Just Joomla

After months of work - all of the pieces of the EZ* software restructure and EZ* Roadmap are finally coming together - and I'm very pleased to announce that a range of upgrades and new components have been released today. So - what's on the release list?

EZ Realty 6.9.0:-

Includes a number of bug-fixes with the front-end keyword search filter, new highslide pop-up image gallery system option for the thumbnail layouts on the full details page, redesigned add/edit property details form - to simplify the process of adding and editing property listings, new settings for availability calendar integration, new settings to enable switching off more areas of the add/edit property details form, new thumbnails regeneration function - to enable you to bulk delete and regenerate the thumbnails if you've altered the configured thumbnail size, recoded the front-end to display the category image and category description as well as new configuration settings to control the display of this information, new thumbnail image control to enable property thumbnails to be forced into a consistent height and width display size regardless of the image orientation, new settings to enable a 50/50 or 65/35 content/map width on the listings pages - to better support narrow templates, and a number of miscellaneous changes to the admin area to enable correct table sorting on Joomla 2.5x.

EZ Autos 6.9.0:-

Includes a number of bug-fixes with the front-end keyword search filter, new highslide pop-up image gallery system option for the thumbnail layouts on the full details page, redesigned add/edit vehicle details form - to simplify the process of adding and editing vehicle listings, new settings for availability calendar integration, new settings to enable switching off more areas of the add/edit vehicle details form, new thumbnails regeneration function - to enable you to bulk delete and regenerate the thumbnails if you've altered the configured thumbnail size, recoded the front-end to display the category image and category description as well as new configuration settings to control the display of this information, new settings to enable a 50/50 or 65/35 content/map width on the listings pages - to better support narrow templates, and a number of miscellaneous changes to the admin area to enable correct table sorting on Joomla 2.5x.

EZ Portal 1.1.0:-

EZ Portal has had a major upgrade to introduce paid listings support for EZ Realty and EZ Autos listings. The new paid listings system works on a "credits" basis - your members purchase credits for their "campaign kitty", and they then spend those credits on advertising campaigns for their listings. The new campaign manager allows you to specify a range of attributes for the paid campaigns - eg. the advertising period, how many images the listing can have and whether or not the listing will have featured status. The add/edit property details and vehicle details forms have been redesigned in line with the changes in EZ Realty and EZ Autos - to simplify the listings process - and there's a new popup manage profile form accessible via the front-end listings manager. This new pop-up form will allow your members to manage key aspects of their seller profile without having to leave their listings manager. There are new settings to enable switching off more areas of the add/edit profile form - to simplify the main form. At the moment - paid listings support is only available via the PayPal system - however once this new system has been fully evaluated - it'll then have further development done to integrate the payment gateway plugins used by the older Joomla 1.5x version of my EZ* software.

Realty Adverts 2.0.0:-

I know many clients will be pleased to see the return of Realty Adverts - and they'll be equally pleased to hear that it has now been extended to enable their members to generate HTML and print adverts of their listings via the site's front-end. I've redesigned the templates used by Realty Adverts - and the initial release comes with 4 HTML design layouts and 4 plainer print layouts. As my older clients will know - Realty Adverts can be used to generate HTML adverts of property listings for use on sites such as Craigs List, and the print templates can be used for things such as window posters and open house day handouts.

Auto Adverts 2.0.0:-

I know many of my EZ Autos clients will also be pleased to see the return of Auto Adverts - and they'll be equally pleased to hear that it too has been extended to enable their members to generate HTML and print adverts of their listings via the site's front-end. I've redesigned the templates used by Auto Adverts - and the initial release comes with 4 HTML design layouts and 4 plainer print layouts. As my older clients will know - Auto Adverts can be used to generate HTML adverts of vehicle listings for use on sites such as Craigs List, and the print templates can be used for things such as window posters and handouts for events such as motor shows.

Realty Bookings 1.0.0:-

New this month is Realty Bookings - a simple availability calendar if you have rental properties and need to display an availability calendar to your site visitors. As an initial release - management of availability details can only be done via the site's admin area - however I'll be extending Realty Bookings for front-end member management in the coming months.

Autos Bookings 1.0.0:-

New this month is Autos Bookings - a simple availability calendar if you have rental vehicles and need to display an availability calendar to your site visitors. As an initial release - management of availability details can only be done via the site's admin area - however I'll be extending Autos Bookings for front-end member management in the coming months.

EZ Watchlists 1.0.0:-

Also new is EZ Watchlists - which reintroduces VIP Buyer's support for both EZ Realty and EZ Autos - but as a single companion component to centralize management of wanted items. Features include the option to direct all email enquiries to your own email address - or allow direct contact by site visitors with the person who has listed the wanted item. Members can manage their own "watch list" via the site's front-end now if this feature is enabled - so they can add items to the list and remove items from the list as required. EZ Watchlists also uses a HTML templating system for the email alerts of matching properties and vehicles - which should allow you to customize it a lot easier than if you had to navigate your way through the PHP code. I've built-in the ground-work for SMS notifications - however I'm still evaluating SMS gateways - so SMS alerts won't be available until I've made a decision on which gateway to use.

EZ Calculator 3.0.1 module:-

I've updated the EZ Calculator module to enable a rounding off the decimal places so that you've got a cleaner look to the results when converting units of measurement. In consultation with one of my clients - I've also added in support for the Pakistani Marla and Kanal units of measurement.

EZ Autos Search Module:-

I've updated its language file to fix a bug which was causing the language display to break on some servers.

Also updated:-

I've spent the past week updating all of the user guides and writing new user guides, so they're also all available for download. Please take the time to download them and have a read of them - as they contain a lot of useful information - and EZ Autos and EZ Realty user guides also contain information on some of the more common problems encountered by my customers. The user guides also contain details of the download packages as well as instructions on how to install and/or upgrade the component in question, and information on how to configure the various modules that come with the component.

The upgrades and new releases are all available to current EZ Realty M-6 and EZ Autos M-6 subscribers - and they all work on both Joomla 1.7x and Joomla 2.5x systems.

Known issues:-

Front-end table sorting/reordering doesn't currently work, and this appears to be more of an issue with the core Joomla system - as table sorting doesn't work in the core Joomla components either. Please don't post support tickets about this - as it's a known issue that will be re-evaluated when the next version of Joomla becomes available.

Prior to upgrading your site:-

Remember - before you do any upgrade to your site - make a full backup of your site files and site database. Having these backups can save you a lot of bother if something goes wrong with the upgrade process. Also - don't do an upgrade if you're short of time or feeling fatigued - as distraction and fatigue can lead to errors creeping into the upgrade process. You'll find upgrade and installation instructions are contained in the user guides - but if you've got any questions about the upgrade process - stop by the helpdesk ticketing system for some advice prior to starting.