Here is the complete documentation for mosRealEstate. It describes in detail how to add and manage properties and what all the configuration settings are. This documentation is also available under the Information submenu option in the Administrator area when the component is installed.

Installation

Just install the component as according to the Mambo documentation, a menu item called "Properties" for the component will be created and published automatically.

To add a menu link to the advanced search form you should add it via the Mambo Menu Manager and add an URL like this:

http://www.yoursite.com/index.php?
  option=com_mosrealestate&task=advancedsearch

Important setup information

Before you start adding properties you should change some settings to make sure mosRealEstate is properly setup for your specific needs. At the very least you should change the 'Allowable locations', but it is a good idea to go over all configuration options. Detailed descriptions of them can be found later in this documentation.

Usage

After mosRealEstate has been installed in Mambo a new menu option called 'mosRealEstate' will show up under the Components menu. Under this menu option there is a submenu where it is possible to control everything in mosRealEstate. Below is a detailed description of these menu options.

Manage properties

This is the menu option that will be used the most since it is where all properties in the system are controlled. From here it is possible to list all published as well as unpublished properties. It is also possible to add new properties, edit existing properties and change the ordering of them.

List explanation

This list works in the same way as the list in the standard Mambo content sections. This lists all properties currently in you system with some important information and allows you to publish/unpublish them, as well as change the order of them, and editing/delete them.

Display #

To the right, just above the list, there is a drop-down list that allows you to select how many properties to show on each page. If there are more properties than this limit, there will be a list of links to the pages showing the other properties below the list.

Checkboxes

To the left in the list there is a checkbox next to each property which can be checked to perform actions on that property. The actions that can be performed are described under the Icons section below. In the header row of the list there is also a checkbox, checking this will automatically check all checkboxes in the list.

Address

Under address the address of the property is shown to easily distinguish between properties. If you click on the address you will be taken to a screen where you can edit this property.

Type

The property type can be either "Resale" or "New".

Price

This shows the price that has been set for this property.

Changed

Shows the date when this property was last changed.

Visibility

This controls wether the property is published and shown on the frontpage, or if it is unpublished and not shown. If it is published there will be a red tick in a box and if it is unpublished it will show as a red X. Clicking on this image will toggle the published/unpublished state of this property.

Checked out

Whenever a property is edited it is set as checked out by the user who edits it and it will stay checked out until it has been saved or the edit has been cancelled. This is to make sure that two people don't edit the same property at the same time. If the property is checked out the name of the administrator who is editing it is shown here.

Status

This can be either "Available" or "Sold stc" which means that it is either for sale or if it has already been sold.

Photos

This shows how many photos have been added to this property.

Reorder

The arrows in the "Reorder" column allows you to reorder the list of properties when the property list is sorted by Descending or Ascending Ordering (see Configuration Options for more information).

Icons

On the top right of the screen there are five icons which are used to handle the properties. The 'New' icon takes you to a screen where you can create a new property. For the other icons you first need to check the box in front of one or more properties to select which ones you want the action to be performed on. All actions except 'Edit' can be done on more than one property at the same time.

Publish

When you want to publish several properties at the same time it is easier to check the boxes next to them and then click on this icon which will mark all properties as published so that they are shown publically on the site.

Unpublish

To unpublish several properties at the same time check the boxes next to them and then click on this icon. Those properties will not show up on the frontpage.

New

Click this icon when you want to add a new property to the list. See the next section for more information on how to enter the information.

Edit

If you have one property marked and click on this icon you will be taken to an edit screen for that property. This is the same as clicking on the title of the property. The edit screen looks exactly the same way as the screen to add a new property except that all fields are pre-filled with the information about the property you are editing.

Delete

This icon deletes all checked properties from the system. Once they have been deleted there is no way to get them back unless you have made a backup yourself.

Add/Edit property

This is the page where you enter all information on a property. It looks the same for adding a new property as well as for editing an existing one. There are two tabs on this screen, in the Content tab, which is shown when you first enter the screen, is where you enter all text about the property. The second tab is for adding images to the property.

In the top right corner of the screen there are three icons: Preview, Save and Cancel. Clicking on Preview will open a popup window where you can see what the detailed information about this property will look like. Clicking on Save will save the information about the property in the database and return you to the list of properties. If you don't want to save the changes to the property it is important that you leave the screen by clicking on the Cancel icon to make sure that the property is checked in again.

Content

Enter all information about the property.

Property Reference

This is an internal reference to this property which will not be shown publically on the site. It has to be unique for each property.

Property Address

This is the address of the property. This information will not be shown publically on the site.

Enter public address

This address will be shown publically on the site and will be used as the title of the property in listings.

Property location

Select between a preset set of locations. This list of locations can be changed in the mosRealEstate settings.

Town name

The name of the town this property is in.

Property Type

This allows you to define if this property is newly built or for resale.

Property Price

Enter the price of this property in the currency set in the settings. Please only enter numbers into this field, no spaces or commas etc.

Show price?

Determine if the price of this property should be shown publically on the site or not.

Summary

This is a short summary of this property that will be shown in summary lists and at the top of the detailed information.

Features

This is a list of features of this property that will be shown as a bulleted list on the detailed page.

Description

Here you can enter the full description of this property. If you have a html editor installed in Mambo it will be used. You can use the { mospagebreak } mambot to break this description up into several pages.

Additional Property Status

Here you can define if this property is available or if it has already been sold.

Show property on site?

Set if this property should be published or not.

Images

It is possible to add 5 images to each property which will be shown as thumbnails in the detailed page. The first image will also be shown as a thumbnail in the summary and will be shown as a large image at the top of the detailed information page.

For each image you can enter a caption which will be shown below the thumbnail for that image.

If you are editing an existing property and it has images added to it, the thumbnails of them will be shown here as well. Below each image there is a checkbox which you can check if you want that image to be removed from the property.

Settings

With these settings you can control some of the features in mosRealEstate to suit your needs.

Configuration options

Maximum image width in pixels

Uploaded image will be rescaled to this width if they are wider than this number.

Maximum image height in pixels

Uploaded image will be rescaled to this height if they are higher than this number.

Thumbnail width in pixels

The width of the thumbnails that are created for the images.

Thumbnail height in pixels

The height of the thumbnails that are created for the images.

Currency symbol

Symbols or characters that define what currency all prices are in.

Currency symbol before price?

Set to yes if the currency symbol should be shown in front of the price.

Separate thousands with this character:

If you enter a character in this field it will be shown between every three numbers from the end. (eg: 3,000,000 or 3.000.000)

Show summaries in list?

If this is set to 'Yes', each property in the list will be shown with some extra information and a thumbnail image.

Sort order for properties

The default sort order for properties can be either by Price, Address, Changed date or by the ordering set in the administrator. Each value can be either ascending or descending.

Show bedrooms for properties

If this is set to 'Yes' the number of bedrooms will be shown in the detailed property information.

Allowable locations (separated by comma)

The locations you enter in this field will be shown in a drop-down select box when editing properties.

Price ranges (separated by comma)

These price ranges will be used in a drop-down select box in the advanced search page to allow users to search different price ranges.

Show search form below property list?

Set this to 'Yes' if you want a simple search form to be shown below the list of properties on the frontpage.

Show detailed page in popup window?

If set to 'Yes' the detailed information will be shown in a popup window.

Limit number of items per page in list to:

With this option you can select the default number of properties to list per page on the frontpage. The users can change this number themselves if they want.

Information

Under the Information menu option you can read this documentation, a list of changes, a TODO list of what might be added in the future, upgrade information on what to do when you upgrade the component and lastly the license information for this component.