Joomla Extensions , Joomla Components

The latest briefcase Factory 1.3.0 released on August 1, 2008 brings major features for the administrator and also support for Joomla 1.5.x Legacy Mode. From the new features available in the administrator control panel we are mentioning the following options:

• enable/disable the public tab and the publics uploads
• enable/disable that registered users can only share files with administrators
• enable/disable that when registered users upload a file, that file must be shared automatically with admin users. If it is enabled, they would not need to select anybody; the list of users would not appear and the file would be shared with several administrators. There is also a setting to select the administrator users that are choosen to receive this kind of shares.

The version also includes plenty of improvements and code optimization. Also the available Plugins for the Module where updated to support the legacy mode.

Testing. New customers can test the Briefcase platform on our Demo-Server. There we provide access also from the Front-end as several users, but also from the back-end as an administrator. Feel free to test it anyway you like, since the platform resets itself every hour.

Updates. For updates please read first our Terms & Conditions and Customers FAQ's pages. Also please check the post in our forum regarding upgrades. 

The new version of auction Factory 1.4.1. launched on July 30, 2008 has a couple of new interesting features and also fixed issues. From the new features we gonna mention the new Search Mambot which will allow to perform search directly from Joomla, the new Meta Tags available in the auction details page in order to make the component even more SEO friendlier and also the ability to change the page title with the auction title. With this new feature we are introducing also the possibility of selling using a Reserve Price. 

A reserve price is the lowest price at which you are willing to sell your item. If you don’t want to sell your item below a certain price, you can a set a reserve price. The amount of your reserve price is not disclosed to your bidders, but they will see that your auction has a reserve price and whether or not the reserve has been met. If a bidder does not meet that price, you're not obligated to sell your item. The Reserve price option is only visible for Online Auction format; it is not visible for Fixed Price. You may lower your reserve price after you receive bids on the item. If you don’t want to use a reserve price, leave the field blank.

Why have a reserve price? Many sellers have found that too high a starting price discourages interest in their item, while an attractively low starting price makes them vulnerable to selling at an unsatisfactorily low price. A reserve price helps with this.

Example: Imagine a seller wants to sell an item for at least $100, but he is worried that a starting bid price of $100 will discourage potential bidders from bidding. If the seller uses a reserve price, he can list his item with a starting price of $.99, $5, $10, or any amount below his required reserve amount. The seller can then enter a reserve amount of $100. By listing his item this way, bidding will start at the lower price, but the seller won’t be obligated to sell the item unless the bidding reaches at least $100—the reserve price.

Features involving images are also available in the 1.4.1 version. The administrator can set images as required and specify the number of MB he wans each image to be reduced (image resizing).

Fixed issues with the 1.4.1 version are regarding: search tags, proxy bid (first bid), modul (picture display), BIN < Max. Bid + increase, date format, last day of month bidding, back-up & restore, choosing winner when auction is expired, included all xml paramaters into language file, My ratings on the CB tab, Template in IE and html tags, etc.

Updates. For updates please read first our Terms & Conditions and Customers FAQ's pages. If you are eligible then please send us your request as specified in the Customer FAQ, including name, order number, date of purchase.

Testing. New customers can test the auction platform on our Demo-Server. There we provide access also from the Front-end as several users, but also from the back-end as an administrator. Feel free to test it anyway you like, since the platform resets itself every hour.

... we are starting the summer with a couple of updates to our products. Article Factory Manager has now reached the version 1.5.5 with new features like:

• resourcebox text can be configured to be concatenated to the article's maintext or not (admin settings).
  
• configuration settings: the front end user can set the end date of an article or not.
• end date selection in article submision.
• configurable to modify dates to a posted article.
• required Intro text administrable.
• sorting of articles.
• and many other improvements.

Surely we are constantly improving our rss Factory Suite. rss Factory 1.5.5 present several features like categories, categories descriptions and management and allot of changes regarding backup, installing, etc. Here we invested allot of time to maintain rss Factory on the top position of rss feeds displaying. Also please note that since the categories changes, backups from previous versions older then 1.5.5 are not compatible anymore.

The Exchange Rates Factory Module 2.4 is also very stable now and with the new JavaScript model its a catching eye part for every site, especially e-commerce or financial orientated ones.

Last but not least in our early summer updates is our latest kid eBay Factory Module 1.6. Here except the ebay.COM site we are offering now support also for:

• ebay.CO.UK - United Kingdom
  
• ebay.CO.AU - Australia
  
• ebay.DE - Deutschland
• ebay.FR - France
  

The Factory launched a new module, with allot of configurable options for eCommerce people active around the world of eBay. It's called "eBay Factory Module" and it's a native Joomla 1.5.x plugin. eBay Factory Module comes as a help for the targeted sites which are running a specified bussiness. This way the administrator can set up certain search-keywords in order to display in a module only certain eBay.com auctions for his visitors. The search can be limited by entering multiple keywords and if the area of interest is bigger then the administrator can publish another module with a different keyword since multiple instances are supported. The input of multiple keywords can be done with space between the words or just a "+". From the backend the auctions can be ordered by "newly listed" and "endiing soon". Also the number of auctions, title lenght, show/hide images and date format can be configured. The display can be configured through CSS in order to match any existing template and there is also a cache option.

We saved the best part at last: It's FREE . We want to continue our contribution to the Joomla Community started with the "rss Factory" and followed by multiple other modules like the "Exchange Rates Factory", "Top Movie Factory", "RSS Context"  or " VM Tree Factory".

The Factory anounces the brand new Auction Factory 1.4. The incredible new versions brings ultimative features that completes the auction platform, fulfilling all the requirements for a professional corporate system.

The new version is build already on the high developed 1.0.3 version but it's extending the features far beyond.

First of all one of the major features is Templating adding a Smarty-engine to obtain a very easy modifiable layout. With this display features the Auction Suite can be easily integrated in a certain template or corporate design.

After Templating another very important web feature is the ability to generate RSS Feeds from the:

• Latest Auctions
• Categories present on the platform
• User Filter.

and the ability to set Tags (Blog Style) for each Auction which can be also used as filters. The system has now also support for a Unique Auction Number, a searchable UAN and SEF implemented.

User Groups ACL are implemented. The groups of Sellers and Bidders which have access to the platform can be generated from the:

• Native Joomla Groups or
• CB Community Builder Custom Fields.

To bring also real-time flavour the auction platform there is now a Minutes Countdown. This option can be enabled or disabled from the admin in the back-end of the component and brings itself two settings of the Cron: minute/daily.

Since there was allot of feedback from different site administrators a certain level of productivity was required except the subscriptions mode. Studying this issue the platform has now a integrated Payment Method which brings support for PayPal payments. This option is integrated into the system after the bidding process ends and can also be used to pay for Featured Auctions. Surely the administrator has an overview on the payment list and in order to cover a large area of payment processors, more payment modules will follow.

Powerseller and Verified User are also a new addition to the Auction Factory platform. They can be set by the admin together with other important admin options like:

• Delete - Purge Auctions
• Allow / Disable Messages between Bidder/Seller
• Editing Categories of each auction
• Setting Featured auctions

The Featured Auctions are payable with PayPal and they are three types:

• Gold (this auctions will be available on the top of the list)
• Silver (for example a highlighted background)
• Bronze (as Silver can be setted different, for example they are presented with bold)

The Rating System is now also displayable in the Template and has separated counting for the Auctioneer, for the Bidder and also avarage value. Regarding the usage the system has also further improvements like:

• a new Menu Item = My Won Bids
• Search by Location; the informations are taken from the User fields and they can be also displayed in the list of auctions due to the Template adding.
• a confirmation window on the BIN button
• new notification to the user when he was outbidded
• new notification to the auctioneer when an auction ends and they are no winners
• new icons in the list of auctions by editing the template
• module option to display an image before the auction.

Regarding the CB plugins the most important new addition is the Task Pad tab, where all the important Auctions tasks are present. Other additions are the new My Won Bids tab and the notifying when outbidded function on the My Bid tab.

Here we described just the important new features of the auction framework. Other tweaks are also implemented in the new version of Auction Factory 1.4 one of the most complete e-commerce platform available.

Since we just added all the latest features to Article Factory Manager 1.3 just for our customers to have complete benefits, it was now time to just redevelope the component with the existing features to be a native Joomla 1.5.x component. So the new available version is Article Factory Manager 1.5 and brings compatibility with the latest Joomla Version.

Maintaining the pace we are offerring now also our VM Virtuemart Tree Factory Module for Joomla 1.5. This unique add-on for VirtueMart is absolutely free!

Also we would like to introduce to the new changes regarding the ECB Exchange Rates Factory Module. The latest version of Exchange Rates ECB 2.1 uses a new JavaScript model. This means that when the page loads the list is locked and the text "Click to choose new currency" appears.

If the user clicks in the list the text "Click to lock the currencylist" appears and the list will update so the currency where the mouse is placed will be the new refernce currency and alsothe progosis values are updated. If the user moves the mousepointer the list updates and changes the reference currency to the one where the mousepointer is placed and again all prognosis values are updated. If the user clicks again the first text appears. In this mode will the user be able to drag the mousepointer over the prognosis symbols (up-, down- or an arrow to the side) to see the currencyvalue from the cache for that day.

Our Joomla Lava Factory Menu was newly integrated into several templates developed by www.CREAJoomla.com

Here a screenshot from the CJ Slidy Mars 2 Template:

The Factory just released a brand new product for the Joomla world which also bring diversify to the RSS Factory Suite which include at this moment the top viewer RSS Factory and RSS Context Factory. The new product is called rss to image Factory and displays images taken from RSS feeds. The module is compatible with rss Factory 1.5.x.

The module is able to display only the feeds containing images or all the feeds. The orientation can be set up vertical or horizontal and there is a minimal required size for search and display images in order not to display images like spacer 1x1 px.

rss to image Factory is also capable of image resizing. The image caption can be choosen from "alt" or "title" attributes or disabled and in case of missing caption the text can be predefined by the admin (ex. "No caption"). Regarding the caption there is an option to set up the lenght (first x characters) and the position (up or above the image). Here the complete list of features at this moment:

• display images taken from RSS Feeds
• takes images from the cache of rss Factory 1.5.x
• is able to display only the feeds containing images or all the feeds
• orientation can be set up vertical or horizontal
• search and display images with a required size (in order not to display images like spacer 1x1 px)
• image resizing
• image caption can be choosen from "alt" or "title" attributes or disabled
• in case of missing caption the text can be predefined by the admin (ex. "No caption")
• set up lenght of caption (first x characters)
• caption can be displayed up or above the image

There is also an ETA for the next RSS Context Factory Module - next week! The new version will bring also compatibility to the Joomla 1.5.x and will fit perfect into the RSS Factory Suite.