to change the publishing
status. Click the red X and the item will change its status to "published",
while if you click the page icon with green tick you'll change the status to
"unpublished".
Ordering:-
Publish button:-
If using this "publish" button, you must first select a single state/regional
area name by clicking the selector checkbox - or you can do a bulk publish
by clicking the top checkbox beside the "Country" column title. Clicking this
one will select all items on the page for publishing.
Unpublish button:-
The "unpublish" button works in the same way as the "publish" button.
Either select an individual state/regional area by marking the checkbox
then clicking the "unpublish" button, or click the top selector box next to
the "country" column title to select all page items - then click the
"unpublish" button to unpublish all of the page items.
This is the "Edit" state/regional area button - simply select the state/
regional area to be edited by clicking the selector checkbox beside the
state/regional area name, and then click the "Edit" button. Or - simply click
on the state/regional area name - it's hyperlinked and will take you to the
"edit" page.
The "Delete" button will allow you to delete state/regional areas that have
been selected by clicking on the selector checkbox. You can delete state/
regional areas individually or you can delete multiple ones at the one time.
cPanel button:-
Clicking this button returns you to the main EZ Realty control panel.
This selector list will allow you to identify states/regional areas for a specific
country. When you've finished working on the states/regional areas for a specific
country, select "All Countries" and it will return a list of all states/regional areas.
This selector list will allow you to re-order the states/regional areas based on a
number of different parameters. This selector list does not re-order the entries in
the database - it's purely a means to re-order the entries for page-viewing
purposes.
Select Country:-
Ordering:-
You can assign the entry into the order of other database entries.
Save button:-
Press the save button to save a new entry or apply changes when
updating an entry.
Cancel button:-
Adding a record:-
1. Starting from the EZ Realty admin cPanel, click the "Manage States" icon.
2. This will open the "Manage state/regional area search/select list" page, and once there
- click on the "New" button up in the top right hand corner of your screen.
3. When the next screen opens - fill in the name of the state or regional area, assign a
country if chaining states to a particular country, and select where in the order the
entry should appear.
4. Click the "Save" button up in the top right hand corner of the page.
If you decide not to save the new record - simply click the "Cancel" button up in the top
right hand corner of the screen.
Editing a record:-
1. Starting from the EZ Realty admin cPanel, click the "Manage States" icon.
2. This will open the "Manage state/regional area search/select list" page, and once there
- click on the hyperlinked state name you want to edit - or click the checkbox next to
the state name you want to edit and then click the "Edit" button up in the top right
hand corner of your screen.
3. When the next screen opens - update the state name, and assigned country
(depending on how you have your chained selectors configured), and select where in
the order the entry should appear.
4. Click the "Save" button up in the top right hand corner of the page.
If you decide not to save the changes to the record - simply click the "Close" button up in
the top right hand corner of the screen.
3.1.1.4.4 Removing a state
1. Starting from the EZ Realty admin cPanel, click the "Manage States" icon.
2. This will open the "Manage state/regional area search/select list" page.
3. Find the state you want to delete, and select the checkbox to the left of the state.
4. Click the delete button up in the top right hand corner of the screen.
1. Starting from the EZ Realty admin cPanel, click the "Manage States" icon.
2. This will open the "Manage state/regional area search/select list" page.
3. Read through the list and decide on what items you want to delete.
4. Select the checkbox to the left of each state you want to delete.
5. Click the delete button up in the top right hand corner of the screen.
1. Starting from the EZ Realty admin cPanel, click the "Manage States" icon.
2. This will open the "Manage state/regional area search/select list" page.
3. Select the checkbox in the column headings title bar next to the title "Country name" (if
chaining states/regions to countries) or next to the title "State/regional area name" (if
not chaining states to countries). This will auto-select all checkboxes for every state
listed on the page output.
4. Click the delete button up in the top right hand corner of the screen.
1. Starting from the EZ Realty admin cPanel, click the "Manage States" icon.
2. This will open the "Manage state/regional area search/select list" page, and once there
- click on the blue "up" or "down" button graphic on the row of the entry you want to
move. These graphics are in the right hand column.
1. Starting from the EZ Realty admin cPanel, click the "Manage States" icon.
2. This will open the "Manage state/regional area search/select list" page, and once there
- select the item to edit.
3. Once the add/edit screen opens up - use the ordering select list to position the item
where you want it to be in relation to the other records.
3.1.1.4.6 Publishing/unpublishing states
1. Starting from the EZ Realty admin cPanel, click the "Manage States" icon, and this will
open the "Manage state/regional area search/select list" page
2. Once the "Manage state/regional area search/select list" page opens, - click on the
"publish/unpublish" button graphic to the right of the state name, or click the checkbox
to the left of the state name and then click on the publish or unpublish button up in the
top right hand corner of your screen.
1. Starting from the EZ Realty admin cPanel, click the "Manage States" icon, and this will
open the "Manage state/regional area search/select list" page
2. Once the "Manage state/regional area search/select list" page opens, - review the
states and decide which ones you want to publish or unpublish, and then click the
checkbox to the left of the state names - then click on the publish or unpublish button
1. Starting from the EZ Realty admin cPanel, click the "Manage States" icon.
2. This will open the "Manage state/regional area search/select list" page.
3. Select the checkbox in the column headings title bar next to the title "Country name" (if
chaining states/regions to countries) or next to the title "State/regional area name" (if
not chaining states to countries). This will auto-select all checkboxes for every state
shown on the page output.
4. Click the publish or unpublish button up in the top right hand corner of the screen
depending on whether you need to publish or unpublish the states.
3.1.1.5 Countries
Just like the "State/Regional Area" manager, the "Countries" manager is where you define
the names of countries used in property addresses. Once created and published, they will
appear in the "drop-down" selection box on the "Add/Edit Property Details" page of the
admin area and front-end member's area, and in the front-end on the search page as a
variable you can filter properties by.
3.1.1.5.1 Overview of the country manager screen
Selector checkbox:-
This column contains the checkboxes that allow you to select countries for
various functions. You can select individually by clicking a checkbox one at
a time, or you can bulk select by clicking the top checkbox that's beside
the "Country" name column heading.
This is the "Country" name column - all countries used by EZ Realty have
their names displayed here. You're able to click on the country names in
order to edit them, as these are hyperlinked names.
Ordering:-
You can choose the display order of countries simply by clicking the up and
down arrows.
Publish button:-
If using this "publish" button, you must first select a single country name
by clicking the selector checkbox - or you can do a bulk publish by clicking
the top checkbox beside the "Country" column title. Clicking this one will
select all items on the page for publishing.
Unpublish button:-
The "unpublish" button works in the same way as the "publish" button.
Either select an individual country name by marking the checkbox then
clicking the "unpublish" button, or click the top selector box next to the
"country" column title to select all page items - then click the "unpublish"
button to unpublish all of the page items.
This is the "Edit" country button - simply select the country to be edited
by clicking the selector checkbox beside the country name, and then click
the "Edit" button. Or - simply click on the country name - it's hyperlinked
and will take you to the "edit" page.
The "Delete" button will allow you to delete countries that have been
selected by clicking on the selector checkbox. You can delete countries
individually or you can delete multiple ones at the one time.
cPanel button:-
Clicking this button returns you to the main EZ Realty control panel.
This selector list will allow you to re-order the countries based on a number of
different parameters. This selector list does not re-order the entries in the
database - it's purely a means to re-order the entries for page-viewing purposes.
Country Name:-
Ordering:-
You can assign the entry into the order of other database entries.
Save button:-
Press the save button to save a new entry or apply changes when
updating an entry.
Cancel button:-
Adding a record:-
1. Starting from the EZ Realty admin cPanel, click the "Manage Countries" icon.
2. This will open the "Manage country search/select list" page, and once there - click on
the "New" button up in the top right hand corner of your screen.
3. When the next screen opens - fill in the country name, and select where in the order
the entry should appear.
4. Click the "Save" button up in the top right hand corner of the page.
If you decide not to save the new record - simply click the "Cancel" button up in the top
right hand corner of the screen.
Editing a record:-
1. Starting from the EZ Realty admin cPanel, click the "Manage Countries" icon.
2. This will open the "Manage country search/select list" page, and once there - click on
the hyperlinked country name you want to edit - or click the checkbox next to the
country name you want to edit and then click the "Edit" button up in the top right hand
corner of your screen.
3. When the next screen opens - update the country name, and select where in the order
the entry should appear.
4. Click the "Save" button up in the top right hand corner of the page.
If you decide not to save the changes to the record - simply click the "Close" button up in
the top right hand corner of the screen.
3.1.1.5.4 Removing a country
1. Starting from the EZ Realty admin cPanel, click the "Manage Countries" icon.
2. This will open the "Manage country search/select list" page.
3. Find the country you want to delete, and select the checkbox to the left of the
country name.
4. Click the delete button up in the top right hand corner of the screen.
1. Starting from the EZ Realty admin cPanel, click the "Manage Countries" icon.
2. This will open the "Manage country search/select list" page.
3. Read through the list and decide on what items you want to delete.
4. Select the checkbox to the left of each country name you want to delete.
5. Click the delete button up in the top right hand corner of the screen.
1. Starting from the EZ Realty admin cPanel, click the "Manage Countries" icon.
2. This will open the "Manage country search/select list" page.
3. Select the checkbox in the column headings title bar next to the title "Country name".
This will auto-select all checkboxes for every country listed on the page output.
4. Click the delete button up in the top right hand corner of the screen.
3.1.1.5.5 Re-ordering the countries
1. Starting from the EZ Realty admin cPanel, click the "Manage Countries" icon.
2. This will open the "Manage country search/select list" page, and once there - click on
the blue "up" or "down" button graphic on the row of the entry you want to move.
These graphics are in the right hand column.
1. Starting from the EZ Realty admin cPanel, click the "Manage Countries" icon.
2. This will open the "Manage country search/select list" page, and once there - select
the item to edit.
3. Once the add/edit screen opens up - use the ordering select list to position the item
where you want it to be in relation to the other records.
3.1.1.5.6 Publishing/unpublishing countries
1. Starting from the EZ Realty admin cPanel, click the "Manage Countries" icon, and this
will open the "Manage country search/select list" page
2. Once the "Manage country search/select list" page opens, - click on the "publish/
unpublish" button graphic to the right of the country name, or click the checkbox to the
left of the country name and then click on the publish or unpublish button up in the top
right hand corner of your screen.
1. Starting from the EZ Realty admin cPanel, click the "Manage Countries" icon, and this
will open the "Manage country search/select list" page
2. Once the "Manage country search/select list" page opens, - review the countries and
decide which ones you want to publish or unpublish, and then click the checkbox to the
left of the country names - then click on the publish or unpublish button up in the top
right hand corner of your screen.
1. Starting from the EZ Realty admin cPanel, click the "Manage Countries" icon.
2. This will open the "Manage country search/select list" page.
3. Select the checkbox in the column headings title bar next to the title "Country name".
This will auto-select all checkboxes for every country shown on the page output.
4. Click the publish or unpublish button up in the top right hand corner of the screen
depending on whether you need to publish or unpublish the countries.
3.1.1.6 Price increments
The "Manage Search Filter Price Increment" area is where you create the incremental list
of prices you want to make available when people filter properties using the search
module or main search filter page. While property details may have a specific value
defined, the price range gives your visitors a means to search for properties within a
certain upper and lower price range. The increment between the values depends on how
precise you want the search filter to be.
This page gives you an overview of what price increments you've set, and it allows you to
perform a range of functions such as publish/unpublish, add, edit, delete and reorder.
The other thing to remember is the database values are subject to an input mask of 0.00
- so you may want to create a list as follows:-
50000.00
100000.00
150000.00
200000.00
250000.00
300000.00
350000.00
400000.00
This list uses increments of 50000, but the increment used really depends on the range of
property prices you list. You will also notice there are 2 values displayed for each
increment - the filter value and the display value. This allows you to specify a people-
friendly value in the search filter while still retaining the correct database format for
property searches.
Selector checkbox:-
This column contains the checkboxes that allow you to select price
increments for various functions. You can select individually by clicking a
checkbox one at a time, or you can bulk select by clicking the top
checkbox that's beside the "price increment" column heading.
This is the "price increment display value" which allows you to have people-friendly
display values for the price increments used by the search filter.
These 6 columns display which search filter listing type these values are assigned
to.
Ordering:-
You can choose the display order of price increments simply by clicking the
up and down arrows.
Publish button:-
If using this "publish" button, you must first select a single price increment
by clicking the selector checkbox - or you can do a bulk publish by clicking
the top checkbox beside the "price increment" column title. Clicking this
one will select all items on the page for publishing.
Unpublish button:-
The "unpublish" button works in the same way as the "publish" button.
Either select an individual price increment by marking the checkbox then
clicking the "unpublish" button, or click the top selector box next to the
"price increment" column title to select all page items - then click the
"unpublish" button to unpublish all of the page items.
This is the "Edit" price increment button - simply select the price increment
to be edited by clicking the selector checkbox beside the price increment,
and then click the "Edit" button. Or - simply click on the price increment -
it's hyperlinked and will take you to the "edit" page.
The "Delete" button will allow you to delete the price increment that have
been selected by clicking on the selector checkbox. You can delete price
increments individually or you can delete multiple ones at the one time.
cPanel button:-
Clicking this button returns you to the main EZ Realty control panel.
This is where you enter the database value of the price increment for use
in the search filter. These should be entered without commas, and should
have a decimal point with 2 places at the end as per the sample entry
above.
Display Value:-
This is where you define the "people-friendly" display value for the price
increment used to search the database..
You can assign the entry to display only on the "for sale" search form.
You can assign the entry to display only on the "for rent" search form.
You can assign the entry to display only on the "for lease" search form.
You can assign the entry to display only on the "for auction" search form.
You can assign the entry to display only on the "for tender" search form.
You can assign the entry to display only on the "for exchange" search
form.
Ordering:-
You can assign the entry into the order of other database entries.
Save button:-
Press the save button to save a new entry or apply changes when
updating an entry.
Cancel button:-
Adding a record:-
1. Starting from the EZ Realty admin cPanel, click the "Manage Price List" icon.
2. This will open the "Manage Search Filter Price Increment" page, and once there - click
on the "New" button up in the top right hand corner of your screen.
3. When the next screen opens - fill in the base price increment, the display value, the
lists it should be associated with and select where in the order the entry should appear.
4. Click the "Save" button up in the top right hand corner of the page.
If you decide not to save the new record - simply click the "Cancel" button up in the top
right hand corner of the screen.
Editing a record:-
1. Starting from the EZ Realty admin cPanel, click the "Manage Price List" icon.
2. This will open the "Manage Search Filter Price Increment" page, and once there - click
on the hyperlinked price increment you want to edit - or click the checkbox next to the
price increment you want to edit and then click the "Edit" button up in the top right
hand corner of your screen.
3. When the next screen opens - fill in the base price increment, the display value, the
lists it should be associated with and select where in the order the entry should appear.
4. Click the "Save" button up in the top right hand corner of the page.
If you decide not to save the changes to the record - simply click the "Close" button up in
the top right hand corner of the screen.
3.1.1.6.4 Removing a price list increment
1. Starting from the EZ Realty admin cPanel, click the "Manage Price List" icon.
2. This will open the "Manage Search Filter Price Increment" page.
3. Find the price increment you want to delete, and select the checkbox to the left of the
price increment.
4. Click the delete button up in the top right hand corner of the screen.
1. Starting from the EZ Realty admin cPanel, click the "Manage Price List" icon.
2. This will open the "Manage Search Filter Price Increment" page.
3. Read through the list and decide on what items you want to delete.
4. Select the checkbox to the left of each price increment you want to delete.
5. Click the delete button up in the top right hand corner of the screen.
1. Starting from the EZ Realty admin cPanel, click the "Manage Price List" icon.
2. This will open the "Manage Search Filter Price Increment" page.
3. Select the checkbox in the column headings title bar next to the title "Search Filter
Price Increment". This will auto-select all checkboxes for every price increment listed
on the page output.
4. Click the delete button up in the top right hand corner of the screen.
1. Starting from the EZ Realty admin cPanel, click the "Manage Price List" icon.
2. This will open the "Manage Search Filter Price Increment" page, and once there - click
on the blue "up" or "down" button graphic on the row of the entry you want to move.
These graphics are in the right hand column.
1. Starting from the EZ Realty admin cPanel, click the "Manage Price List" icon.
2. This will open the "Manage Search Filter Price Increment" page, and once there - select
the item to edit.
3. Once the add/edit screen opens up - use the ordering select list to position the item
where you want it to be in relation to the other records.
3.1.1.6.6 Publishing/unpublishing price increments
1. Starting from the EZ Realty admin cPanel, click the "Manage Price List" icon, and this
will open the "Manage Search Filter Price Increment" page
2. Once the "Manage Search Filter Price Increment" page opens, - click on the "publish/
unpublish" button graphic to the right of the price increment, or click the checkbox to
the left of the price increment and then click on the publish or unpublish button up in
the top right hand corner of your screen.
1. Starting from the EZ Realty admin cPanel, click the "Manage Price List" icon, and this
will open the "Manage Search Filter Price Increment" page
2. Once the "Manage Search Filter Price Increment" page opens, - review the price
increments and decide which ones you want to publish or unpublish, and then click the
checkbox to the left of the price increments - then click on the publish or unpublish
button up in the top right hand corner of your screen.
1. Starting from the EZ Realty admin cPanel, click the "Manage Price List" icon.
2. This will open the "Manage Search Filter Price Increment" page.
3. Select the checkbox in the column headings title bar next to the title "Search Filter
Price Increment". This will auto-select all checkboxes for every price increment shown
on the page output.
4. Click the publish or unpublish button up in the top right hand corner of the screen
depending on whether you need to publish or unpublish the price increments.
3.1.1.7 Profile manager
The profiling system is basically a self-contained system like CB - except it doesn't have
its own login stuff and it's nowhere near as complex. So, people register on the site using
the standard Joomla registration system - then before they're permitted to list their first
property - they must have their profile filled in. They do this via the member's frontend
cPanel - or the admin can create a profile via the admin backend. Profiles can be publicly
viewable, or you can disable that. Also - in the configuration area there's a setting on the
business page to allow the site owner to over-ride the contact functions. Profiles and
contact details will be maintained by people listing properties - but their profiles won't be
viewable and all contact enquiries will go to the site admin. This is for agents who run
rentals etc who have their clients maintain the property listings - but they as the agent
manage the enquiries etc.
3.1.1.7.1 Overview of the profile manager screen
Selector checkbox:-
This column contains the checkboxes that allow you to select profiles for
various functions. You can select individually by clicking a checkbox one at
a time, or you can bulk select by clicking the top checkbox that's beside
ID#:-
The ID number associated with the seller profiles relates to their core Mambo/
Joomla membership ID number.
Dealer/Seller Name:-
Sellers are able to specify the name they'd like displayed to site visitors.
Number of Listings:-
Sites with a large number of members and vehicle listings can be very slow to load
this area due to the database queries run to calculate how many listings each
profile has listed. To avoid this slowdown to your site - turn off the display of
listing numbers over in the EZ Realty configuration area.
Company:-
Sellers are able to specify a company name to display to site visitors - particularly
if they're an agent associated with a particular company.
Email address:-
All seller profiles must have an email address specified, as this is used for contact
purposes by site visitors.
Delete Link:-
This link allows you to delete a particular profile. You are only able to delete
profiles that have no listings though.
If using this "publish" profile button, you must first select a single profile
name by clicking the selector checkbox - or you can do a bulk publish by
clicking the top checkbox beside the "ID#" column title. Clicking this one
will select all items on the page for publishing.
The "unpublish" button works in the same way as the "publish" button.
Either select an individual profile by marking the checkbox then clicking the
"unpublish" button, or click the top selector box next to the "ID#" column
title to select all page items - then click the "unpublish" button to
unpublish all of the page items.
This is the "Edit" profile button - simply select the profile to be edited by
clicking the selector checkbox beside the ID#, and then click the "Edit"
button. Or - simply click on the profile name - it's hyperlinked and will take
you to the "edit" page.
cPanel button:-
Clicking this button returns you to the main EZ Realty admin control panel.
you create a seller profile - you must select a member from this drop-down
list of members registered on the site.
Agent/Seller name:-
This is where you enter the person's name as it will appear on their profile page.
Seller type:-
As potential buyers like to know who they're dealing with - this list enables you to
assign a seller type to the profile. There are 5 different seller types available.
Company:-
If a seller represents a real estate company etc, then this is where they can
specify their company affiliation.
Unit number:-
Not all addresses have a unit number/shop number/office number etc, but if it does
- this field is the one to use - as it will not interfere with the calculation of decimal
coordinates.
Street number:-
Street name:-
Locality:-
This field is for the seller's locality - eg. city, town, suburb, village -
however it's expressed in your part of the world.
Zip/Postcode:-
If you use zip/postcodes in your part of the world - this is the field for that value
when creating a seller address.
State:-
Country:-
Clicking this button will open a pop-up map, and you can use it to locate
the coordinates for your seller address. Just click on the map where the
address is and the coordinates will be generated, then copy/paste those
coordinates into the latitude and longitude fields.
Decimal latitude:-
If you just let the mapping system auto-generate your decimal coordinates
- the decimal latitude will appear hear after saving the profile.
Decimal longitude:-
If you just let the mapping system auto-generate your decimal coordinates
- the decimal longitude will appear hear after saving the profile.
Display address:-
Save button:-
Press the save button to save a new entry or apply changes when
updating an entry, and you will then exit the screen back to the list of
profiles.
Apply button:-
Press the apply button to save the new entry or apply changes when
updating an entry, and you will then be returned to the entry to continue
adding more data or to further review the data you've entered.
Cancel button:-
Press the cancel button to discard the data changes and exit the screen.
Email:-
Sellers are required to provide an email address for their profile, as this is
used by prospective buyers to contact them.
Phone #:-
Sellers can provide their telephone number if they want to receive phone calls from
prospective buyers. While real estate professionals would most likely provide their
business telephone number - it may not necessarily be advisable for private sellers
to publish their home telephone number.
Fax #:-
Sellers can provide their fax number if they want to receive documents or
proposals from prospective buyers. While real estate professionals would most
likely provide their business fax number - it may not necessarily be advisable for
private sellers to publish their private fax number.
Mobile #:-
This field is for the seller's mobile phone number if they want to receive telephone
calls from prospective buyers.
Businesses and individuals may also want to include details of their web site.
Some professionals may have a blog of relevance to the real estate industry, and
they may also like to use this as a promotional tool to establish their credibility as
a seller.
Skype username:-
If sellers want to be contacted via Skype - they may choose to include their
Skype contact details.
Yahoo username:-
ICQ username:-
If sellers want to be contacted via ICQ - they may choose to include their ICQ
contact details.
LinkedIn:-
LinkedIn is a social networking site, and sellers may like to include their
LinkedIn profile URL to enable prospective buyers to find out more about
them.
Personal introduction:-
This is where you can write a short personal introduction. It gets displayed on the
featured seller module if it's in use, and is also displayed on the seller's profile
page.
Profile image:-
The profile image is shown on the seller's profile page, the featured seller module
and the latest seller's module - as well as the list of all sellers listed on the site.
Agency logo:-
The agency logo is only shown on select listing page templates - so you will not
necessarily see it on your site. It depends on what templates you've configured
your site to use.
Page topper:-
The page topper is only shown on the seller's page of listings. For best effects -
you should experiment with your site template and determine the best width and
height for this graphic - and then configure the page topper settings in the EZ
Realty configuration area accordingly.
Promotional PDF:-
Professional real estate sellers may want to also upload a PDF document promoting
their business and personal expertise.
Professional Bio:-
This is where sellers can write a more extensive professional biography, and it's
shown on the sellers profile page.
Payment exemption:-
If you're running your site in one of the paid listing modes - you can give
certain sellers a payment exemption privilege. This has the effect of
allowing the seller to create premium listings at no cost while other sellers
without this privilege still have to pay. Situations where you may want to
use this feature include larger car dealerships - and you could combine the
payment exemption with an alternative income method by charging the
seller a monthly fee for the payment exemption. For example - you could
invoice them for this privilege via an invoicing system or your could
organize some other payment agreement.
If you've assigned a seller payment exemption privileges - you can give them the
additional privilege of being able to upgrade their listings to featured status. This
could also form the basis of an additional fee to sellers if you've arranged some
type of an external payment agreement for these privileges.
Publishing privileges:-
If you've got your site configured to hold all listings for administrator review prior
to publishing - you can assign publishing privileges - which will allow selected
sellers to self-publish their listings.
If you've assigned payment exemption privileges, and if you're using one of the
expiry management systems - you can assign sellers the privilege of resetting the
expiry date of their lisitngs.
Approve profile:-
Creating a profile via the site's front-end can only be done by the site member while
they're logged into the site. Once they've logged into the site, they go into the front-end
EZ Panel and click on the profile button. That will take them to their EZ Realty profile
page where they can add/edit the details they'd like to share.
1. Starting from the EZ Realty admin cPanel, click the "Profile Manager" icon.
2. This will open the "Manage Agent/Seller Profiles" page, and once there - click on the
"New" button up in the top right hand corner of your screen.
3. When the next screen opens - fill in the profile details, remembering to complete the
required fields.
4. Click the "Save" button up in the top right hand corner of the page.
If you decide not to save the new record - simply click the "Cancel" button up in the top
right hand corner of the screen.
Editing a profile via the site's front-end can only be done by the site member while they're
logged into the site. Once they've logged into the site, they go into the front-end EZ
Panel and click on the profile button. That will take them to their EZ Realty profile page
where they can edit their details.
1. Starting from the EZ Realty admin cPanel, click the "Profile Manager" icon.
2. This will open the "Manage Agent/Seller Profiles" page, and once there - click on the
"New" button up in the top right hand corner of your screen.
3. When the next screen opens - you will see there are 4 tabbed pages, as well as a text
editor area beneath these. Select a member account from the drop-down list, assign a
seller type, then fill in the rest of the details. Remember there are some "required"
fields that must be filled in, there are also the 2 decimal coordinates fields that will be
auto-calculated during the save process (based on address variables), and there are
optional fields that can be left blank.
4. Click the "Save" button up in the top right hand corner of the page.
If you decide not to save the changes to the record - simply click the "Close" button up in
the top right hand corner of the screen.
1. Starting from the EZ Realty admin cPanel, click the "Profile Manager" icon.
2. This will open the "Manage Agent/Seller Profiles" page.
3. Find the profile you want to delete, and click the delete link which is at the far right
side.
1. Starting from the EZ Realty admin cPanel, click the "Manage Profiles" icon, and this will
open the "Profile Manager" page
2. Once the "Profile Manager" page opens, - click on the "publish/unpublish" button
graphic to the right of the profile, or click the checkbox to the left of the profile and
then click on the publish or unpublish button up in the top right hand corner of your
screen.
1. Starting from the EZ Realty admin cPanel, click the "Manage Profiles" icon, and this will
open the "Profile Manager" page
2. Once the "Profile Manager" page opens, - review the profiles and decide which ones
you want to publish or unpublish, and then click the checkbox to the left of the profiles
- then click on the publish or unpublish button up in the top right hand corner of your
screen.
1. Starting from the EZ Realty admin cPanel, click the "Manage Profiles" icon.
2. This will open the "Profile Manager" page.
3. Select the checkbox in the column headings title bar at the very left of this header
strip. This will auto-select all checkboxes for every profile on the page.
4. Click the publish or unpublish button up in the top right hand corner of the screen
depending on whether you need to publish or unpublish the profiles.
3.1.1.8 VIP Buyers register
The "VIP Buyer's Manager" is where you can record the property requirements of
prospective buyers, and visitors to your web site can also submit their details via a front-
end form. This information is stored in the database, and you're able to match property
listings to these entries based on key data - and notify those VIP Buyers via email. This
can be done in one of two ways - depending on how you've got your site configured. If
you have real-time VIP notifications enabled - then each time a property listing is saved -
it triggers the VIP matching function and sends out emails to prospective buyers - or you
can configure EZ Realty to just use the press-button feature in the EZ Realty admin
cPanel to run the notification emails manually.
3.1.1.8.1 Overview of the VIP buyers register screen
Selector checkbox:-
This column contains the checkboxes that allow you to select VIP Buyers
for various functions. You can select individually by clicking a checkbox one
at a time, or you can bulk select by clicking the top checkbox that's beside
the "ID#" column heading.
ID#:-
Name:-
Email address:-
The email address provided by the VIP Buyer. This is the email address that will be
used by the mail out function when notifications of suitable properties are matched
to their stated requirements.
The mobile phone number you can contact VIP Buyers on if they've provided this -
just in case you want to do a follow-up sales call.
Desired location:-
Bedrooms:-
Bathrooms:-
Add/review date:-
This is the date the VIP Buyer was added to the database, or the last date
that some type of action was taken with the record.
Wanted page:-
Indicates whether or not the VIP Buyer would like the details of the
property they want published on the front-end "wanted" page.
Published:-
Indicates whether or not the item has been published on the front-end
"wanted" page.
Lead status:-
Indicates the pending action to be taken with the VIP Buyer entry - for
example if you've passed on the information to an employee for personal
follow-up.
Publish button:-
If using this "publish" button, you must first select a VIP Buyer by clicking
the selector checkbox - or you can do a bulk publish by clicking the top
checkbox beside the "ID" column title. Clicking this one will select all items
on the page for publishing.
Unpublish button:-
The "unpublish" button works in the same way as the "publish" button.
Either select an individual VIP Buyer by marking the checkbox then clicking
the "unpublish" button, or click the top selector box next to the "ID"
column title to select all page items - then click the "unpublish" button to
unpublish all of the page items.
New button:-
Edit button:-
This is the "Edit" VIP Buyer button - simply select the VIP Buyer to be
edited by clicking the selector checkbox beside the ID#, and then click the
"Edit" button. Or - simply click on the VIP Buyer name - it's hyperlinked and
will take you to the "edit" page.
Delete button:-
The "Delete" button will allow you to delete the VIP Buyers that have been
selected by clicking on the selector checkbox. You can delete these
individually or you can delete multiple ones at the one time.
cPanel button:-
Clicking this button returns you to the main EZ Realty control panel.
Name:-
Home phone:-
Work phone:-
Mobile phone:-
Fax:-
Email:-
This is where the VIP Buyer's contact email address goes. This email address is
used by the mail out function when sending notifications of listings that match the
VIP Buyer's specifications.
Listing type:-
This is the listing type the VIP Buyer wants - eg. for sale, for rent etc.
Property type:-
This is the property type that the VIP Buyer wants - eg. house, apartment, vacant
land etc.
This is the maximum purchase budget that the VIP Buyer has available.
Country:-
This is the country that the VIP Buyer wants to purchase in.
State/regional area:-
This is the state/regional area of the country that the VIP Buyer want to
purchase in.
City/town/suburb:-
This is the locality that the VIP Buyer wants to purchase the property in.
Bedrooms:-
This is the minimum number of bedrooms that the VIP Buyer wants a
property to have.
Bathrooms:-
This is the minimum number of bathrooms that the VIP Buyer wants a
property to have.
This just gives the web site owner to get an idea of where their site
visitors are coming from, which may help their marketing activities.
Comments:-
VIP Buyers have the option to have their property wanted details published
on the front-end of the site, and if they do want this to happen - they can
select yes using this field.
This field is for future development use, so all VIP Buyer entries via the
front-end are currently automatically assigned to receive HTML email
formats.
Before a VIP Buyer's wanted details are shown on the front-end of the site
- they must be published via this setting.
Lead status:-
You can set a "status" using this selector - to indicate where you are up
to with the VIP Buyer in relation to any follow-up discussions you may be
having with them.
Admin notes:-
You can keep notes of your follow-up discussions and activities that may
have been delegated to others using this field.
Send SMS:-
If your VIP Buyers have provided their mobile phone number in international
format - you can send them an SMS message via this page. Before using
the SMS form though - you must enable SMS functionality in the EZ Realty
configuration area - and you must enter your SMS account details so the
system can connect to your account.
Adding a record:-
1. Starting from the EZ Realty admin cPanel, click the "VIP Buyers Register" icon.
2. This will open the "Manage VIP Buyers Register" page, and once there - click on the
"New" button up in the top right hand corner of your screen.
3. When the next screen opens - fill in the various fields for contact details, property
details and the other miscellaneous details.
4. Click the "Save" button up in the top right hand corner of the page.
If you decide not to save the new record - simply click the "Cancel" button up in the top
right hand corner of the screen.
Editing a record:-
1. Starting from the EZ Realty admin cPanel, click the "VIP Buyers Register" icon.
2. This will open the "Manage VIP Buyers Register" page, and once there - click on the
hyperlinked buyer name you want to edit - or click the checkbox next to the buyer's
ID# you want to edit and then click the "Edit" button up in the top right hand corner of
your screen.
3. When the next screen opens - update the VIP Buyer contact details, property details
and other miscellaneous details.
4. Click the "Save" button up in the top right hand corner of the page.
If you decide not to save the changes to the record - simply click the "Close" button up in
the top right hand corner of the screen.
1. Starting from the EZ Realty admin cPanel, click the "VIP Buyers Register" icon.
2. This will open the "Manage VIP Buyers Register" page.
3. Find the buyer you want to delete, and select the checkbox to the left of the buyer's
ID#.
4. Click the delete button up in the top right hand corner of the screen.
1. Starting from the EZ Realty admin cPanel, click the "VIP Buyers Register" icon.
2. This will open the "Manage VIP Buyers Register" page.
3. Read through the list and decide on what items you want to delete.
4. Select the checkbox to the left of each buyer ID# you want to delete.
5. Click the delete button up in the top right hand corner of the screen.
1. Starting from the EZ Realty admin cPanel, click the "VIP Buyers Register" icon.
2. This will open the "Manage VIP Buyers Register" page.
3. Select the checkbox in the column headings title bar next to the title "ID#". This will
auto-select all checkboxes for every buyer listed on the page output.
4. Click the delete button up in the top right hand corner of the screen and all buyers will
be deleted.
1. Starting from the EZ Realty admin cPanel, click the "VIP Buyers Register" icon, and this
will open the "Manage VIP Buyers Register" page
2. Once the "Manage VIP Buyers Register" page opens, - click on the "publish/unpublish"
button graphic for the entry towards the right side of the screen, or click the checkbox
to the left of the buyer and then click on the publish or unpublish button up in the top
right hand corner of your screen.
1. Starting from the EZ Realty admin cPanel, click the "VIP Buyers Register" icon, and this
will open the "Manage VIP Buyers Register" page
2. Once the "Manage VIP Buyers Register" page opens, - review the buyers and decide
which ones you want to publish or unpublish, and then click the checkbox to the left of
the ID# - then click on the publish or unpublish button up in the top right hand corner
of your screen.
1. Starting from the EZ Realty admin cPanel, click the "VIP Buyers Register" icon.
2. This will open the "Manage VIP Buyers Register" page.
3. Select the checkbox in the column headings title bar next to the ID# column. This will
auto-select all checkboxes for every buyer on the page.
4. Click the publish or unpublish button up in the top right hand corner of the screen
depending on whether you need to publish or unpublish the buyers.
3.1.1.9 Static content manager
The static content manager is where you edit content that doesn't change in EZ Realty -
eg. the opening page welcome, the terms of listing on your site, the transaction
successful or transaction canceled messages etc.
Static content items are created during the installation process - or when you upgrade
your site from an older version that didn't use this. You're only able to edit the items - as
they're coded into specific areas of EZ Realty. You're not able to create new items, as
that is what the core Mambo/Joomla content manager is for.
3.1.1.9.1 Overview of the static content manager screen
Selector checkbox:-
This column contains the checkboxes that allow you to select a static
content item for editing.
This is the "Content Item" name column - all static content used by EZ
Realty is listed here. You're able to click on the content item names in
order to edit them, as these are hyperlinked names.
Edit button:-
This is the "Edit" content item button - simply select the content item to
be edited by clicking the selector checkbox beside the item name, and
then click the "Edit" button. Or - simply click on the content item name -
it's hyperlinked and will take you to the "edit" page.
cPanel button:-
Clicking this button returns you to the main EZ Realty control panel.
Save button:-
When you make changes to a static content item - clicking on the "Save"
button will save the changes to the database, and return you to the main
static content listing page.
Close button:-
Should you decide not to continue with the changes you made to the
static content - click the "Close" button. Don't simply use the browser's
back button - exit out of this screen correctly by using the "Close" button.
When editing a static content item, that item is "checked out" so others
cannot edit it at the same time. Then when you "save" or "close" an action
- the item is checked back in, and it's once again available for editing by
others.
You can enter the information here for the specific static content item.
For example - in the business introduction you may want to include an
introduction to your business listings, maybe a graphic of some sort - it's
up to your and what you feel looks good and provides visitors with suitable
information.
Editing a record:-
1. Starting from the EZ Realty admin cPanel, click the "Static Content" icon.
2. This will open the "Manage Static Content" page, and once there - click on the
hyperlinked content item name, or click the checkbox to the left of the content item
name and then click the "Edit" button up in the top right-hand corner of the page.
3. When the next screen opens - edit the content to include what you want presented to
your front-end visitors and members.
4. Click the "Save" button up in the top right hand corner of the page.
If you decide not to save the changes to the record - simply click the "Close" button up in
the top right hand corner of the screen.
3.1.1.9.4 Masking static content output
The static content items are hard-coded into the component output, so if you don't want
certain content to be displayed - eg. you don't want a "business introduction" - then just
delete the content in the text editor area and click the save button. While the value will
still be called by the component - nothing will be displayed, and this will have the same
visual effect.
The "Configuration Settings" manager is where you set a number of properties that
influence how your EZ Realty installation works, as well as how certain things display.
It is important that you go right through the configuration area carefully after first
installing EZ Realty - as well as after you've done an upgrade - because there are often
new configuration settings when new versions are released.
Settings are controlled by a variety of form elements - text fields, selector lists, and
check boxes, and all settings are accompanied by an explanation of their role in EZ Realty
as well as how the settings will affect your site. Take the time to read these
explanations, and select the settings that suit your site needs and business model.
Business Name
The name of your real estate business shown on the component header and elsewhere,
eg. the print page and email pages.
Business Address
Your business address. This appears in the header of the print page so prospective buyers
have a record of you.
Contact telephone
Your contact telephone number shown on the arrange viewing form and the print page.
Email address
Email address to use with the property inspection and mailing list request forms.
Thumbnail creator
Choose image processor for thumbnail creation. EZ Realty has 2 image processors
available - GD and GD2. If your server doesn't have these available - select none.
Thumbnail Quality
Quality of the thumbnails created. This must be expressed as a percentage. This setting
will also affect the quality of the main image once it's uploaded and resized, and this is to
allow you to achieve smaller image file sizes.
Image Directory
The default image directory is called 'ezrealty', and it's located in the components/
com_ezrealty/ezrealty path. Thumbnails are stored in a directory within this one, called
th. If you change your directory name, you'll need to create a new directory_name/th
directory path manually. You MUST NOT change the name of the th directory. The other
really important thing is you MUST move the placeholder images into these new
directories.
Width of main property image when viewed on the property details page output. It's
expressed in pixels to assist fitting the image within your template. Images will be resized
to this width
Images are resized during the upload process, so this setting will determine what the
maximum height of the main image will be in pixels.
Image system
There are a number of systems available for special effects with images - and their files
are called into the system plugin. Sometimes they conflict with templates or other addons
which will cause their special effects to break. Choose which is right for you or turn them
off completely. As a matter of interest - the slimbox image system uses the mootools
files, and this system now tends to have the fewest interactions with other special
effects features in templates - so if you're wanting the popup images with the darkened
background - try the slimbox image system first.
***One important thing to keep in mind - if you turn off the special effects image
system - you will need to use the javascript popup images or plain thumbnails in
your modules, and select one of the javascript image slideshows for your full
details page template layout.
Display Width
The display width of embedded media files. The width you define will depend on its
position in the template, and your template width. You only have control over FLV files
embedded using the built-in FLV player. You DO NOT have control over the size of
embedded media code such as Youtube or Seyret.
Display Height
The display height of embedded media files. The height you define will depend on its
position in the template, and your template dimensions. You only have control over FLV
files embedded using the built-in FLV player. You DO NOT have control over the size of
Show Profile
If running in 'Display Mode' - do you want to display member profile details on the full
details page of the listing? If setting this to 'NO' this will also turn off all access to front-
end profiles, although people who create listings will still be required to create a profile.
Auto-approve Profile
Do you want member profiles to be automatically approved when they're created?
Profile Access
Specify who should be able to view details of a seller's profile. REMEMBER - you MUST
NOT restrict access above registered member level - otherwise people will not be able to
contact the seller. For the majority of sites - public access should work well.
be displayed on the front-end profile page. Images that exceed this height will be rejected
during the upload process.
Logo Width
Maximum allowed width of the logo image associated with a seller. Keep in mind that this
is the width that will be displayed on the front-end profile page and property listings
pages. Images that exceed this width will be rejected during the upload process. A good
width is 160 pixels.
Logo Height
Maximum allowed height of the logo image associated with a seller. Keep in mind that this
is the width that will be displayed on the front-end profile page and property listings
pages. Images that exceed this height will be rejected during the upload process. A good
height is 30 pixels.
Enable SMS
Do you want to display the SMS contact link/form to enable SMS messaging via the site's
front-end? If Clickatell doesn't service your part of the world - set this to NO.
Mobile phone #
This will be used for the SMS contact form if you don't allow site members to list, or if you
also list properties. It MUST be in the international number format:- Country Code,
Network prefix without the leading '0' and Number - no spaces, only numerals. If you
DON'T want to use SMS contacts for your own listings - leave these details blank.
Username
Password
This must be your Clickatell Central API account password
This must be your Clickatell Central API account HTTP API ID#. Create your API ID# via
your Clickatell control panel.
Mapping Settings
Use Mapping
Do you want to display a map of where the agent/seller and their property listing is
located?
Map API
You MUST apply for a Mapping service API number for your site, then add it here if using
the mapping. You can apply for an API number here:- http://code.google.com/apis/maps/
index.html
Map Width
The width of the map on your site's front-end expressed in pixels.
Map Height
The height of the map on your site's front-end expressed in pixels.
Map Overlay
Select the default map overlay type you want to use.
DecimalLatitude
The starter latitude of the popup map when it first opens. This setting does not affect
the property or profile maps because they use their own coordinates.
Decimal Longitude
The starter longitude of the popup map when it first opens. This setting does not affect
the property or profile maps because they use their own coordinates.
Mapping Resolution
The map resolution determines the zoom level of the maps used on EZ Realty. The smaller
the number - the closer the view, and the bigger the number - the further away the view.
Time in Days
If using 'Time-based' expiration management, specify how many days listings should be
displayed for.
Grace Period
If using 'Time-based' listings, specify a grace period in days. This is the amount of time
between when a listing is discontinued, and when it can be cleaned from the database.
During this period, listings can be renewed.
Tab 7 in the EZ Realty configuration area is where you define settings that affect your
site's layout.
Front-end Template
Select the layout you want for the front-end. This currently influences the look of the
property details page and print details page.
Image layout/system
You can now configure the image layout and system you want to use, which makes your
full details page templates more configurable for your site template width.
Column count
How many columns do you want the first category listing page layout to have?
Columnwidth
How wide are the columns on the first category listing page? For example, if you have 1
column, the width should be 100%, if you have 2 columns the width should be 50%, and if
you have 3 columns the width should be 33%. You MUST include the percent sign.
Rollover Colour 1
This is the colour cells will change to when hovering your mouse over an item in the list of
properties.
Rollover Colour 2
This is the colour cells will return to after mousing off the cell. For best results - this
should be the colour of your page background.
Text alignment
Define whether your text alignment should be 'left to right' or 'right to left'.
LocalityList Order
Date format
Select the date format for page display. This affects the open house date, auction date
and the availability date
Business Information
This will enable/disable all fields associated with business listings info
Rural Information
This will enable/disable all fields associated with rural listings info
Meta Tags
This will enable/disable all fields associated with meta tags
Custom Specifications
This will enable/disable all fields associated with custom named specifications
GeneralResidential Info
This will enable/disable all non-essential fields associated with general residential info
Use Countries
If you do not want to use countries in your real estate listings and the leads registration
form, set this to 'NO' to hide this variable.
Use Zip/Postcode
Do you want to use the postcode when managing and displaying your property addresses?
You can select whether or not to use the market status list when creating your property
listings, and you can select which items to use in this dropdown selector list. This will
affect what is displayed in the add/edit property listings page, as well as the search filter
selector list.
You can select which listing types to use in the selector list - eg. for sale, rent, auction
etc. There are 6 common listing types for you to choose from.
You can select whether or not to use the rental frequency list, and which items to use.
This will enable you to turn this field off if you don't list rental/lease type properties, and
if you do - it will allow you to specify the frequency types you want to use.
Use Country
Do you want to display countries in the main search filter?
Use Bedrooms
Do you want to use the 2 bedroom lists in the main search filter?
Use Bathrooms
Do you want to use the bathrooms select list in the main search filter
Do you want to use the market status list in the main search filter?
Do you want to use the 'lock-up garage' yes/no select list on the search filter?
search for properties within a certain distance of a zip/postcode. In order to make it work
though - you also need to populate the reference database with zip/postcodes for your
particular area or country, and there are a number of CSV/SQL files for different countries
available for download from the support site's downloads area.
Unit of measure
Define the unit of measure you want to use for the search radius - as some countries use
kilometers and others use miles. Smaller countries may consist of various islands, and if
they use zip/postcodes - they may also need to use nautical miles for their unit of
measure.
Agent/Seller's Link
Do you want to use the top agent/seller's link?
Do you want to use the top link that goes into the member's listings management area?
Do you want to show the "add to mailing list" email box? This allows visitors to send you
an automatic email and you then add the contained details to your mailing list manager.
Do you want to let your members display the View School Profile link? This only works with
US properties.
Back button
Do you want to display the back button on the footer of the page?
Short List
Do you want to use the 'short listing' feature? This does require registered members to be
logged in to be able to use it, so if you don't provide this access - set this feature to
'NO'.
Listings Notification
Profile Notification
Do you want to be notified of new and updated seller profiles done via the frontend? You
will not receive notifications about any new or modified profiles handled via the admin area
though.
Letterman Integration
Do you want to save newsletter requests directly to the letterman subscriber database
table?
jReviews Integration
If you use the jReviews commenting system, you can enable EZ Realty to tap into this
system so that people can comment on listings and seller profiles. You must remember to
upload the necessary jReviews everywhere files as per the jReviews instructions on the
everywhere system.
ID Filter
Do you want to use the ID Filter on the admin area property listings page? If you have a
lot of listings you may want to turn this off to increase page loading speed.
Do you want to use the MLS ID number filter on the admin area property listings page? If
you have a lot of listings you may want to turn this off to increase page loading speed.
Category Filter
Do you want to use the Category filter on the admin area property listings page? If you
have a lot of listings you may want to turn this off to increase page loading speed.
Do you want to use the Street name filter on the admin area property listings page? If
you have a lot of listings you may want to turn this off to increase page loading speed.
Locality Filter
Do you want to use the Locality filter on the admin area property listings page? If you
have a lot of listings you may want to turn this off to increase page loading speed.
State Filter
Do you want to use the State filter on the admin area property listings page? If you have
a lot of listings you may want to turn this off to increase page loading speed.
Country Filter
Do you want to use the Country filter on the admin area property listings page? If you
have a lot of listings you may want to turn this off to increase page loading speed.
Seller Filter
Do you want to use the Seller filter on the admin area property listings page? If you have
a lot of listings you may want to turn this off to increase page loading speed.
Social Bookmarking
If you have uploaded the social bookmarking plugin to the plugins directory, do you want
to show the social bookmarking icons at the start of your full property details page and
profile details page? You can download the plugin from the support site downloads area.
Member Listings
Would you like to allow registered site members to list properties for sale via the front-end
listings panel?
ApprovalProcess
Number of listings
How many listings can members have?
Front-end Additions
Do you want to allow site members access to add new localities, states and countries
themselves. When allowing this - these localities, states and countries will be
automatically published to allow access when creating their property listing.
Currency control
You can run EZ Realty with a single default currency type for listings, or you can allow
members to define their own regional currency on a per listing basis.
Currency code
The 3-letter currency code of your property listings - eg. USD, AUD, GBP - the same way
of defining currency codes for PayPal. This code is used for some external feeds for
property listing sites.
Currency Sign
Currency Position
You may define whether to display the currency sign before or after the price.
Currency Format
You may define which currency format to display property prices in.
Currency Sign
The currency sign to show before or after the cost of paid listing prices.
Currency Code
This must be the 3-letter PayPal currency code for your PRIMARY PayPal currency - not
one your make up. If you're unsure of these currency codes, refer to PayPal to be sure of
what to use.
Currency Position
You may define whether to display the currency sign before or after the paid listing price.
Paid Listings
This is a checkbox value to allow you to specify whether or not you want to offer paid
listings on your site. If you leave the checkbox blank - that means you don't want to
offer paid listings and all listings by members will be on a free basis.
Payment Choices
If offering paid listings - do you want to offer FREE listings with the option to upgrade -
OR ONLY paid listings.
EZ Realty currently supports 2 ways to handle payments for paid upgrades. The PayPal
system will allow you to handle these automatically via a built-in IPN script, or if PayPal
isn't available to you - you can do this manually by linking listings to a page that explains
how they must go about paying you.
Pressing the "Sync members, profiles and properties" button connects to a function that
copies member details from the core Joomla users table into the EZ Realty profiles table.
It only copies the details of members who don't already have a profile created, and it only
copies their name and email address. In addition to setting up the new members with
profiles - it also cleans out old profiles which no longer have member accounts, as well as
cleaning out their property listings. Associated images and uploaded documents are also
cleaned off the server at this time.
EZ Realty will also automatically create basic member profile information the first time
they enter the front-end EZ Panel, which allows members to get right on with listing
properties on your site.
3.1.2.2 Clean listings
Once a listing has expired and is no longer needed - you want an easy way to get
rid of them, and the clean listings button is an easy and quick way to do this. If
you have expiry management turned on - you have 2 ways to manage listings -
based on page impressions or based on time. If running based on impressions,
once listings reach the predefined limit - they'll be cleaned out when the clean
listings button is pressed. If running the site based on time-based listings, expired
listings that have passed the "grace period" will be cleaned out.
3.1.2.3 Prune shortlist
The shortlist is where members save details of their favorite listings that they want to
review at a later date. With time, this database table can accumulate a significant
number of records. As part of the EZ Realty configuration process - you were able to
specify a "Lightbox expiry time" in days - and this setting was on the "Expiration tab".
Pressing the "Prune shortlist" button will clean the shortlist of database entries that have
been there longer than the time specified in the configuration area.
3.1.2.4 Manage orphan uploads
EZ Realty has always had a heavy use of image uploads for property listings, and early
versions were not always efficient in the deletion of these images once a property listing
was deleted. A lot of work has gone into writing new functions to delete images and
other file uploads when a property listing is deleted or cleaned from the system, as well as
when a profile is deleted or cleaned from the system. However, it is also necessary to
have a way to identify and enable the deletion of orphan file uploads that have been left
on the server from the early days.
The orphan file manager has 4 management areas - the main property image directory,
thumbnail directory, PDF uploads directory and the profiles directory.
You can review the files in each of these areas, and files that do not have an associated
property or profile listing in the database will have a delete link visible - which will enable
you to delete the file from your server without having to go looking for it.
The main property orphan image manager will also delete the associated thumbnail.
When pressed - the function triggered by this button will send an email alerting
members who have property listings that have expired. These expired listings must
still fall within the "grace period" - which is the timeframe after expiry when a
listing can still be renewed.
Limits on this function:- only usable when the site is run in time-based expiration
management.
3.1.2.6 Send VIP Buyer Notifications
When pressed - the function triggered by this button will send an email to site
visitors who have registered on your VIP Buyers Register if there is a property in
the database matching their stated requirements.
The VIP Buyer notifications system works on the assumption that people have
searched the database and have already seen available properties. So part of the
VIP Buyer notifications function is to add a checkmail value to the database for
each property listing that has been processed - so people listed on the leads
system don't receive multiple notifications for the same property parameters.
Once a checkmail value has been added to a property listing - it won't be
processed by the VIP Buyers notifications system again.
Depending on the site you're running - you may want to send out reports to your site
members. Pressing this button will run a series of database queries to send out HTML
formatted emails to members with seller profiles. The email will contain a list of properties
the member has listed on your site, and a bit of information about those listings.
3.1.2.8 Optimize tables
EZ Realty has a number of tables, and these are used frequently due to the
nature of a real estate site. Tables that get a lot of use build up overhead over
time, and this can slow down the system. You can press the "optimize tables"
button and this will clean out the overhead and improve speed.
3.1.2.9 Upgrade database
Version 5.2.0 was a medium-large upgrade, and there were new tables and a lot
of new fields. You'll have to press the upgrade database button if you've upgraded
- in order to create the new tables and fields that you need.
Following on from that - version 5.3.0 has also introduced changes to the
database tables with a number of new fields - so the upgrade database button
must be pressed if you're doing an upgrade.
The "Checks" tab is designed to pick up and report common oversights to users
before those oversights lead to problems with site functionality. Part of the
checks process is to run a number of database queries to review what you've got
installed on your site, the data you've got inserted into various tables and to
report that visually to the user. The other part of the process is to look for the
presence of certain files and settings used by other components - so that you can
be alerted if you've mistakenly enabled certain features without the necessary
components to support those features.
It's hoped users will find this to be a helpful mechanism when installing and
configuring their site.
3.1.3.2 Imports
The "Imports" tab contains a an upload function that allows you to upload zip/postcodes
to the database for use by the zip/postcode radius search function.
Things to remember:-
1. make sure you have the following columns of data in this exact order:- id, postcode,
city, state, county, latitude, longitude.
2. It is not necessary to have data in every column - BUT - you must have data in the
postcode, latitude and longitude columns. The others can be left empty.
3. make sure you do not have any column titles in the first row of data.
You'll find various zip/postcode packages available for download from the support site
downloads manager. If your country's zip/postcodes aren't there - do a google search, as
you'll often find them available for download free somewhere on the web.
There is also the standard category layout available, and you can choose to display it in a
multi-column output such as displayed below - or you can display it in a single column
with an associated image and category description.
Finally - there is use of the main search filter as the opening page for EZ Realty:-
Above each - you'll see the top set of EZ Realty menu links - and these lead you to
various areas on the frontend of EZ Realty. Below - you'll see the RSS feed links/icons,
and the go back button. These are all configurable via the EZ Realty configuration area
should you wish to turn some of these off.
There are 4 different template layouts available for these pages, and they each have
different characteristics, different data, and different features. For example - this
particular template layout includes the seller's business logo - something which is not
included in every layout. Remember to test out the different layouts to see which suits
your site design and your preferences.
This information is stored in the database, and you can manage it via the admin area VIP
Buyers Register - and send out emails of matching property requirements via the press of
a button.
As you're collecting potential buyer data and sending out emails - you may need to
comply with antispamming laws - which in some countries require that an unsubscribe
facility be available. The VIP Buyer's Register has an unsubscribe function accessible via
the frontend, and the link is also included in emails that are sent out. People simply need
to insert the email address they're receiving the VIP notifications to - and they should be
successfully deleted from the database.
This is what the frontend EZ Panel looks like, and it's where your site members manage
their profile, shortlist and property listings. At the top you'll see the secondary top menu
system, with links to the main listings area, the EZ Panel link and the Terms of Listing link.
Below these links is where the members area introduction goes - it's managed via the EZ
Realty admin cPanel if you click on the static content manager button.
Now, depending on your site settings - you'll have a range of information listed after the
introduction - eg. how many free listings a person can have, the cost of paid listings, how
long listings are active for etc.
The next section shows 3 icons - the first leads to the members profile manager, and
that's where they define a range of information variables - depending on how much
information they want to share. The middle icon leads to a person's shortlist manager -
however this icon will not necessarily be displayed, as it depends on whether you're using
the shortlisting feature on your site. The 3rd icon is the Email Listings feature. This
allows site members to email themselves a report of the listings they have on your site -
just in case they want something to take to a meeting.
The following section contains the country, state and locality selector lists, and that's
there to allow site members to check for the presence of these values before adding their
listing information There is a link beneath each selector list, so members are able to add a
new country, state or locality if they need to. This section will not always be visible
though - it just depends on whether your site is configured to allow these frontend
additions, and not all of them will be displayed either - as that depends on whether your
site is configured to use all 3 address variables.
The next section of information contains your property listings, and the type of icons
displayed depends on how your listings are configured - and whether you are assigning
profile privileges to various members.
Across the bottom you'll see pagination - which was new in version 5.2.0. Previous
versions didn't have pagination in the EZ Panel - so this is good news for customers
running large numbers of listings.
Beneath the pagination you'll see the add new listing button. This button will be displayed
if you're running your site in free listings mode, free with paid upgrades mode, or if a
member has privileges to bypass the paid listings system.