Major Additions - [OzzModz] Classifieds

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[OzzModz] Classifieds, has won MOTM for December 2013 Mod of the Month!

First off this mod, [Chris] Classifieds, has been taken over by me. It did belong to Christos Teriakis. He has since given me full rights to the mod, so I am releasing it here. Only thing I have changed as of yet is the title, added the link and changed some template names, so it is basically the same mod. To upgrade from that mod is the same as any other time, unzip the files, load them to your server, overwriting the old files, then import the new xml. Please remember, this mod is as new to me as anyone installing it, so we are both on a learning curve.

1.- What's this mod?

Is better to say what it is NOT. For those who have used MarysClassifieds, I can say that they are 2 products which you can't compare. MarysClassifieds had dozens of features, but when I installed in my site I realized that I need only 10% of those features. Maybe less. This is slimlined Classifieds. A minimalist version of MarysClassifieds, but I bet that 70% of the webmasters will find this one more pretty, more usefull.

• It supports 4 types of Classifieds:
  • For Sale
  • Wanted
  • For Trade
  • Free Offers
• Supports unlimited categories
• Supports Extra fields (but not searchable)
• Has PM templates for:
  • PM user when admin approves his Classifieds
  • PM user when admin rejects Classified
  • PM seller when a user Makes an Offer
  • PM seller when a user clicks Buy it
  • PM seller when a use uses the contact form
• Supports 5 statuses:
  • Open
  • Hidden
  • Reserved
  • Expired
  • Sold
  • Please note that unlike my old mod, here nothing is automatic. The seller has to take care to switch between statuses.
• There are listings for:
  • Category classifieds
  • Timeframe (What's New) Classifieds
  • Seller Classifieds
  • Search Results
• In view Ad page the visitor can see also:
  • Other classifieds from the same seller
  • Similar classifieds from the same category
• In all pages there are available the follow blocks having the appearance of widgets:
  • Category Menu
  • Search Form
  • Statistics
  • Latest classifieds
  • Popular classifieds
  • Soon to expire classifieds.

2.- How you can make (a bit) money with it.

Using vBulletin's Subscriptions Manager you can set subscription which will upgrade the subscribers to a higher usergroup with more privileges in SL Classifieds. eg:

• To restrict post in specific categories. The system works such a way that for each category you can set who can post:
  • All usergroups
  • None usergroup
  • Specific usergroup(s)
• To allow more days for postings. eg usergroup A can set a maximum of 15 days before the Ad will remove from the system, while usergroup B can set the Ad's duration for 45 days etc.
• Concurrent Ads. eg Register users can have only 1 active ad, while your VIP usergroup can has 5 ..or 10 ... or whatever you want.
• More photos per Ad.

3.- Installation

1. Download and unzip the file Classifieds_XXXX.zip
2. Upload the content of upload folder to the directory where your vB installation is. As a check: classifieds.php must be on the same directory as global.php, forum.php etc. Classifieds won't outside of vB installation directory.
3. CMOD 777 the directories:
   1. christeris/classifieds/photos
   2. christeris/classifieds/photos/thumbs
   3. christeris/classifieds/photos/tmp
4. Goto Admincp and import product-classifieds.xml. Double check before if you have another product with the same name.
5. Set the various settings in Classifieds->General settings
6. Set usergroup permissions
7. Check and modify if you want PM templates.
8. Set categories
9. Set Extra fields (in case that you want them).

4.- SEO URLs

• If you're using vbSeo open the file Classifieds_vBSEO_Custom_Rewrite_Rules.txt and add them to your vbSeo installation.
• If you're using .htaccasse file copy the contents of htaccess.txt and add it to your current .htaccess files. If you don't have such file and your server is compatible with such files, upload htaccess.txt to your vB directory and rename it to: .htaccess

5. CMS Widget / Forum Sidebar Block for Latest Classifieds

1. Shows latest 5 Classifieds
   1. If you want to change the number to another value change at 1st line: $maxitems = 5;
2. Installation as CMS Widget
   1. Goto Admincp-> vBulletin CMS-> Widgets
   2. Click "Create New Widget" at the list bottom
   3. Set Widget Type: PHP Direct Execution
   4. Give a Title which appears at the widget. eg Last Classifieds, or.. Last 5 Classifieds etc
   5. Click SAVE
   6. Find in the list the new widget and click configure at the right side
   7. Replace the example code, with the code from Widget_Latest_Classifieds.txt
   8. Click Save
   9. Goto Layout and add it in any section you want
   10. Click Save (Layout)
3. Installation as Forum sidebar Block
   1. Goto Admincp-> Forums & Moderators -> Forum Block Manager
   2. Click Add Block
   3. In the next screen "Select block type: Custom HTML/PHP"
   4. Click Continue
   5. Title: Latest Classifieds
   6. Content Type: PHP
   7. Content: Copy & Paste the code from Widget_Latest_Classifieds.txt
   8. Click Save. The block will be now visible to your forum sidebar

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If you like this mod please hit the button to the right ---->

Please remember to click the, button to the right if you installed the mod ---->

What does 'Marking As Installed' do ?

* It helps you to stay on top of updates - members who have installed modifications will be notified whenever new updates are available.

* For security issues - vbulletin.org will contact all members who have installed a modification whenever a security issue is brought to their attention.

* Marking a modification as installed also helps me know how many people are using my work, giving me extra incentive to provide more features and new modifications.

I appreciate the support!
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v1.5.0

1. Facebook Like Advanced (Shows users who liked it)
2. RSS Feeds of last 10 Classifieds
3. Seller has the ability to not mark a classifieds as reserved when a user clickc BuyNow, in case that he has stock of the same items and he wants to keep classifieds active.
4. Added description in extra fields appearing as help text in add/edit form.
5. In case that a category has no subcategories, beside the "No more categories" added an icon/link to previous category level.

v2.2.0

1. Bug Fixes
   1. Missing Terms
   2. DB Error in My Offers
   3. Price decimal seperator in edit mode
2. Improvements
   1. Show Make offer when the price left 0 in forum sideblock
3. New features
   1. Show local time if the server is in different time zone.
   2. Classifieds Tab in User profile
   3. Classifieds link in User Popup
   4. Different font color for different classified types
   5. Send PM to Sellet when Admin deletes a classified from view page
   6. Set Userid to appear as sender in automated PMs
   7. Hide empty fields in view page
   8. Change the way that PMs are sending to activate popup modifications. Done but nor checked as I don't have such configuration in my site. But it must works as I'm using the native vB functions to send PMs.
   9. Set Extra fields as Required. Work with Text and Textarea fields only.

v2.3.0

Initial release under OzzModz.
Changed the files as to not interfere with the new mod from Panjo that is in vBulletin by default now.

v2.4.0

1. Bug Fixes
   1. Fixed the dates, so they can be auto translated, by your locale settings.
   2. Changed some phrases.
   3. Added some missing phrases.
2. Improvements
   1. Removed some now defunct settings.
3. New features
   1. A new block on the left side of the main pages, that contains the navigation links to various parts of classifieds. So now a user can see them better, rather than having to look in the sub-navigation menu.

v2.4.1
Patched some vulnerability's that was found in the mod. No sites were affected by this, it was just found by a user and now is patched.

[HotLink]

Hi Ozzy, is there any way to disable/remove some fields on post classified page? I have to remove "Condition" and "Shipping" fields from the page as the trades are online.

BTW, awesome mod!

[Nelson58]

My members have a couple of suggestions for improvements that I wanted to pass on:

First, there should be a notifier right in the Classifieds tab above showing when there are new items being offered.

Next, a view counter in the ads themselves. This would help the seller gauge the interest in their item and would also show potential buyers if the item is attracting a lot of attention, possibly spurring them to make a decision to buy before someone else buys it.


Finally I believe that comments and clarification should be allowed to be posted. Many times other members here know details of a piece of machinery better than the seller does or they have personal experience with the item.



Thanks,

Nelson
www.hobby-machinist.com

[ckgb]

Also category block on the left should be able to retract back to its original collapsed state. So far if you click on the category and it has multiple subcategories it stays opened with no option to collapse it.

[ckgb]

Uses 145 queries. Any way to reduce that?

[ozzy47]

145 queries where?

[ckgb]

I turned on debug mod and it showed 145 for Classifieds. All other mods were within 20. I have 2 categories and 34 subcategories if that might be related.

[ozzy47]

Is there a performance issue?

[ckgb]

I don't know yet. The site is still in a project stage. Also classifieds are not sporting any ads (2 only).

[ozzy47]

Hmmm. Is this on all classifieds pages, or just certain ones?

[Action-N]

Has single queries throughout, none of that left join stuff that I think gets info from different tables in one query right?

Where are the ads missing from ckgb? To know where they are missing would help. Two in the header an one above an below content. The two for content is in the navbar template other is footer.