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Implementing the property search
Thesaurus Technology will integrate your property search free of charge into your existing web site, however if you would prefer your own web designer to implement the search, the information below outlines the different options available for property searches.
Adding the Universal property search to your web site is a simple process:
The URL for your search will either be:
- http://www.housescape.org.uk/cgi-bin/search.pl?demo
- http://www2.housescape.org.uk/cgi-bin/search.pl?demo
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For an example of implemented property search features visit
www.apple-estates.co.uk . To download the source code click on the folder
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Customers subscribing after 01 June 2006 should use the second option with the www2 prefix. Please note all examples of www.housescape.org.uk below should be replaced by www2.housescape.org.uk for customers subscribing after 01 June 2006.
If in doubt please contact Thesaurus Technology.
The URL for your search will come in the form of http://www.housescape.org.uk/cgi-bin/search.pl?demo
This is an example only. Your specific code will be supplied once you have created your account.
| Quick find - Find the section you are looking below |
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| To incorporate this into your existing web site |
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A very quick and simple way of adding the property
search to your web site is to paste the link below into your web page(s).
The following code can be run from a simple text link or a graphic button.
<a href="http://www.housescape.org.uk/cgi-bin/search.pl?demo"
target="_blank">Property Search</a>
To see the results click this link Property
Search.
Click here to see examples of live customer property searches. |
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| To fully integrate the property search into your
existing web site |
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To fully integrate the property search a slightly more complex method
is required that uses frames. This involves a web technique that essentially
"splits" a web page into sections that, when viewed on screen, appear
as one page to the viewer. One usage of this method is to provide a common,
static navigational element in one part of the screen while the content
that changes appears in another part. You may have visited a web site
where one portion of the screen stays still while the other side scrolls
- this is Framing.
Notice the names for the frames - Top and Main. Top is the frame that
contains the navigation buttons in this example.
The page that creates the frames
<html>
<head>
<title>Welcome Apple Estate Agents</title>
</head>
<frameset rows="90,*" border="no" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0">
<frame src="top.htm" name="top" scrolling="no" resize="no">
<frame src="home.htm" name="main" scrolling="auto" resize="no">
</frameset>
</html>
This page splits the screen into 2 frames. A 90
pixel high top frame to hold the navigation page and a larger bottom frame
to display the home page, search page etc.
The top.htm (navigation) page
<html>
<body>
<a href="home.htm" target="main"><img src="home.gif"></a>
<a href="http://www.housescape.org.uk/cgi-bin/search.pl?demo"
target="main"><img src="search.gif">
</a>
</body>
</html>
This is a sample navigation page with 2 buttons.
This allows the user to switch between the home page and the property
search page. Notice that when creating links in this page, the target=""
attribute uses the name of the bottom frame (main). This cause the links
in the top frame to open pages in the bottom frame. There
is one link that appears with http:// in front of it. This is called an
absolute reference. That is what you will use to make your Universal
Search appear in your frame, since the Universal search is on a different
server than your web site. The other links are using relative references,
since they are referring to documents that appear on the same server.
To see the results of this type of implementation click this link Example
Please note that all individual searches have the option of changing colours, links and headers can be added on request. |
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Variations to the standard Property Search
The standard search parameters can be changed for more customised searches
if required as follows:
| No Sales/Rental dropdown |
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To display sales or rentals only (the drop down Sales/Rentals would
not be displayed but defaulted to only sales/rentals accordingly), put
&fo=s or &fo=r after the search URL
http://www.housescape.org.uk/cgi-bin/search.pl?demo&fo=s |
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| Changing the order of search results |
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This could be used if you had separate sales and
lettings buttons on your web site to display only sales/ rentals.
To change the price order
to be either ascending (default) or descending, put &or=a
/ &or=d after the search URL
http://www.housescape.org.uk/cgi-bin/search.pl?demo&or=d
To order properties by the most recent dates
http://www.housescape.org.uk/cgi-bin/search.pl?demo&or=ni
To order properties by the most recent dates and show only a certain number of properties (this code is useful for displaying new instructions)
(for sales properties)
http://www.housescape.org.uk/cgi-bin/search.pl?demo&fo=ns,or=ni,mp=20
(for rental properties)
http://www.housescape.org.uk/cgi-bin/search.pl?demo&fo=nr,or=ni,mp=20
mp=20 restricts the results to 20 properties |
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| Excluding groups of properties |
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To exclude property references starting with certain characters put &xref=SP after the search URL.
This would not show any properties starting with reference SP.
This would
be used if you wanted to exclude certain properties in the search
(e.g.
exclude overseas properties from a search if you had a separate overseas
search).
http://www.housescape.org.uk/cgi-bin/search.pl?demo&xref=SP
To show only references starting with particular reference characters
put &ref=SP after the search URL
This would only show references starting with SP. This would be used if
you wanted to display only Spanish properties for example.
http://www.housescape.org.uk/cgi-bin/search.pl?demo&ref=SP |
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| Form Styles |
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For the default form style no extra code is needed. For a different form style the following parameter can be added.
This will result in a form as shown below
&formstyle=1
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| Hiding selection fields from the form |
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You can hide certain drop down boxes/options from the initial search
page as follows:
&fof=xprice - exclude the price drop down
&fof=xtype - exclude the property type drop down
&fof=xbed - exclude the bedroom drop down
&fof=xkeyword - exclude the keyword text box
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| Including an area selection pulldown |
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You can include an area pulldown on the form by adding the parameter below.
&fof=iarea - include an area dropdown
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| Properties Per Page |
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You can alter the number of properties that appear on each page of a search.
&ppp=25
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| Changing the image sizes on the search results page |
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You can change the image size of the images displayed on the search results (default is 250 pixels)page by coding the following with the numeric being the pixel size.
&imagesize=200
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| Alternative style Property Search |
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You can have an alternative look to the standard Property Search by coding the style parameter.
&style=1
Example for style 1
&style=2
Example for style 2.
&style=3
Example for style 3.
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| Geo Search |
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You can add a direct link to the geo search map page on your website by applying the following code.
http://www.housescape.org.uk/cgi-bin/search.pl?demo&style=4&1
Example for style 4
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| Price bandings |
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Price bandings can be specified for the search if required (e.g. on your web site you require a button to display
properties between £200,000 - £300,000) by using the minprice and maxprice parameters.This is usually used in
conjunction with the fo=ns parameter which removes the search form.
&minprice=200000,maxprice=300000,fo=ns
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| Min/Max Bedrooms |
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The minimum and maximum number of bedrooms can be specified for the search if required.
&minbeds=2,maxbeds=4
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| Featured Properties |
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Featured Properties can be built into a web page. In Universal there is a check box on the Advertising
tab of the Property Screen called Featured Property. This sets the property as a Featured Property and will be shown
when the code below is added.
Click here for an example. To differentiate between sales and rentals Featured Properties use fo=fps for sales or fo=fpr for rentals.
&style=10,fo=fp
&style=10,fo=fps
&style=10,fo=fpr
Alternate featured property layouts
&style=10,fo=fp - Image with brief details below
&style=11,fo=fp - Imgae with summary text to the right
&style=12,fo=fp - Image with brief details and custom images
&style=13,fo=fp - Image with summary text to the bottom
Examples of layouts
* Style 12 - This style requires some customisation, contact the helpdesk for further details |
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| County Codes |
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You can pull through different countries on either a custom form or as a link behind a separate button. In Universal the country of the property is selected via a drop down menu option on the property screen. The code for this to be used is show below with the example of Italy (IT) as a country. To see the all of the codes for the countries please .
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&country=IT
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| Full Details Results |
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You can select different display formats for the full details. By default the full details open in a new window, but with the following styles this can be changed.It can display in the same window with or with out the full detail logo. Warning the window/frame in which the full details is to be open must be at least 640px wide.
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&fdtarget=1 - opens in a new window (default)
&fdtarget=2 - Same frame/window with no header of footer details
&fdtarget=3 - Same frame/window with header but no footer |
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| Implement your own form |
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Your web designer can design a different form than the two styles that universal provide as standard.
To make sure the "Modify Search" Link on the search results page returns to your own form the code below must be entered in the form. (Replace myformpage.co.uk with the correct search form url).
<input type="hidden" name="formurl" value="http://www.myformpage.co.uk">
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All of the Examples above can be seen at www.apple-estates.co.uk
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